Year 5/6

Level Newsletter

Teacher Email Address Contacts

Upcoming Important Dates

• Tuesday 13th February                                                                                                  - Student Leaders Breakfast, 8.00am (Student Leadership team)
• Friday 16th February                                                                                                           - Halogen Student Leaders Conference (School Captains, Vice Captains, HEART Captains and House Captains)
•  Wednesday 21st February                                                                                              - 'Teeth on Wheels' School Dentist visit, Day 1 (students with booked appointments)
•  Friday 23rd February                                                                                                       - District Swimming Carnival (selected Year 3-6 students)                                             - SPS Dads Group Games Afternoon, 4.00-5.30pm in 5/6 Learning Space (all welcome - please register online)
• Monday 26th February                                                                                                       - 'Teeth on Wheels' School Dentist visit, Day 2 (students with booked appointments) - Year 5/6 Swimming Program commences (all Year 5/6 students)
• Friday 1st March                                                                                                                     - Year 5/6 Swimming Program concludes (all Year 5/6 students)

From The Team

Welcome back 5/6 families! The 5/6 Team hopes that you all had an amazing break filled with lots of laughter, relaxation and family time. It is crazy to think that we are now at the end of our second week of Term 1, where we have been very busy setting up for what we hope is going to be a wonderful year!

Introducing the 5/6 team and what we got up to on the summer holidays:

Miss Jordyn Whittington - 5/6W Teacher and Level Coordinator: Hello! I am the lucky teacher of 5/6W, and the 5/6 Team Leader. This is my 5th year teaching Year 5/6 and I am very excited for everything that this year has in store for us. Over the holidays, I flew to Adelaide to celebrate Christmas with my family and then spent two weeks relaxing in Bali! I had a wonderful time relaxing by the pool, enjoying the sunshine and eating lots of delicious food! 

Miss Sarah Harper - 5/6H Teacher: Wow! What a fantastic start I have experienced with 5/6H, and I can’t wait to see what other remarkable things our class is capable of achieving for 2024. This is my very first year of teaching in a classroom, however the transition has been very smooth thanks to this incredible team and fellow teachers! While I spent some of the holidays getting ready for the classroom, I made sure I had some time to relax in Eildon and catch up with friends! 

Mrs Tracy Spelman - 5/6S Teacher: Welcome back everyone! 5/6S have come back to school refreshed, ready to work hard and have fun! I am in my second year of teaching and looking forward to teaching Year 5/6 after spending time in Year 3 and Year 1/2 in 2023. After Christmas and New Year, I spent a few weeks driving around Tasmania with my family. A highlight was cuddling a Tasmanian Devil joey! I look forward to seeing 5/6S shine throughout the year.

Julie - 5/6W Aide (Mon - Thurs): On the holidays, my son was home from Mt Isa for 6 weeks. We had Christmas lunch at our house with family. I caught up with friends for lunch, went out for lots of dinners with my son, and had plenty of relaxation time. My husband and I spent a weekend in the city and went to the Grease musical. I am very happy to be back at school and I am looking forward to a great year. 

Donna - 5/6W Aide (Fri): It is wonderful to be back and to meet the new class of 5/6W. Over the holidays, I had lots of lovely family time. Of course there was all the Christmas celebrations and New Years get-togethers, but the most exciting thing we did as a family was go on a 2-week cruise to New Zealand. I loved seeing the many beautiful and amazing sites, and everyone was so friendly. One of our highlights was the Jet Boat in Auckland; we got very wet! It was so much fun!

Raelene - 5/6H Aide (Wed, Thurs): My holidays were quite busy. I went for very long trail walks with my friends, had lots of catch-ups for lunch, and baby-sat my grandchildren on many of the days. We had lots of fun and outings - Inflatable World, The Pancake Parlour and playgrounds. 

Josh - 5/6H Aide (Mon, Tues, Fri): I had very productive holidays finishing off a bunch of assignments for my course. Other than that, I saw some movies, caught up with some friends, and recharged my batteries.

Sam - 5/6S Aide (Mon - Fri): I had very chilled school holidays. Our doggo had to have surgery on her knee just after Christmas, and we had to stay home with her for a whole week to keep an eye on her. My highlight was going to Tom’s Lolly Shop and watching Lilly have a turn at being a human claw machine to scoop up as many lollies as she could from a huge ball pit! We had a lot of down time because we know this is going to be an exciting and very busy year at SPS, so enjoyed streaming TV series, doing some colouring, cleaning up around the house, and things we are too busy to do during the school year! I have come back really refreshed and ready for a Superstar year in 5/6S!

