Year 5/6

Welcome

Welcome parents, guardians, and students to another busy 11 week term in Years Five and Six. Seeing the students commence the term with school spirit and an eagerness to learn has been wonderful. This newsletter will be distributed throughout the year, commencing each term. It aims to give families an insight into what will occur at the school each term.

The 5/6 team for 2024 is as follows:

5/6M

Joachim Min Fa

5/6P

Daniella Polites (Mon- Thurs) /Nella Lo Presti (Friday)

5/6C

Rosario Corio

5/6DW

Sarah De Guzman-Wettenhall

English

Each day, our students will participate in a two-hour Literacy block. The morning block has designated times for one hour of Reading and Writing.

Reading

This term, our Reading focus will be comprehension skills using nonfiction texts. Students will read various information texts and be required to answer literal and inferential questions.

For Reading Groups, children will be explicitly taught to practise and demonstrate many skills:

Self-monitor - Stop and make sure you understand what you’re reading.

Reread -to clarify understanding

Ask questions to help you think deeper about the text

Vocabulary - identify keywords and explain their meaning using synonyms

Visualise - create a picture in your mind

Make predictions - think about what will come next, Make connections to your life, other texts, and the world to help you understand the text

Summarise - retell the important parts

Infer - use what you know and what you read to think more deeply about the author’s m eaning.

Writing

In Term Two, students will be taught how to plan, draft as well as digitally publish Persuasive, Explanation and Procedural texts. They will experiment with text structure, images, and language features to meet the purpose of these texts and will be encouraged to consider who their audience will be. Students will be given opportunities to reread and edit for meaning by adding, deleting or moving words or word groups to improve content and structure.

Maths

The students will complete a one-hour daily mathematics lesson. There will be a focus on Counting and Place Value (Whole and decimal), Chance, Patterns and Algebra, Fractions and Decimals, Volume, Capacity and Mass, Time (12 and 24 hr)

It is expected that all students have a very good understanding of Multiplication and Division facts from 1 to 10, as this is listed as ‘by the end of Year Four in the Victorian Curriculum.’ We encourage our students to continue to practise these at home.

They may use the Hit the Button website, which covers Multiplication and Division facts.

Religious Education

In Religious Education this term, the students will explore the next 50 days of Easter leading to the great celebration of Pentecost, the birthday of the Church. They will explore the hierarchy of the Church and its significance and interpret ways in which we can belong to the Catholic Church or other faith communities. The students will also explore and reflect on their role in the mission of the church and the Kingdom of God.

Wellbeing

Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) Lessons will be explicitly taught every week with a time allocation of 45 minutes on a Monday. Students will have a workbook to record their learning and will be encouraged to practise and model appropriate behavior in different settings. Working Through Challenges (Resilience), Including Others (Responsibility ), Speaking Kindly / Allowing Everyone the Right To Learn/ Taking Care Of Property and School Grounds Respect) are the behaviours and expectations we will be focusing on throughout the term. Our School Wide Acknowledgement System of awarding Class Dojo Points and weekly awards to students who demonstrate positive behaviours for learning across all school settings i.e. (classroom, specialist lessons, playground & incursions/excursions) This will continue to occur and it is pleasing to see how highly engaged and motivated students are to receive their individual ClassDojo points. This year we will be expanding the use of ClassDojo to welcome parents and carers into the space, giving you a regular window into your students' learning. ClassDojo will provide a simple and secure way to engage with your child’s activities and see significant milestones. ClassDojo is also an effective communication tool that can be used for things such as announcements and friendly reminders.

Inquiry

Our term 2 Inquiry unit is a Physical Science topic titled “Light Up Our Lives'' and we will be exploring how light and energy affect our world. Students will have many opportunities to investigate and record in their Science Journals their predictions, findings and wonderings about how a torch works. They will be given components and materials to assist them in safely creating their own simple circuits. They will be expected to evaluate their successes and challenges throughout their design brief and construction process. The unit will focus on explicit teaching of Self Management skills and practices. This will encourage students to show persistence in developing a capacity to judge their own work and be adaptable when experiments or trials do not go their way.

Homework

In line with our St Andrew’s Homework Policy, it is an expectation that Year Five and Year Six students complete the following as homework tasks:

20 minutes of Reading per night to be recorded in their diary (Title, pages/chapters read)
10-15 minutes of other tasks per night as set by the classroom teacher. This will generally be 1-2 weekly Literacy/R.E./Maths/Inquiry task(s) linked to our current classroom learning to be worked on at home throughout the week.

Our Homework program aims to strengthen home-school partnerships and reaffirm the role of parents and guardians as partners in education. It is an opportunity for students to reinforce and share their classroom learning and develop productive routines and time management skills.

Classroom Organisation

Below are some items of note:

Any student who may need to bring a mobile to school is expected to hand in their phone to the classroom teacher in the morning. All phones will be returned before the end of the school day.
Each student is asked to bring a box of tissues, Chux wipes, hand wash, and paper towels to contribute to the classroom. Thank you to all families who have already donated these items.
It is expected that students complete 2 ½ hours of Reading at home per week with the following recorded in their personal diary (title of book, pages read/duration of reading, parent signature)
Sports shoes are only to be worn on a Wednesday and Thursday (Interschool Sport). Children are expected to bring their Library Bags to school on designated Library days.
Students are expected to use their Chromebooks at school and home responsibly. When carrying their Chromebook to and from school they are expected to use the Chromebook case supplied by the school. Please note that parents and guardians are responsible for monitoring their children whilst using their Chromebooks at home. It is encouraged that students use their Chromebooks in a shared space. It is an expectation that Chromebooks are charged in readiness for the school day.

