Grade 5 News 

Upcoming Dates – Term 4

Tuesday 17th February: Meet the Teacher sessions

Wednesday 18th February: Meet the Teacher sessions

Thursday 19th February: Meet the Teacher sessions

Thursday 19th February: Rowville District Swimming Carnival (selected students only)

Monday 23rd February: School Photos

Friday 27th February: Lysterfield Cross Country

Wednesday 11th March: NAPLAN writing

Thursday 12th March: NAPLAN reading

Tuesday 17th March: NAPLAN conventions of language

Wednesday 18th March: NAPLAN numeracy

Important Reminders

• Internet Agreement forms are now due.
• School Sport conduct forms are due 6th February
• Grade 6 Leaders will be selling icy poles each Monday and Tuesday at lunchtime for $1
• Hats - As per our school's SunSmart policy, all students are required to wear hats till the end of April 2025.

Grade 5 Specialist Timetable

Learning in Action

📖 Literacy

This week, students began exploring word morphology, investigating the morphomes capt-ceit- ceive-cept-cip meaning to take/catch/hold. Students investigated words like capture, intercept and accept. 

Our novel study for the term is War Horse, where students will examine the themes of war and the historical role of horses. As part of this study, we will focus on the novel’s vocabulary and develop various comprehension strategies. Writing lessons are closely linked to the novel, with students engaging in sentence-level response tasks. This week, our writing response task focused on understanding and using appositives to enhance sentence structure. We look forward to deepening our exploration of language and literature throughout the term!

Preview for Learning

Over the next fortnight, students will explore literary devices such as alliteration, personification, and imagery within our novel study. They will also practise expanding sentences with added detail and refine punctuation skills.

➗ Maths

Students have begun our first maths unit, Data Representation. We have focussed on creating and interpreting dot plots and calculating the mode of a data set.  We have commenced our Maths Daily Review, which takes place four times a week, allowing students to revisit and strengthen their understanding of concepts. 

Preview for Learning: 

We will continue with Data Representation, focussing on identifying the shape of data distribution and interpreting line graphs.

Knowledge Rich

This term, we will cover Natural Disasters and Geographical Features and discuss natural disasters that impact Australian human and natural features. We will be focussing on floods, bushfires, drought and cyclones. We will also look at how emergency services are used to support the community during these times.

Wellbeing

We completed the first Friendology lesson, Inner Ninja. It was a great reminder for the students that in order to create healthy friendships, they need to first look inwards and treat themselves like a best friend. This session was focussed on self compassion, teaching students how to squash ANTs (Automatic Negative Thoughts) and dispelling myths around gender stereotypes and the ‘pressures of perfection’.  

School Values

This fortnight, we have explored in greater detail our school values: Trust, Respect, Aspire, Community, and Kindness, reflecting on how they guide our actions both in and outside the classroom. Students have engaged in meaningful discussions to understand how these values shape our daily interactions and help build a positive school environment.

Homework at Lysterfield Primary School

At Lysterfield Primary School our students work incredibly hard during the day. At 3.30pm when they leave, they need time to unwind and have fun.  We believe that in order to live a happy and healthy life, it is important to participate in extracurricular activities outside school. We want students to join sports clubs, Scouts, do music lessons and art classes as these are important for a child’s overall growth and social connections. We also understand that homework puts a lot of stress on families. 

In addition to our beliefs, there is no evidence that homework in a primary school setting has a marked impact on students learning or success. What is proven is that reading daily has a significant impact on a child’s ability to decode and comprehend. As such mandated homework at Lysterfield Primary School is limited to reading daily, including the practising of phonics (letter/sound relationships). Level newsletters will outline the expectations around reading and how teachers will support students with having appropriate texts to read. For some students, that may not be making the expected progress for their year level, it may be beneficial for the teacher and parents to work together to reinforce the learning from the classroom with follow-up work.

We also understand that some students and families would like to practise other skills at home. To support this, at the beginning of each school year, parents will be provided with a set of additional resources that can be used for students to practise other curriculum areas. This work is not mandated and it is up to parents to implement and monitor, staff will not correct this work.

Adam Wight- Principal

Grade 5 Teachers

Karin Halstead, Peta Alexander, Susanne Stokol, Irene Chalmers