Year 5/6 Newsletter

Term 2 Senior Level

What an action packed term we have had so far!

The Senior Level has been working super hard and are very engaged in all their learning.

We have also been refining our skills for our Winter Interschool sports days and on top of that we have all had a great deal of fun! Read more to find out what we have been up to.

Digi-tech lessons

The senior students have been participating in Digi Tech lessons run by Mrs Torrisi and Mr Hoare every Friday. Our students have been working with Sphero robots to design and build a Kinazium maze. 

The students were asked to get into groups of 2-4 to work on the design brief which consisted of:

  • working collaboratively to design and build a maze using the Kinazium mats
  • using the Sphero Edu app to develop a digital solution that will help Sphero navigate the maze

Each group will be following the ‘Engineering Design Process’ in order to follow the success criteria:

  • I can represent design ideas through the use of modelling and drawing
  • I can satisfy a design brief and requirements
  • I can make modifications to design ideas
  • I can develop an alternative design idea

 

 

 

Have a read of our students’ experiences so far:

 

Hy, Mason and Mischa

We are currently working on a Sphero Robot Kinazium maze. Over the past 2 weeks, we have been working on our design for our maze. In week 4, we will be hoping to start our algorithms for our maze. 

So far, all of us have been enjoying the time we are spending together working on this project during Digi Tech in the library. We have constructed our design on the Kinazium mats with small pegs and plastic walls. The teachers gave us a piece of paper that has a layout of the Kinazium mat. We have drawn our design for our maze on the piece of paper.

 

We are doing this project to improve our cooperation with peers and to help us learn the understanding of robotics and how they work. We are really glad that we have learned a lot from being a group and working collaboratively. 

In our maze, we have to include multiple exits, at least 3 LED light changes, sound effects etc.

 

 

 

Emily, Lucia & Isabella

At the start of Term 2 we have been working on a maze for Sphero's. We have been building our maze on a Kinazium mat, and we have been drawing out our plan. We have to build 3 obstacles. A dead end, a bridge and a ramp. We have Digi-Tech every Friday, we try new things every Friday and if we have an idea and it seems hard, we don't give up! Sphero's are so much fun to play with, they can move when you control it and it can change colours.

Interschool sport

The 5/6 Students have been busy training for the upcoming Winter Sport Carnival days. The 5/6 students have been eagerly learning the skills and rules of Netball, AFL, Soccer and T-Ball. Every Friday afternoon we put these skills into practice and look forward to our Gala Days in Week 6 and Week 7. The Netball team had a great surprise when Danielle (Dina Tsetsos' Mum from 3/4 A) came and ran a skills session last Friday afternoon. Danielle works for Netball Victoria so her training, advice and guidance was an amazing experience for all! Many thanks Danielle. Here is what some of our Netball superstars had to say.

 

Hazel, Sukhnoor and Pranesh

On Friday the 13th of May, we practiced netball to get ready for the Winter School Sport Gala Day. Danielle Tsetsos, Dina’s Mum (from 3/4A), helped us practice netball along with Mrs McLean. Danielle Tsetsos works in Netball Victoria. We practiced passing, shooting and we played 2 matches. We also learned about positions in netball and where in the court they can go. For warm up, we did stretches and we ran and sidestepped with a partner. After warm up we practiced bounce pass, shoulder pass and chest pass. We played 2 matches. In the first practice match, it was a tie. We had so much fun practicing.

Karissa and Angela 

On May 13th, Danielle, came to our school to help us with practicing netball for Winter inter school sports. First we started with stretching and exercises to go warm us all up. Then we practiced doing drills and passing netballs in a single file. After that we got split up into teams of 7 each and then we got put in spots that were most suitable for us in the court. Then we played around 5 matches and then swapped with the other team.

Inquiry research task

Grade 5 and 6s are currently giving an oral presentation in their classes based on their homework research project from the end of last term. This is linked closely with our inquiry topic. The criteria was to select a prime minister of their choice, explaining why they wanted to research him/her. The students had the option of presenting their work in the form of a Google Slideshow, poster or video.

Some of the questions they needed to answer were

  • When and where were they born?
  • Where did they live when they were growing up?
  • What political party were/are they a member of?
  • How long were they prime minister for and in what years were they Prime Minister?
  • What significant decisions/contributions to society did they make while they were Prime Minister? 
  • Explain what they did or their decision in detail and how it impacted the people of Australia.

Ronit

This term, we are learning about Australian prime ministers.

For our Inquiry home learning project, we had to write a Google Slide on an Australian prime minister. I chose Alfred Deakin because he was the 2nd Prime Minister & he helped with the Federation of Australia. 

In my slides, I had to draw Alfred Deakin & explain why I chose him, where did he live & much more. This week we are presenting our slides to the whole class. There are a variety of different & cool slides that everyone presented.

We all had loads of fun creating & sharing our slides. Some of us added Kahoot quizzes for added fun and engagement.

 

Ian

For inquiry we have been preparing a presentation and speech on a Prime Minister. I chose Alfred Deakin because he is the second Prime Minister of Australia and he helped the Federation happen. We did this project across 2 terms. I found it interesting that there were so many prime ministers and so much on everyone. Overall I enjoyed this project very much and look forward to doing another one