Year 5 Term 1 Overview

Welcome to Year 5 in Waa for 2023! 

As a school we continue to grow, this year we have 6 Year 5 classes:

We are so proud of how well our students have settled into year 5. 

From Day 1, they have shown excitement, energy and enthusiasm towards being at school, their work as well as reuniting with friends and building new relationships. In the first two weeks, we have worked collaboratively to set ourselves up for ongoing success across the year.

First Two Weeks:

We unpacked our DCC values (Respect, Learning, Integrity, Teamwork, Kindness) and our DCC expectations (Respect, Safe, Striving for Excellence). This has been part of establishing our routines and expectations for year 5 this year. Our students have shown us that they are ready to build upon their learning, tackling all learning opportunities that lie ahead. 

As a year 5 team, Our theme for this year revolves around our students being comfortable in the ‘learning pit’. Developing and experimenting with strategies that aide us in working through unfamiliar problems and texts, considering and reflecting upon the impact of the choices we make along the way. 

Curriculum

Literacy

Reading continues to be a major focus for all students. In year 5, we are encouraging and developing our students to be balanced readers. This encompasses the type of books they are reading as well as the way in which they interact with the text. As our students continue to progress as readers we see a shift in challenge from decoding (being able to read the text) to comprehension (understanding the text) As such, The area of comprehension is the one where our students will need the most support and this is where we have begun our reading program. Our students will be challenged to create inferences about many elements within a text. Inferences that are framed by evidence both within and beyond what it is written.

This term in writing, we are starting with “How do writers engage the reader throughout a text?” Our students are exploring how authors strategically provide and withhold information. Discussing how authors implement various language features that encourage the reader to visualise, analyse, question and come to their own conclusions about character actions and events throughout a text.

Later in the term we will shift into creating persuasive texts for different audiences and purposes. Throughout both text types we continue to refine the writing process, focusing on spelling, word choice, language and structural features.

We have now started our Home Reading program. The expectation is for your child to read their take home book 5 nights a week and record the title, date and a comment in the reading journal. Take home books are for enjoyment and for your child to practise their reading strategies, and are not meant to be a challenging task for your child.

Numeracy

This term, Year 5 students will be investigating place value through fractions and decimals. They will compare, order and represent decimals, as well as describing, continuing and creating patterns with fractions, decimals and whole numbers. Students will pose questions and collect data, then create graphs, dot plots and tables using this data. They will also list outcomes of chance experiments using fractions. Finally, we will compare 12- and 24-hour time systems. 

Throughout each of these areas we seek to build a deeper understanding of each concept, honing problem solving skills and strategies that allow our students to make connections between mathematical concepts and apply their knowledge to unfamiliar problems.

Inquiry

Our focus this term is Geography, where we will be comparing and contrasting Australia with major countries in the Asian region. The focus will be on the cultural, economic, social and demographic similarities and differences, exploring land mass, population, imports and exports etc.  We will begin by using India as a mentor country, before students select their own major country in the Asian region to investigate, before students decide how they would like to take action to address issues they have uncovered in their chosen country. 

SEL

Throughout this term, students will have the opportunity to continue to develop their knowledge and understanding in the DCC values and expectations. They will be listening to each other in Yarning Circles and Campfires and working in Billabongs and Caves (ask your child what these mean) on a variety of tasks. As new young leaders of our growing school, they will be mentors and role models to our younger students, and they have already shown us that they are up for these new roles.

Home Learning

We are currently reviewing, modifying and planning out what Home Learning can and will look like at DCC moving forward. Information will come out shortly regarding this. In the interim, continue to encourage and facilitate for home reading habits and utilise the range of online resources our students have access to.

We look forward to working with you and your child this year. Please come and see your child’s teacher if you have any questions or concerns. After school is best for a quick chat, otherwise send your child’s teacher an email through compass to set up an appointment time for a longer conversation.

Year 5 Team