5/6 NEWS 

This fortnight has been another busy and rewarding  time for our Senior School with so many activities on in such a small time. These include our special night of Confirmation for our grade 6's, Inter school sport, our Science work about the brain, our maths catch groups and our brilliant  thought provoking novel 

We Are Wolves.

MATHEMATICS

Students have continued to work in our maths catch groups with our focus on Fractions and Decimals. The students all did their pre assessment to find out their prior knowledge and are now attacking their work at their point of need with fantastic enthusiasm. It is always great to see the students have light bolt moments in these groups and feel comfortable to ask questions to the point of need they are working. Here is some of the language the students will be using when completing this unit.

• order
• discount
• multiplicative
• calculation
• divide
• multiply
• digit
• place value
• round
• lowest common multiple
• mixed numeral
• unit fraction
• complement
• simplify
• compare
• equivalent
• convert
• denominator
• numerator
• thousandths
• hundredths
• tenths
• improper fraction
• proper fraction
• common fraction
• fraction
• percentage
• decimal

ENGLISH

We have continued reading our beautiful book 'We are Wolves' in all the classes. The students are reading out loud in small groups and have been, with the support of their teacher coming up with a goal that they would like to improve on while they are reading. It has been fantastic to have the students show such confidence in their reading and really trying to use expression when reading using the different characters voices which gives them a great understanding of the points of view of each of the characters. 

The students all did a fantastic writing piece talking about their grandparents for the whole school 'Big Write'. They did a great job using different writing styles such as recounts or narratives. Our next focus for writing will be around Poetry, where the students will explore different techniques such as alliteration. The end goal will be for students to write a poem about our book 

'We are Wolves'

Respectful Relationships

We have introduced the notion that coping strategies can be grouped into different types or categories. We explored the following five categories and students worked out when they could use each strategy in their own life. Generally these are positive strategies to use, as long as they are not used excessively and match the situation we are in. For example, taking a shower to calm down might be good, but taking 10 showers a day would not be an effective way to cope. Playing basketball to lift your mood would be good, but playing basketball would not work as the only strategy for getting your assignment in on time. 

• Energetic activity: includes things like exercise, sport, dance, active play which can help lift your mood.

• Self-calming activity: includes things that calm you down, like drawing, meditation, praying, being in a quiet space, listening to soothing music, taking a shower, snuggling in bed.

• Social activity: includes things to connect you with others like talking things over, 

help-seeking or playing with others.

• Shift attention: includes things that take your mind to a different place like reading, watching TV, playing games, doing a favourite hobby.

• Getting organised: includes activities that help you plan and get organised, like making lists, tidying up, making a plan, organising an activity, making a game plan.

We are so grateful for all your support and look forward to seeing as many families as possible on the 18th of June for our 5/6 Mass.

The Senior Team