Key Dates

Interschool Sports/Sustainability Lessons - commences Week 3 (2nd May)

5 / 6 Camp to Arrabri Lodge - Monday 6th to Wednesday 8th May

Optional Late Start for ⅚ camp students 11am - Thursday 9th May

Mother’s Day Celebration - Friday 10th May

School Closure day - Monday 27th May

Beachside Cross Country - Tuesday 28th May

Semester One Reports Published - Thursday 20th June

Parent Teacher Interviews - Monday 24th June

3-6 Athletics Trials -Davies Reserve/Term 2 Learning Celebrations - Thursday 27th June

End of Term - Friday 28th June (1.30pm)

How to Contact Us

We would like to see ourselves as the first point of contact in regards to your child’s learning. Please feel free to contact us by the following: We politely request that there is an understanding that emails may only be responded to during working hours.

School Phone: 9551 5094

Year 5 / 6 Teacher Emails:

Daniella Polites: dpolites@saclaytonsth.catholic.edu.au

Joachim Min Fa: jminfa@saclaytonsth.catholic.edu.au

Sarah De Guzman: sdeguzman@saclaytonsth.catholic.edu.au

Rosario Corio: rosario@saclaytonsth.catholic.edu.au

Nella Lo Presti: nlopresti@saclaytonsth.catholic.edu.au

SPECIALIST PROGRAMS

L.O.T.E. Italian

In Years Five and Six the students will begin the term by revising previously acquired language through different structured activities and games. They will continue sharing their personal profiles orally with the class by reading them aloud.

Students will continue working on ‘Ancient Rome’ by comparing families, clothing, meals, housing, money, environment, etc.. They will highlight the similarities and differences between the Roman and modern worlds.

The students will use newly acquired and familiar vocabulary to write a brief description of a famous ancient Roman. The students will then read these out to the class.

They will be expected to complete a translation from Italian into English to show an understanding of new vocabulary and grammar. Students are also expected to complete a research assignment on an aspect of Ancient Rome of their choosing. It must include a section in Italian. The presentation is to be original. Students are given two weeks to complete the assignment and one lesson in class to work on it. The aim of this unit of work is to deepen the student’s knowledge of the contributions made by this ancient empire to our modern world.

During the lessons, the students will continue to participate in playing quizzes, games and completing interactive tasks on Duolingo to practise their oral and speaking skills and deepen their vocabulary and grammar knowledge.

Buon lavoro e ciao a presto.

Signora White

Physical Education

This term, our Year 5/6 students in Physical Education will dive into sports featured in Term 2 of inter-school sports, including Soccer, lacrosse, and tennis. Alongside these activities, they will engage in a fitness component, learning fundamental skills for proper stretching and warming up before fitness sessions.

During the soccer unit, Year 5/6 students will focus on mastering dribbling, passing, and shooting techniques, preparing them for the winter term of inter-school sports where soccer will be prominent.

Additionally, mark your calendars for upcoming events:

BDS Cross Country on Tuesday, April 30th.

St. Andrew's Athletics Day on Thursday, June 27th, to gear up for athletics in Term 3!

As we anticipate Winter Inter-School Sports, students can look forward to participating in activities like sof-crosse, netball, hot shot tennis, AFL, and soccer.

Here's to another term filled with fun and active learning!

Warm regards,

Beth Kromer

Art

During art Grade 5/6 sessions in term 2 we encourage independent thinking that will enable children to develop their ideas and express them appropriately in their art pieces. They will concentrate on outline drawings, silhouettes, shapes, tones, and textures using acrylic paints, water-colour pencils, oil pastels, and various construction papers. We encourage children to search for hidden meanings in pieces of artwork and images or anything that gives us inspiration. They will have lots of opportunities to work from observation to drawing aspects of their surroundings, to arrange and draw a still life. They will continue to develop their ability to mix warm, cool, and complementary colours to create textures, colours, and tones. They will also continue to look at famous artists from the past and present.

Mrs. Cathy Bartlett

Performing Arts

Hi 5/6 Students and Families, welcome to Term 2!

The 5/6 students had the most amazing Term 1, learning the folk dance and instrumental parts of the Blacksmith’s Apprentice. The student’s enthusiasm was infectious and they should be congratulated.

This term students will be exploring ostinatos (repeating patterns) in music, and how to combine a melodic ostinato with a harmony (accompanying part) and a bass line (the low part). Students will put this all together and perform it on various percussion instruments including glockenspiels, xylophones, and the marimba - generously donated by Susie Davies-Splitter.

The 5/6 students will begin or continue learning ukulele from week 5. We’ll learn the breakdown of the notes, and strings, how to read the ukulele notation, and which notes are included in a chord.

In response to students’ positive feedback, we’ll also learn another folk dance called the Break Mixer. Later in the term, if there’s time, we’ll be covering audition skills; how to break down a script, how to help memorise lines, and most importantly how to respond to directions.

Here’s to a great term!

Mrs Emma Cooper