Year 5/6 Term 3 Overview
Welcome back to Term 3! We hope your family enjoyed a restful mid-year break and made some wonderful memories together.
As we step into a new semester, we are excited to dive back into learning with renewed energy. Term 3 is always packed with opportunities for growth and achievement and we look forward to watching our Year 5/6 students build on the fantastic foundations they laid in Semester 1.
Today we farewelled our LSO Melissa, who is embarking on a new career path and we this term we welcome Lane Chan as our new LSO in 5/6B.
5/6A - Allison Bayliss, Tracey Farrar (Thursday) and Kim Wilson (LSO)
5/6B - Marisa Box, (Tues-Fri) Tracey Farrar (Monday), Lane Chan (LSO)
Religious Education
This term, our Religious Education curriculum focuses on the Sacraments, specifically exploring the rich connection between Baptism and Confirmation. This is a particularly significant time for our Year 6 students as they prepare for their Confirmation, which will include a special Reflection Day shared with our brother school, St James.
As part of their preparation, the Grade 6s will examine the lives of the saints and select a representative saint whose faith and actions align with their own personal values and beliefs. Meanwhile, our Grade 5 students will engage in an inquiry project researching a notable person, examining how their achievements and contributions can inspire us to ‘Shine’ and live out our values in the modern world.
STEM
This term in STEM, students will delve into the fascinating world of physics through our unit on Light. We will investigate what light is and explore how it travels, learning how our eyes perceive light to help us see the world around us.
Students will experiment with varying degrees of transparency, categorizing materials as opaque, translucent, or transparent, while also discovering the mechanics behind reflection and refraction. We will categorise various sources of light into artificial and natural, and conduct hands-on investigations into shadows. Through these practical experiments, students will discover how changes in the height and distance of a light source can directly affect the length, depth and angle of the shadows created.
To support this learning, students will engage in hands-on experiments, interactive investigations and utilise online simulation tools. Furthermore, we will explore real-world applications of light and shadow, looking at how they are used for navigation, telling the time and creating detailed drawings, which will culminate in the students creating their own unique shadow art.
History
This term in History, our students will journey back to 19th-century Australia (1800–1900) to explore the reasons behind Britain’s establishment of colonies and the profound impact European arrival had on both the environment and our First Australians, Aboriginal people.
Throughout the unit, students will develop vital historical inquiry skills by analysing maps to see how the landscape was shaped by colonisation, and examining historical artifacts to distinguish between primary and secondary sources while determining their reliability. For their final project, students will design a museum piece focused on a key event of the era. They will be critically examining both the colonial or migrant perspective—including its causes, key developments, significant individuals and the First Nations perspective, highlighting impacts on Country, resistance and the continuity of culture. This project will require students to select and analyse two primary source artifacts accompanied by professional "curator" captions.
Additionally, our Year 5 students will bring this history to life through a deeply immersive historical experience during their school camp to Sovereign Hill in Week 9.
English
This term in English, students will dive into the deeply moving novel Once by Morris Gleitzman, which follows a young boy named Felix as he navigates the events of the Holocaust during the Second World War. Written through the innocent eyes of a child, the story delicately balances heartbreak and hope, allowing our senior students to explore profound themes of courage, resilience and the enduring power of friendship.
Alongside our novel study, we will continue to strengthen spelling knowledge by investigating how adding suffixes to base words can transform nouns into adjectives and verbs. In writing, students will advance their sentence-level skills by incorporating a variety of conjunctions and constructing complex sentences that seamlessly blend independent and dependent clauses. This grammatical focus will directly support our main writing genre for the term: information reports.
Tying in beautifully with our History unit, students will plan, research, draft, and edit a comprehensive information report, ensuring they utilise text-specific language features while consistently applying correct spelling and grammar.
Finally, students will engage with a wide range of texts to sharpen their comprehension and analysis of text structures, practicing how to clarify their thinking and provide evidence-based reasons when responding to literature.
Mathematics
Tessellation
This term in Mathematics, students will begin by investigating location and transformation, where they will explore and experiment with translation, rotation, and reflection to create their own unique tessellating patterns.
Fractions
Building on our work from Term 2, we will continue our study of fractions by learning to add and subtract fractions with both related and unrelated denominators, while strengthening our ability to simplify fractions by finding common denominators.
Geometry
Following this, we will dive into geometry to identify, draw, and measure a range of angle types, as well as apply problem-solving skills to calculate unknown angles.
Decimals
Our focus will then shift to decimals as students begin applying the four operations, practicing how to add and subtract decimal numbers, and multiply and divide decimals by powers of 10.
Measurement
Finally, we will conclude the term by exploring measurement and time, where students will learn to identify and convert between metric units of length, mass, and capacity, as well as confidently convert between 12- and 24-hour time formats.
