Year 5

Hello parents and community, here is what the Grade 5’s have been doing for reconciliation week and the activities we have completed during this time.

This year's theme is ALL IN, 

ALL IN means that we should help restore the first nation people and listen to their voices and ideas. Some of the previous themes have been:

BRIDGING IT NOW TO THE NEXT. 2025 

NOW MORE THAN EVER.  2024

BE A VOICE FOR GENORATIONS.  2023

BE BRAVE. MAKE CHANGE.  2022

MORE THAN A WORD RECONCILIATION TAKES ACTION. 2021

IN THIS TOGETHER.  2020 

The Grade 5’s have been learning about the Indigenous history and Eora people, and what they lived and faced while the first fleet arrived. The Grade 5’s have also been doing ALL IN activities like in Art we made feathers for Bunjil the Bird, in wellbeing we are doing a ALL IN drawing about how we can be ALL IN for reconciliation week and in writing we wrote about the impacts the first fleet had on the Eora people.

By Maggie K and Ilsa M 5A

MATHS

In Year 5 Maths, we have been learning about fractions, decimals and percentages. One of the first things we did was make our own Fraction Toolkits, which helped us learn about equivalent fractions and how fractions work. We also used number lines to compare and order fractions from smallest to largest. This helped us understand where different fractions belong and how they relate to each other.

One of the activities that helped us learn about fractions, decimals and percentages was "Roll me a Six". In this investigation, we had to test whether whispering to a dice, “Roll me a six,” would change the chance of rolling a six. We then recorded our results and converted the data into fractions, decimals and percentages.

During our Time unit, we have been learning how to convert between 24-hour time and 12-hour time. One activity that helped us understand this concept was using a travel timetable. We had to plan a trip to Ballarat, making sure we could stop for lunch and still return to Southern Cross Station before 8:00 pm.

Our maths warm-ups help us get our brains ready for learning each day. One of our favourites is Esti-Mystery, where we estimate how many objects are in a container and use clues to narrow down the answer. We also enjoy Wishball, where we are given a number and must add or subtract to reach a target number.

By Harvey F., Evie B., Sebastian S-L. and Thomas J., 5B

LITERACY

This term, we have been taking part in our Readers and Writers Workshop. We have been practising our confidence and independence as readers and writers.

In Reading, we have been reading Waves by Donna Rawlins. Throughout the story, we have been working on our inferencing skills by using clues and evidence from the text. We have also been practising summarising by finding the main ideas and making connections using evidence from the text. During independent reading time, we have been using our best-fit books to practise our skills and continue building our reading stamina and fluency.

In Writing, we have written a continued narrative from Anak’s story. We tried to include a hook, feelings, show don’t tell, complex sentences and events that matched Anak’s journey. In this writing task, we are focusing on using show don’t tell, adding extra detail, using descriptive language and including tier two and tier three words. This has encouraged us to think carefully about how characters might respond and act. These sensory details have helped us make our writing more engaging for the reader.

At the beginning of the term, we wrote an information report about colonisation in Australia. We used facts from our reading, The Journey, and our Term 1 Inquiry learning to help us organise our information into paragraphs. We included topic-specific vocabulary and learnt how to explain important information clearly. While writing our information reports, we learnt how to group facts and information into paragraphs. We took new knowledge from information texts and put it into our own words. For our conclusions, we learnt how to summarise the main ideas and not add new information.

By Cora Harty and Asha Smaczny from 5C

STEAM

In STEAM, we have been learning about natural disasters and their impacts on people and communities. We recently participated in a fun and engaging incursion that helped us learn more about natural disasters and gave us ideas for our STEAM projects.

During the incursion, we made fake snow, built pasta towers using playdough, and watched a water tornado form inside a bottle. We even got to create our own mini water tornadoes using smaller bottles.

Back in the classroom, we have been learning about floods and cyclones, including how people can prepare for these events and stay safe. We are now working in groups to design and build houses that can survive both a cyclone and a flood. As part of the challenge, we need to think carefully about the features of the house and the surrounding environment to make our designs as safe and effective as possible.

By Stella L and Sinead R, 5B

Important Dates

Friday 5th June - Pupil Free Day

Monday 8th June - King's Birthday

Tuesday 9th June - Term 2 Homework Projects Due

Friday 26th June - Last Day of Term (early finish at 2:30 pm)

Regards,

Year 5 Team

Mr Groves, Mr Littlechild and Mrs Van Zyl.