Years 5 & 6

The Wonder of Curious Learners

Nothing reinforces your belief in what you do as a teacher as observing and nurturing the curiosity of your students. 

Our class has completed some in depth learning over the past fortnight in both Literacy and Numeracy.

Numeracy

For the most part, our learning has focused upon fractions, decimals and percentages this term. The students have been diligent in applying their skills to manipulate fractions, decimals and percentages, connecting their learning so that they can convert between each, add and subtract, place in order and identify equivalence.

We try to mix up our learning. Some days we practise a skill. Other days we apply the learning to an open ended challenge. 

The photo below shows one of our open ended challenges. The students were given a 0-1 number line. They rolled a 10 sided dice to make a proper fraction. They then had to write it on a stickynote and place it on the number line. Everyone had to take note of where other people had placed their fraction, and discuss strategy. One person stated that they worked out where halfway was first to help them place their fraction. Another person talked about imagining the whole number line cut into equal parts. Some peope used what they knew about equivalent fractions to help them choose where to place their stickynote. 

This activity supported revision of concepts we had covered through the term. It also promoted fluency in numeracy. And they said it was fun!

Literacy

Our Literacy focus has been the study of the novel "War Horse" by Michael Morpurgo. We have been using the novel to improve reading fluency and comprehension. We have had some in depth and challenging discussions around some of the issues raised in the book, especially the use of horses in war. Not only have we been reading this fictionalised account, but we have also read some non-fiction information about the use of horses in World War 1. 

Based on this novel, we have started developing our own narratives based on an animal of our choice. 

We have also been busily publishing our Biographies. Students who have finished have read their biography aloud to the end of day assemblies to an enraptured audience.

I am looking forward to the learning we will experience together in Term 4!