Grade 5 Community News

Dear Grade 5 families, 

Welcome back to school, and to Term 2. Students have had a fantastic start back to the term. It was fabulous to hear about their holidays, and the quality time spent with their families over Easter and the break. 

Reading to Learn

Students have begun reading Inside Out and Back Again - a historical narrative that looks into Ha’s life - and the struggle Ha and her family face as the Vietnamese war is reaching their doorstep. Students have learnt a bit of history about the Vietnam War and continue to develop their annotating skills of the text. Further use of knowledge organisers, help students respond to the daily ‘Big Question’ which concludes the lessons main focus. 

Writing

In writing, we have used our text Inside Out and Back Again as a prompt to complete various questions relating to Saigon, and the Vietnam War. Students are learning a writing skill and then applying this to their writing tasks throughout the week. Students are always encouraged to share their ideas, and responses to the class to share ideas and create class discussion. 

Content

This term students will study Economics. Over the next few weeks students will explore the differences between needs and wants, as well as exploring the concept of opportunity cost. Students will identify different types of resources (natural, human, capital) and explore the ways societies use them in order to benefit present and future generations. It has been interesting to hear students' thoughts on their needs and wants from an economic point of view. 

Mathematics

In Mathematics, students have focused on the split and vertical strategy to solve addition and subtraction sums. These strategies have been tested with worded problems. Additionally, students have completed their pre-test for Multiplication and Division. The data collected from this pre-test will shape the learning for the unit as we teach any gaps in student knowledge and understanding. 

Vocabulary

Over the past two weeks the students have been learning 5 new words each week from the text Inside out and back again. Students look at the meaning of the words, synonyms and antonyms for the words, and how to use the words in sentences. They are then using these words in their writing and reading. In addition, students are given one morpheme each week to build their knowledge of adding prefixes and suffixes together.

Reminders

• ANZAC Day is this Thursday - 25th of April, this is a public holiday and school will be closed
• It is an expectation that all students are reading regularly throughout the week and recording this in their student journals.