Year 5 Spotlight

Year 5s have had a busy start to Term 4 in the classroom. Here are some highlights so far, written by our students: 

Tiered Vocabulary setting: A flood at School during Family Life!!

Power of 37 Task by Hugo, Leo M, Harley and Oscar

This week the year 5s are learning about algebra. Mr Higgins and Mr O'Grady found a conjecture (about distributive law) that states if you multiply the number by three then multiply it again by 37 you will get the same number you multiplied by three but repeat 3 times. E.g. **1+1+1=3 and then 3*37=111. This works for numbers 1-9. Distributive law fits into this because we know that we can move the numbers around so we can do 3*37 which equals 111 so we can just multiply the number by 111 and the answer would be the number repeated 3 times for eg: **

Pirate Map - By Rachel, Emily and Shelly

The pirate map was one of our maths activities. where you have to solve Mr. Higgins’ amazing treasure hunt. We got given a map with a scroll of paper and we had to figure out the hunt with the clues. Then we got blank grid paper to create our own treasure map. We also had to create our own clues. The learning intention was to use directional language and grid referencing. 

MM4M - By Florence, Madi and Arabella

Last week on Tuesday and Thursday we started a wellbeing lesson outside with a lady named Charli. We would go outside on the oval and do some fun activities for half an hour and then we would go back inside and we would be more relaxed. It's all about our emotions and how we feel and seeing what it would be like in someone else’s perspective. Some of the activities were relays, multiple running activities and more. We have one more lesson this Tuesday and we are really looking forward to it! 

Pirate island - By Joss S

Pirate island was a maths task where we got a pirate island map and had to follow the instructions to find the treasure and once we were done we made our own map and instructions. 

Pirate maps - By Eloise, Makenzie, Sophie.C & Emma 

The year 5’s maths topic was grid references and mapping. Our task was to complete a coordinate map that shows our knowledge of coordinates. Our teacher created a pirate map with questions with it. Once we answered the questions we created our own map showing islands and the path to treasure and adding features such as a key, a scale and directional language.

It was one of the best maths tasks all year.

Blackwood Island Task 

The Blackwood Island activity was very fun because you needed to use square spaces to find the treasure and also needed to keep track of where you are so you end up at the wrong place. - By Jack C

After you did the main activity you got to make your own island. Which was very fun. My island was called Cookie Island. After we made the landmarks, we put questions to help your friend find the treasure! - By Bailey S

It was pretty easy, but it was overall an amazing activity. There were clear instructions, and finding the treasure took about 8 min. Making my own map was very fun and enjoyable as well, because of all the rules, drawing, and instructions we put down. After that, we tested our instructions and maps with others, testing their capabilities. - By Luca

Morning Move 4 Mind - By Sam, Freddie and Julian. 

Twice a week we go outside in the morning for running breathing and mindfulness activities with Charli. It helps us burn our energy and makes us calm for class. MM4M stands for Morning Mindfulness 4 Me.

Tiered vocabulary - By Jaime. U, Benji. K, Asher. R and Riley. Z

This term year 5s did a tiered vocabulary quick write. You may be wondering what's tiered vocabulary? Tiered vocabulary has 3 tiers: “basic”, “ sophisticated” and “content specific" you then match different words to the tiers, here's an example.      

We picked a topic for a story and created a tiered vocabulary chart with words related to our topic. We then wrote descriptive stories about our topic! 

Unit of Inquiry - By Kai, Leni and Billie

This term we have been learning about different cultures. For Inquiry the years fives got into groups of two or three. Our teachers put different countries to pick from. Some of the countries were Argentina, Croatia, South Africa and Thailand. The 3 of us ( Kai, Leni and Billie) chose Croatia. We had to make a poster about the country we chose. The poster had to include the traditional foods, the traditions, and the festivals. 

Blackwood Island

The pirate ship was a fun activity that involved directional knowledge, such as: North,south,east and west. You create a map with islands and a list of directions to find treasure. The clues were fun and it has been my favourite activity in maths in Term 4. - By Asher D

The pirate ship activity was very fun and we got to make instructions on a doc and we shared it to a friend and then they had to do it and find the treasure. I thought it was really fun and hope to do something like Blackwood Island again. - By Milla C

I think the pirate map activity was fun and I liked making keys for the map. Although I didn't finish, I really enjoyed the task. I liked learning about grid referencing, I learned alot from it. I really enjoyed doing the task on Blackwood  island. - By Chantelle C

Morning Movement For Mind - By Sophie L

This term the 5s have been tryling a new program called morning movement for mind.  In this program on Tuesday and Thursday mornings we go outside with Charli. Outside we begin with different types of movement to cone, in groups of about 5 or 6 or in pairs. At the end we do breathing exercises. And also talk about some topics. We did this so in the mornings of Tuesdays and Thursdays we would have a positive start to the day. I find the idea amazing because it will help students to be more positive to each other.

Order of operations - By Janice, Daisy and Cara

For the past few weeks the math olympiads- a group of math extension- have been working on order of operations. We tried some equations using that order.

The order is:

Anything in brackets

Powers (exponents)

Multiplication and division (left to right)

Addition and subtraction (left to right)

Tiered Vocabulary - By Patrick

A couple of weeks ago,  5A did a writing task called tiered vocabulary. You had to put words into columns. Tier 1 being basic words and Tier 3 being the best words or phrases. You had to choose a setting and add words that you put in the tiers. Then write a full story using those words. 

Blackwood  Treasure - By Mieke, Georgia and Gabriella

What was the task?

The task is to look at a map and answer some questions about the map. Then we had to make our own map, and make questions to give to another person. We had to look at the key for information that we needed for the map and then we would know where on what block the thing was on and then we would get closer to finishing. So after we did Higgin’s map we would start our own piece and if we finished our piece we would let someone else do our map and if they finished we would be finished with the activity. 

Tiered words - By Riley

This term we have been doing tiered words. There are tier one words, tier two words, and tier three words. Tier one words are very basic everyday words. Tier two words are more detailed, and tier three words are subject specific. I loved doing these because I found it very interesting and fun. While sometimes I do get confused with placing tier two and three words, I still love doing it. We did tier words to expand our vocabulary and to use subject specific words in our narrative language.

Pirate Map Task! - By Emmy

The pirate map was super fun. The learning intention was being able to use and to read a map. I learnt how to read a compass and it was super useful. We were given a map and instructions of where to go to find treasure. The instructions were hard at the start but me and Riley got the treasure in the end! When you were done you got to make your own map. I made a bubble tea map and it looked super good. I found mapping super interesting because at first I didn't know how to read coordinates but now I'm way more confident.