Glen Waverley Primary School Level 5 Newsletter

LEVEL FIVE, TERM TWO NEWSLETTER

Dear Parents and Guardians,

 

Welcome back to another fabulous term of learning as we extend a warm welcome to all our new families that have joined our community. We have many exciting experiences to look forward to, including a local community walk and Education Week science open morning. Please take a few moments to read what learning we have planned for the term ahead. 

 

 

Term Two Important Dates:

  • Tuesday 10th May – NAPLAN Writing
  • Thursday 12th May – NAPLAN Reading 
  • Friday 13th May – NAPLAN Catch up (Writing and Reading)
  • Tuesday 17th May - NAPLAN Language Conventions
  • Wednesday 18th May - NAPLAN Numeracy / Robogals
  • Friday 20th May – NAPLAN Catch up (Language Conventions and Numeracy)/ District Cross Country
  • Tuesday 24th May - Education Week open morning, 9.00 – 11.00am
  • Wednesday 1st June - Robogals 
  • Tuesday 7th June - Mass Dance Excursion
  • Monday 13th June - Queen’s Birthday holiday
  • Tuesday 14th June - Curriculum Day 
  • Wednesday 15th June - Math Olympiad #3
  • Wednesday 22nd June - Robogals
  • Friday 24th June - Last day of Term Two, 2.30pm finish

SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL LEARNING – You Can Do It

Throughout Term Two, students will build a deeper understanding of their own emotions which can help them connect with others.  The key ideas we are going to explore this term are; 

  • Understanding metacognition 
  • Communicating our emotions with others
  • Building clarity in communication
  • Strengthening resilience when there is miscommunication 

A tool we are going to use to deepen this experience is our Learning Pit! Be sure to ask your children about their ‘self talk’ and ‘emotions’ when they feel struggle in learning!

 

The Student Voice JSC representatives in Level 5 were integral in planning this process as they collected their peers' ideas on; 

  • What they would like to learn in YCDI
  • How they are challenged and 
  • How they would like to learn (how we teach!)

 

Our Student Voice representatives, Ryan, Janiya, Arnold, Nabiha and Mitul will continue to co-lead our YCDI learning and collaborate with teachers and each other to ensure our learners are being guided in achieving their personal learning goals. 

 

ENGLISH

In Reading, students will investigate explicit strategies that authors use to engage their audience. This will allow our students to use multiple sentence types, rich ideas, precise vocabulary and build their awareness of different structures, such as linear and non-linear story lines. 

 

This term in Writing, we are focussing on narratives, through the lens of the author. We will be looking to transfer the skills learnt from reading and apply them to our writing. Students will also continue with sustained writing as they are provided with the opportunity to write about a topic of their choice and in a style they desire, with the aim of achieving their learning goal. 

 

In Spelling, students will continue to identify their personal words by finding words they have misspelt from their writing book and inquiring into them throughout the week. There will be a new focus each week, such as; silent letters, ough, ie and ei. Alongside this, they will use this opportunity to build new vocabulary and apply this throughout their learning. 

MATHEMATICS

In Mathematics, Level Five students will build their understanding within; Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry and Statistics and Probability guided by the Victorian Curriculum. Our initial focus for Term Two is guiding students to combine their understanding of Fractions with Angles. Students will focus their efforts on finding the most efficient strategies to solve challenging learning tasks with an emphasis on depth and effort to justify mathematical thinking. They will develop their own toolbox of skills and strategies to use when faced with mathematical challenges. As we continue throughout the term, students will further build upon this by exploring the connection between fractions and decimals before concluding the term with chance and probability, providing the opportunity for ‘real life’ transfer for our learning and skills.

 

INQUIRY

In Inquiry this term, students will be investigating the question, ‘How do humans impact the survival of flora and fauna?’ In preparation for the learning, Level Five teachers collected data and student voice to identify areas of curiosity and need for the cohort. Throughout the unit, students will explore the unique features of Australia’s native flora and fauna and the adaptations that help them to survive in their environment. They will investigate how Indigenous Australian’s cared for and managed the land for more than 60,000 years. As we continue throughout the term, students will look at what initiatives are currently in place around Victoria and Australia to promote the survival of flora and fauna. Students will take this newfound knowledge and take actions towards creating positive change. This will require students to use their critical and creative thinking to promote positive change.

 

 

To support your child’s learning at home, you could encourage them to: 

  • Analyse the ending of narrative stories.
  • Read and view a range of narrative stories with varying storylines.
  • Write for a dedicated amount of time (35 minutes) and include a twist, tension, moral or new engaging ending while writing.
  • Write narratives that focus on showing you their learning goal.
  • