Year 5 News

Inquiry Showcase

There was a buzz of excitement in the air yesterday as Year 5 hosted their Inquiry Showcase, a fabulous culmination and celebration of all our investigating and learning throughout our latest unit on ‘How the World Works’.

This unit examined the central idea ‘Changes to the Earth’s surface and natural environment can impact human lives’ which enabled students to explore some of the Earth’s well known and devastating natural disasters. 

Initially, students collaborated in small groups to research the geographic, demographic and climatic features of a region outside Australia, with each group constructing a model of their region from recycled materials. We had a fun afternoon where the Year 5 teachers exposed their creations to the conditions faced by an extreme weather or geological event, resulting in the destruction of their creations! This was a great lesson exposing us to the forces of nature. 

Despite remote learning, students continued to develop their understanding of extreme weather and geological events by exploring some of the devastating natural disasters that occur much closer to home, here in Australia. 

Each student chose a natural disaster and a region that is highly susceptible to extreme events and using a real life Australian example, researched the causes and impacts of their chosen disaster. Students demonstrated their creative and critical thinking by analysing the disaster from the perspective of the affected region and delved deep into some of the problems that these disasters could bring for the environment or a community. Their final task was to come up with a creative solution which would help assist a region following a disaster or as a prevention for future possible disasters. 

The Year 5 teachers were delighted with the high quality of presentation skills demonstrated by the students, as well as the innovative and clever designs and services that could be implemented in the face of disaster. What a wonderful way to end the term! We wish everyone a relaxing and fun break over the school holidays.

Unit of Inquiry

Doing the natural disasters unit of inquiry was so much fun, everyone learnt so much about natural disasters, their causes and their impacts. Doing all this research and then getting to present it to the year level was super exciting. My favourite part of the natural disaster unit was definitely presenting to everyone as this was really cool to do. It was also nice to walk around the class rooms and seeing other people's creations and power points. (Anique N)

We learnt about natural disasters for most of the term. It was quite fun making a village of Jarrell out of card board, and then the teachers tried to make it look like a Tornado by blowing it down with a leaf blower. (Fletcher G)

Leading up to this unit was really fun they announced a natural disaster that was happening and that we had to make a town. What we didn’t know was that they were going to get destroyed. My region was Yogyakarta and our natural disaster was a volcano and most of our things survived but lots were still destroyed. My natural disaster was a hailstorm and I created a roof that protects the crops so they don’t get squashed (Jamie B)

The Inquiry exhibition has been an adventure throughout the whole thing. Even though we were in lockdown for part of the planning, the teachers still made the showcase work. It was fun even if the other pupils of the school didn’t get to see it. My invention helps the aftermath of a flood. It is a drone the flies over the water and drops special tablets in out of the tablet shooters. The tablets fizzle, disintegrate and clean the water of any germs. There is also a storage compartment full of tablets so the drone doesn’t run out. The drone also has an arm that picks up rubbish out of the water then places them in another compartment, like a bin. (Liv H)