Students will continue to make use of our program IXL for both in class activities as well as assigned homework tasks. We encourage students to regularly use IXL both at school and home to work through their recommendations to continually improve their knowledge of maths topics. This will be used in addition to Essential Assessment which provides targeted maths learning opportunities.
Social Emotional Learning
This term in Year 5/6, we continue to strengthen both our learning and wellbeing through a variety of engaging programs. Our focus on Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) will continue to support students in making respectful, responsible and safe choices, helping to build a positive classroom and school environment.
We’ll also continue exploring our Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) through The Resilience Project, with a strong emphasis on Gratitude, Empathy, and Mindfulness (GEM) strategies. These tools help students build resilience and develop healthy coping skills that support their overall wellbeing.
As a senior cohort, we will also participate in the National Week of Action Against Bullying, reinforcing the importance of inclusion, kindness and being upstanders. Our goal is to continue to foster a strong, connected and supportive community where every student feels heard, valued and empowered.
We are looking forward to another rich and meaningful term of growth, leadership and learning in the area of SEL.
Home Learning
This term, the Year 5/6 homework program will continue to follow our classroom focus on mastery and retrieval. In order to continue this support, we will once again use a weekly structure, focusing on spelling and mathematical skill development.
Our primary focus will be on literacy and numeracy:
- Numeracy (IXL Maths): Students will engage with the IXL platform to target specific number skills. This move allows for immediate feedback and personalised practice, helping students build the fluency and confidence necessary for more complex problem-solving.
- Numeracy (Times Tables Practise): Knowledge of the times tables is essential to all areas of mathematics. Students have been building this knowledge since their junior years and should continue rehearsing their tables to solidify their instant recall of these facts. Focusing on a different table each week and practising it each day (this can be a verbal recall or written in homework books) will help consolidate this knowledge.
- Literacy (prefixes and suffixes): Building on our classroom inquiry into the history and structure of language, students will receive weekly spelling lists. These tasks are designed to reinforce their understanding of word origins, prefixes, and suffixes.
- Literacy (Daily Reading): We expect students to engage in independent reading for approximately 15–20 minutes each day to foster a love of literature and improve comprehension.
By continuing our weekly frequency, we aim to help students develop consistent study habits in preparation for secondary school and ensure that home learning directly supports the concepts being introduced in the classroom.
Weekly Specialist Timetable
5/6 A
Wednesday - Chinese, Performing Arts
Thursday - Visual Arts
Friday - P.E.
5/6 B
Wednesday - Performing Arts, Chinese
Thursday - P.E.
Friday - Visual Arts
Please note in your calendars:
- First Day of Term 3 - Monday 13 July
- Y5/6 Hooptime (basketball) - Friday 17 July
- 5/6B Class Assembly - Monday 20 July
- Y6 Reconciliation Mass - Tuesday 21 July
- Y6 Confirmation Parent information night - @6pm Tuesday 21 July
- Y6 Confirmation commitment mass - Sunday 26 July
- Kaboom Sports - Monday 27 July
- Yr 4 & Yr 5 Emmaus Production: Tarzan at The Round - Wednesday 29 July
- Student Led Parent Conferences - Thursday 30 July
- Y5 Family mass and BBQ - Sunday 2 August @9:45am
- 5/6A Class Assembly - Monday 3 August
- Y6 Confirmation Reflection day - Tuesday 4 August
- Whole School Bushdance - Friday 7 August - 6pm
- Bunnings BBQ - Saturday 8 August
- Staff Wellbeing Week - Week 5 10-14 August
- Tournament of Minds - 15 or 16 August
- St John’s Trivia Night - Saturday 15 August - Paren
- National Week Against Bullying - Week 6 17-21 August
- Superhero Dress Up Day - Wednesday 19 August
- Y5 Parent online camp information session - Wednesday 19 August @7:00pm
- Y6 Confirmation Mass - Saturday 22 August
- Book Week - Week 7 24-28 August
- Book Week Dress Up Parade - Monday 24 August
- School Closure Day - Tuesday 1 September
- Fathers Day Breakfast - Friday 4 September
- District Athletics - Monday 7 September
- RUOK? Day - Tuesday 8 September
- Y5 Sovereign Hill Camp - Wednesday 9 - Friday 11 September
- Whole School STEM Challenge Day - Tuesday 15 September
- Last Day Term 3 (early finish 1:00pm) - Friday 18 September
All other school dates will be on the school online calendar
Communication
Effective communication between family and school is an important factor in a student’s learning. Please make contact with us if you have any questions, comments or concerns.
We will endeavour to respond to emails within 24 hours, during weekdays.
abayliss@sjmitcham.catholic.edu.au