Year 6 News

Reading

To conclude Term 2, Year 6 students finished our class novel Wonder and compared the novel to its film adaptation. Students discussed the similarities and differences between the book and the movie, analysing how characters, events and themes were portrayed in each version. This provided a great opportunity to think critically about how stories can be told through different forms of media.

To begin Term 3, Year 6 students started our new class novel, Two Wolves by Tristan Bancks. Students revisited prediction strategies by using clues from the book cover, title and blurb, as well as their prior knowledge, to make informed predictions about the story. We also watched the book trailer and refined our predictions based on the additional information it provided. Set in rural New South Wales, Two Wolves follows 13-year-old Ben Silver as he becomes caught up in a gripping mystery, and we are looking forward to exploring its suspenseful plot and thought-provoking themes throughout the term.

‘Two wolves’ is making me very suspicious. - Ivan 6A

‘The book Two Wolves has helped me with making predictions about events in the story’ Emmerson 6B

‘ I enjoyed reading to my buddy and writing sentences about the sequencing of events.’ - Phakin 6B

‘I am finding our new book Two Wolves very interesting’ - Hussain 6A

‘The Wonder movie was really good, I loved all of the Star Wars references’- Zach 6C

‘The new book we are reading, Two Wolves is a mystery.’- Jehansa 6C

Writing

To conclude Term 2, Year 6 students had time to publish their writing pieces. Students had spent the term working their way through the writing process to produce a piece of writing. Students took their time to publish and present their hard work. These have now been put on display in the Year 6 classrooms.

To start term 3, Year 6 students explore the Greek-Latin root aqua. Students explore how to use this prefix to create and write new words.

Students were excited to learn that they will be writing, producing and publishing a non-fiction book for their Foundation / 1 buddies. To do this, students spent some time with their buddies to learn more about them and some of the topics they are interested in. The Year 6 students are very excited to be able to write a book to share with their buddies.

I'm enjoying writing; we were able to publish them and put them up. My story was called ‘ here goes nothing’ - Holly 6A

‘I enjoy writing narratives because l can use my imagination’ Emmerson 6B

I have really enjoyed writing and publishing books’ - Marcus 6A

‘It was fun creating and publishing our own books’- Mayassa 6C

Maths

During the last week of term 2, Year 6 students spent some time revising some important topics learnt throughout the term. Students revised the importance of ‘Order of Operations’ and solving problems that involve BODMAS, PIDMAS or BIDMAS. Students also practised their timetables as it is a vital tool needed to solve many problems in maths. Students discovered the importance of this skill and the time needed to have automatic recall of their number facts.

To begin Term 3, Students continued with their measurement understanding, but have moved to the topic of angles. Students showed their prior understanding of categorising angles based on their properties as well as estimating angles. Year 6 students then used protractors to accurately measure angles in degrees.

Students then explored different types of angles, including supplementary angles and explementary angles, and how to find unknown angles.

‘We have learnt new ways to find the unknown angle degrees without using a protractor’ - Ibrahim 6A

‘I have been learning how to find unknown angles using subtraction and addition ’-Senuli 6B

‘We learnt how to use a protractor to measure the angles more precisely’- Artaaz 6C

‘A reflex angle is an angle greater than 180 degrees and less than 360 degrees’- Kaynen 6C

Inquiry

During the final week of Term 2, Year 6 students concluded our Geography unit by presenting their inquiry projects on countries within the Asia-Pacific region. Students confidently shared the research they had completed, explaining both the physical and human geography of their chosen country while showcasing their creative visual displays. It was fantastic to see the effort and enthusiasm students put into their projects and presentations.

To begin Term 3, Year 6 students launched our new Inquiry unit on Business and Economics. We started by exploring resources and resource scarcity, learning about the three types of resources—natural, human and capital resources—and how scarcity influences the choices people make. Students also investigated key economic concepts including opportunity cost, needs versus wants, and making informed financial decisions.

These foundational ideas will support students as they continue to explore how businesses and consumers make choices throughout the unit.

‘I enjoyed this week's activity about being stranded on a desert island’ - Ibrahim 6A

‘Our new topic is interesting and it will help us when we are older’ - Ivan 6A

‘In inquiry this term we started our business unit, we learnt about the different types of resources.’- Devrim 6C

‘In inquiry we have been learning about how resources help us make the things we need.’- Maddison 6B

‘Riyansh and I did our end of term inquiry presentation on Taiwan, their original name is the Republic of China.’ - Prish and Riyansh 6C

Social and Emotional Learning

To conclude Term 2, students participated in a follow-up lesson after the Elephant Ed workshop, revisiting important concepts including consent, respectful communication, personal boundaries and identifying trusted adults.

To begin Term 3, we reviewed our library etiquette and expectations, focusing on caring for books, borrowing and returning books responsibly, and creating a respectful environment where everyone can enjoy reading and learning.

‘I really liked learning about Library Etiquette - we all need to work together’ - Aj 6A

‘I liked Elephant Ed, it was uncomfortable and I'm not looking forward to doing it again next year’ - Brodie 6A

‘We learnt that the one thing we have complete control over is our bodies’ - Rylie 6C

AUSLAN

This fortnight Year 6 students have been learning Auslan signs related to some restaurant foods. They included dinner, order, pumpkin soup, spaghetti, sausages, chicken schnitzel, chips and pies. Students have also had the opportunity to view Presenter’s stories about being deaf. They viewed their insights into being deaf, deaf issues and deaf culture. Pupils watched their stories to recognise signs and discuss them with the class.

I'm enjoying learning sign language and enjoy signing and new sign words’ - Mohamed 6A

‘It was interesting to learn about why and how Naomi learnt Auslan.’ - Ronan 6C

‘I enjoyed learning Auslan signs that involve foods at a restaurant ’-Jhavier 6B

Special Event

Buddy event: This fortnight, students from the Year 6 cohort interviewed their buddies to plan, draft and publish an information report for their writing sessions. Students from Year 6 asked questions on their likes, interests and wonderings about topics they are curious and passionate about. Their goal is to develop a structured text that includes a title, contents page, introduction, sub-headings with small, simple paragraphs, diagrams/labelled, interesting facts and a conclusion to be read and presented to them later in the term.