Year 5/6 - Senior Unit

In the past fortnight grade 5/6 have had many exciting things take place!

Camp

Our camp to Sovereign Hill in week 4 enabled the students to experience hands-on learning in a unique environment. They sharpened their gold panning skills in the creek, with many having the ‘Eureka’ moment of finding the sparkling gold treasure in their pans! The Red Hill Mine tour gave us a real feel for what working down a mine would have been like for people of this era, whilst the candle dipping activity enabled them to get creative with colour. Students also learnt about the range of different people who lived on the goldfields, their jobs, backgrounds and reasons for coming to Victoria at that time. By stepping back in time, the students were able to explore life at the diggings, the Chinese quarter, The Eureka Stockade, shops and leisure time, with the lolly making demonstration being a favourite for many. We were extremely proud of the respectful way that all of the students interacted with others and especially the costumed staff creating reenactments around the town.

Thank you to our amazing parent helpers: Tim Bates, Cori Wilder, Natasha Lloyd, Sunny Wilding, Malia Walsh, Martin Ball and Erin Wilson, we couldn’t have done this without you!

Here are some photographs of the fun times we had.

Literacy

During our Literacy sessions, we have been continuing to work on developing feature articles based on our learning about The Gold Rush. Students have ‘put on their reporting hats’ to create articles about their experiences at Sovereign Hill or to report on an event that happened during this time period. We have focussed on using creative language to bring events to life, and using facts and quotes from witnesses to add credibility to our writing. As part of this process, students practiced interviewing each other on their real or imaginary experiences. Here are some examples of some reporting articles.

Interviews

Oliver on the Gold Fields

So, Oliver is a miner from the gold fields. Oliver had a tough time in the mines as he said “Found no gold, but I did find a couple rocks, I sold for a penny, dollar, dollar, but I don’t like rocks anymore, I want gold, gold!” Even though he was out of luck in the fields, he enjoyed the lollies quoting “Oh yeah, the lollies taste good, they taste like sugar.”  By Brodie 56M

On the 19th of February 2026, Woodend Primary School students from Year 5 and 6 took the short trip to Sovereign Hill. A girl from this group, named Charlotte said the trip was “Interesting and very cool.” Her favourite part was “Gold Panning, because I got to pan gold and we were near the creek.” If she could go back again she would “Pan for gold and ride the horses.”   By Alana 56M

Maths

During the past two weeks we have consolidated our work on transforming shapes on a grid using reflections, translations and rotations and produced tessellating and symmetrical patterns to show our learning. 

We have now moved on to a new focus area of Multiplicative Thinking, exploring number patterns that involve multiplication and identifying multiples and factors of numbers. 

Inquiry

After our visit to Sovereign Hill, we have been using our learning to consider what life was like for the Chinese populations on the goldfields and the role that they played during the Victorian Gold Rush. Students have also used their learning to explore why the Eureka Stockade happened and how unfair laws led people to fight for change. They looked at the perspectives of people from both sides of the argument and the changes that came about because of the rebellion.

Year 5/6 Teachers

Lyndsay Adamson (56A), Sharna Ford (56F), Ann Ireland (56I) and 

Alison Meggs/Iain Sparrey (56M)