Grade 5
Grade Five News
The Grade 5 students and teachers have had a sensational start to our year together! We are incredibly proud of how well our students have settled; routines have been established and we are well under way with homework too!
We welcome Miss Goyenechea [5NG] and Mrs Kenny [5LK] to the 2020 Grade 5 Team and thank Mrs Sirimanna for the superb job she is doing with 5SW while we await the appointment of 5SW’s 2020 teacher. Gina Struylaart, Deb Ryan, Gaby Rojas, Annette Schueddekopf and Mark Dinnie will provide invaluable assistance to our year level too!
While we said ‘Goodbye’ to Mr Webster as a member of the Grade 5 Team, we welcome him as a specialist Science teacher to the year level. Mr Webster will teach each Grade 5 class for one session every fortnight, covering the Victorian Curriculum Science content, with each class teacher in attendance throughout the session. We are certainly looking forward to extending our students’ scientific knowledge and understanding on a grander scale.
We were all understandably disappointed that our scheduled Grade 5 camp did not go ahead this week, however, we are very excited that we have been able to reschedule to Term 4; the dates being Monday November 30th to Wednesday December 2nd. We will keep all families updated via Compass.
During our Literacy sessions, we have begun working through the Notice and Note Signpost Strategies in order to encourage comprehension at a deeper level. Our students have also had the opportunity, where appropriate, to utlise Storyathon, in order to write 100 Word Stories. SMART Spelling is the basis of our spelling program, where the analysis of each week’s words provide opportunity to build word knowledge and understanding. A focus on grammar and punctuation will be explicitly taught throughout each Literacy session, utlising student writing to make connections.
Our Maths sessions have focused on Place Value, the Four Processes, Multiplication and Division. Mental Computation strategies are also a focus of our Maths program, where students are exposed to alternative ways of problem solving. Utilising Prodigy is also allowing our students to practice and consolidate Maths concepts in a fun and engaging way.
Our Integrated Studies unit of Identity, has been of high interest to our students. Learning about their family’s history has been both insightful and informative. Using the Department’s Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relations initiative, which connects with The Resilience Project work from last year, has also allowed our students to be aware of their strengths and how emotions can be interpreted and understood. Our Cyber Safety session, focusing on Digital Well-being, was well-received by our students, who actively participated and gained further insight into the cyber world that we are all very much a part of.
Our students have immersed themselves fully in their weekly Specialist classes while they learn skills that enhance their development and learning; as a team we are very grateful for the opportunities our Specialist teachers offer our students. The incorporation of Food Technology as a part of the Technologies Specialist class has been very well received and enjoyed by all Grade 5 students.
As a team, we thank-you so much for your support throughout Term 1 and look forward to the exciting challenges that a very busy Term 2 will bring!