Year 5 CurriculumNews
ENGLISH
In Term 4, students in Grade 5 will begin with learning about what it means to 'synthesise.' Synthesising means to combine old knowledge with new knowledge—to see things in a different light. Students will first learn how to
do this with a selection of high-interest non-fiction topics. Students will then dedicate time to analysing language
and structure through an author study of Shaun Tan. Students will learn about Shaun Tan's personal life and his
journey as an author. They will then interrogate a selection of his picture story books and infer the deeper meaning behind the ideas contained within them. Students will look at symbolism, motifs and figurative language as
part of this author study unit. In Writing, students will compose explanation texts on different phenomena that
occur in our world—complex events that require deep explanations. Students will also engage in a mini-unit on editorials towards the conclusion of Term 4.
MATHEMATICS
Our Grade 5 students will investigate a variety of mathematical topics in Term 4. They will begin the term looking at different topics in the Measurement and Geometry strand, including location, symmetry, angles, and transformations. Students will then spend several weeks investigating three-dimensional shapes and volume. With these
topics, students will learn to connect three-dimensional shapes with their two-dimensional representations
through the use of nets, e.g. a triangular prism consists of two triangles and three rectangles. Towards the end of
the term, students will conclude with learning about capacity and mass. Students will learn to use weights,
scales, measuring cups, and other formal tools to consolidate their understanding of capacity and mass. They will
also learn to convert between different measurements using the place value system, e.g. 1 litre = 1000 millilitres.
INQUIRY
Our Inquiry unit for Term 4 is 'Mother Earth.' The key understanding for this Inquiry topic is: 'A country's climate and landforms influence where and how people live.' Some of the key questions that students will seek to answer
in this unit include:
• How do people and environments influence one another?
• How can the impact of bushfires or floods on people and places be reduced?
Students will learn about different physical geographies, including tundras, valleys, canyons, fields, and mesas.
They will learn about how the inner workings of the Earth shape and influence the terrain and landforms of different countries across the world. For their final project, students will compare the topographies of two vastly different countries and seek to explain why specific natural disasters occur in different parts of the Earth. They
will also spend time looking at how these forces influence where people live.
ART
I am super excited about working onsite with the grade 5-6 students for Term 4. The term will begin by revising the ‘beloved’ art and design writing techniques used in Graffiti Art earlier this year. The grade 5 and 6 students will then revise the design principles covered through the year, such as line, pattern and shape, and apply these principles to create‘ Rhythmic elements’ in their artwork. They will use their knowledge of pattern and repetition, to emphasise the sense of ‘movement’ on the page to create actions, such as dance or running in their designs. Midway through the term, the students will use tinfoil and air dried clay to explore the element of ‘Form’ and 3D shape, to create a 3D character and towards the end the term the students will be making crafty and creative designs to decorate for the holidays. I look forward to a fun and creative time with all the grade 5-6 students this term.
CHINESE
Welcome back to a new term onsite at school! In term 4, students in grade 5 and 6 will be reviewing and extending on their learning of how to participate in shopping scenarios. This involves reviewing some topics and phrases they have previously learned such as greetings, numbers and fruit names. They will be learning vegetables and common words and phrases that are used in simple transactions at markets. They will also learn about a Chinese holidays such as the Mid-Autumn Festival.
PHYSICAL EDUCATION
Welcome back athletes! I hope you have been active and enjoying the sun! We will start off the term by going over team building activities, because it is important to work together! ‘The Dream work makes the team work!’ I am excited to announce that this term, we will be creating our own Melton West Olympics! Students will form groups and they will select a country to represent. From there, we will train for each event – as athletes. Finally, each country will compete. Winners will be announced at assembly! We are hoping to end the term with Bike Ed – getting confident with our abilities to ride safely.
Ready? Because I am! LET’S GO!
SCIENCE
Welcome back for Term 4! I am so relieved that all students will be back onsite so we can finish the year together.
Firstly, I would like to thank the students for demonstrating such commitment and resilience while completing science tasks from home. It has been amazing to watch you do experiments at home and the creativity many showed when completing our solar system unit. I was so proud of the finished assignments, especially the effort that many students put in.
This term in Science, we will be beginning by looking at gas, solids and liquids. We are going to define what each of these means and their properties We have lots of experiments planned to explore the different properties and compare our results.
Lastly we will be investigating light and how light can be absorbed, reflected or refracted. We will research what each of these terms means and which materials are able to absorb, reflect or refract. We have many experiments planned to explore light and the ways light can change depending on what material it touches.