Alison (QuickSmart and MacqLit): I had a lovely, relaxing holiday doing many of my favourite things - catching up with family and friends, reading books, doing word and logic puzzles, going to the movies, camping at the beach, and taking lots and lots of walks with my husband and dog!

What We Are Learning

Reminders

Hats

All students must wear a school hat in Term 1. If your child has lost their hat, please check the lost property space or arrange a replacement through the office.

Art Smocks

Every student needs to have their own art smock. If your child has not brought theirs to school yet, please do so as soon as possible.

ICT Agreement

As part of Safer Internet Day, all students have filled out their ICT Agreement. They have taken these agreements home and are required to return them to school once they have been signed.

Annual Consent Form

All students must promptly submit their completed Annual Consent Form. If you need a new copy of the form, please contact the office.

Sustainable Lunches

As our Sustainability Team has kickstarted the year with some goals to achieve for 2024, we would love to start seeing our peers using multi-purpose containers in their lunchbox and reducing the amount of wrappers we bring to school!

Try This...

Jenny has a length of 360 centimetres of pretty red and green ribbon to wrap presents. She needs to divide the ribbon into EQUAL lengths that are AT LEAST 40cm long. Find at least 3 ways of dividing the ribbon up correctly.

What We Are Learning In Specialist Classes             In Term 1

Visual Arts

This term our focus will be Media Arts. Students will continue to develop their photography skills. Students will use the app Snapseed to explore editing options when designing a poster. Later in the term, students will create a chase scene using stop motion animation.

Students must bring an art smock to school to protect their school uniform. Smocks can be bought or made from an old, oversized top. The smocks must be clearly named and will be kept in a classroom tub for the children to wear when using messy art materials. 

Mandarin

Welcome back to the new term at SPS! It's exciting that students will have the opportunity to learn another language every week throughout the year.

In Term 1, spanning from Year 1 to 6, during the first three weeks, we will introduce essential facts about China such as geography, population, inventions, national animals, flowers, and the structure of the language. This approach is designed to ensure that students have a clearer overview of China and recognise the importance of learning Chinese. Additionally, as Chinese New Year approaches, the following two weeks will be dedicated to exploring this cultural celebration with engaging and enjoyable activities planned for the students. It's worth noting that the content and activities will be tailored to different grade levels, providing each level with its own unique area to explore. This approach acknowledges the diverse learning needs and capabilities of students across various grades. For the following weeks, the planning is as following: 

Year 5/6 students will continue to explore borrowed words, and they should be able to introduce different countries, nationalities and languages spoken in Chinese. 

Science

During Term 1, students in Year 5/6 will be exploring animal biology and how it fits into our wider ecosystem. We will be investigating the differences between living, non-living and never living things, as well as the internal and external features animals have to aid in their survival. We will look at how animals, in particular Australian animals, adapt to different environments and situations in order to survive, and be exploring the 11 systems of the human body that allow humans to function and thrive. 

Performing Arts

To be advised when Mr Boyd returns from Long Service Leave.

Physical Education

Year 5/6 classes have their PE lessons on Tuesday or Wednesday, so it is imperative that runners are worn on these days. 

The focus this term is Athletics, in preparation for District Athletics Carnival which will be early in Term 2. Students will practise the different events before final selection is made for our team. 

The District Swimming Competition is on Friday 23rd February. Students who can confidently swim 50m in under one minute will have the opportunity to attend this event. We are hoping to send a team of swimmers this year.

Students in Year 5/6 also have the opportunity to participate in winter and summer sports competitions, as well as Cross Country and Hoop Time.

Foundation-Year 6 Buddies

As Year 6 students, we are allocated Buddies from the Foundation class. The 2024 Foundation students are Alaya, Alexis, Harry, Jackson, Jake, Jayden, Olivia, Rhiann, Samuel, Sienna, Taylor, Yousef and Zeke. On Thursday the 31st of January, we had lunch with our buddies outside to get to know them better. During lunch break, we got to play with our buddies in the adventure playground and we had so much fun with them. At the first assembly, they got introduced; as their names were being said, they walked in. We can’t wait to support our buddies during their first year of school.

By Elena and Lakeyn

Learning Community

As it is the first couple of weeks of school, our staff has decided to make every day a special day, with at least one different learning activity dedicated to the different days of learning. The Learning Community subject is where the students and the teachers get to know each other. The Learning Communities will end in Week 2. We learnt about cyber security, what a good classroom looks like, what a good teacher looks like, circle time and we found our spot in the world.

By Mason and Milla