Year 5 

Spotlight on Learning

Dear Families,

This week, Year 5 students participated in Ash Wednesday Mass, where we began the season of Lent by receiving ashes as a sign of repentance and a commitment to grow closer to God. During the mass, students reflected on prayer, fasting, and acts of charity, and considered ways they can live out these Lenten practices in their daily lives. We also enjoyed welcoming families to our Open Night. It was wonderful to meet so many families and share the learning planned for the year ahead.

Our learning this week: 

Religious Education: 

In Religious Education, students have been learning about Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the season of Lent. They reflected on the meaning of this special day and discussed its symbols, such as the ashes, which remind us to turn to God and live with humility. Students also made their own Lenten promises, considering ways they can grow in kindness, prayer, and care for others during this season.

English

In Year 5 English, students have been developing a wide range of skills across reading, writing, and grammar. In Grammar, they learned to differentiate between concrete and abstract nouns and identify them in sentences. In Reading, students read and responded to questions from our class novel War Horse, practising reading fluency by reading accurately, at an appropriate pace, and with expression. They also explored vocabulary from the novel, learning to use and understand new words in context. Students expanded sentences and analysed examples from the novel, while in Writing, they recalled the structure of a narrative, planned and wrote action and problem paragraphs, and used adverbials, and direct speech to make their narratives engaging and descriptive.

Mathematics 

This week in Year 5 Maths, students are learning to use the distributive property to multiply by one-digit numbers and to multiply by two-digit numbers using materials and diagrams. We are focusing on partitioning numbers using place value to make multiplication easier and more accurate. Students are practising breaking numbers into tens and ones, then combining their thinking to solve problems and explain their strategies. This approach helps build strong number sense and prepares students for more advanced multiplication in later years.

Integrated Studies 

In Integrated Studies, students have been learning about how people change places over time and the effects these changes can have on the environment and communities. They have been identifying and giving examples of ways that human activity such as building, farming, or creating public spaces can transform a place, and discussing the positive and negative impacts these changes can have on the people and environment in those areas. This learning helps students understand the relationship between humans and the world around them.

Social Emotional Learning: 

In Social Emotional Learning, students are focusing on emotional literacy. They are learning how emotions can influence their behaviour, learning, and relationships with others. Students are practising identifying different emotions, explaining how these feelings can affect the way they think and act, and recognising factors that help or make it harder to regulate emotions. This learning supports students to build self-awareness, develop positive relationships, and use strategies to manage their emotions in a healthy and respectful way.

Auslan 

In Auslan, students are learning that question signs are commonly placed at the end of a sentence, helping them to understand and form questions correctly when communicating in Auslan.

Important Reminders: 

• Please remember to provide cutlery from home if required for your child’s lunch.

Next week: 

• We will be holding a  Community Mass at St Thomas the Apostle Church at 9:30 am on Wednesday, 25th February. Students from Year 1 and Year 5 will be participating, and all families and community members are warmly welcome to attend and join us in prayer and celebration.

TERM 1 KEY DATES — 2026

• Wednesday 25th February - Year 1 and Year 5 Mass @ 9:30
• Monday 16 March Athletics Day at Casey Fields   Years 3, 4, 5 and 6
• Monday 9 March - Public Holiday — School Closed

• Thursday 2 April - Holy Thursday — Last Day of Term 1

  TERM 2 START DATE

• Tuesday 21 April — First Day for Students

• Contact Us 

bethany@cranbourneeast.catholic.edu.au