Year 5/6 - Senior Unit
Maths
In Mathematics, we have finished our unit on fractions, decimals and percentages and have moved on to probability and chance. Students are learning that probability can be represented on a scale from 0 to 1 or from 0% to 100%. They are investigating impossible, unlikely, equally likely, likely and certain events through a range of practical chance experiments. Students will also compare theoretical probability with experimental results and discover why completing more trials usually gives us a more reliable result.
Literacy
In Literacy, we have started sharpening our persuasive writing skills by debating some classic topics, including: Should students have to wear a school uniform? and Should children receive more pocket money? These topics have sparked some lively discussions! Students are learning how to turn their opinions into convincing arguments by including clear reasons, facts, evidence and examples. You might like to continue the debate at home—although be prepared for some very persuasive arguments about pocket money! Students have also been doing a fabulous job as guest readers for the class, reading and sharing their chosen stories. They have been practising their speaking skills by reading fluently, using a clear voice and projecting their voice so everyone can hear. It has been wonderful to see their confidence grow!
Inquiry
Our Inquiry learning is - Scientific report writing.
Students have also been experimenting with the role of being programmers. First, they explored ‘programming’ a human ‘robot’ across the classroom. They went through the process of planning a route, calibrating their robot and writing a program with a list of coded instructions to move along the route. They then trialled their program, identified the accurate codes within the program and identified any errors. Students then ‘debugged’ their program by rewriting the codes to correct the errors. Students were then promoted to begin working with Bee Bot robots. They followed a similar process in the role of a programmer, planning, trialling and debugging their coded programs to perfection. The mazes they created for the Bee Bots to traverse became more complicated, including tunnels, ramps and obstacles to move. Conversations within the groups showed excellent collaboration and problem-solving as they worked together to explore and solve their challenges.
After the lesson, we reflected on our learning:
‘We learned how to program a Bee Bot and how to ‘debug’ it to make it successfully navigate through our maze.’ by Niamh.
‘We overcame narrow pathways in the maze by making them wider, and to overcome the Bee Bot going too far, we calibrated it to find out the length of each move so we knew how many of each move to program.’ by Harriet.
‘We wrote the codes in our book, so that when the program went wrong we could just change that direction. This was ‘debugging.’ by Alex.
Here are some photographs of our budding robot programmers.
Sport
In sports news, our soccer and netball teams did an amazing job representing our school at the regional competition in Swan Hill. The soccer team finished 3rd overall, while the netball team finished 6th overall. Although they did not progress to the next level, we are incredibly proud of their effort, teamwork and sportsmanship. Well done to everyone involved!
Upcoming Events & Reminders
Book Week Parade – 26 August at 9:15 am. Families are warmly invited to join us on the netball courts for our annual parade. Students are encouraged to come dressed as their favourite book character, with more details to come closer to the event.
Mathlympics – Wednesday 2 September. Students will enjoy a day filled with engaging and challenging mathematical activities. Family Maths Night will follow later that day, with further information to be shared with families soon.
We look forward to another exciting few weeks of learning and celebrating student success across our Senior Unit!
Year 5/6 Teachers
Lyndsay Adamson (56A), Sharna Ford (56F), Ann Ireland (56I) and
Alison Meggs/Iain Sparrey (56M)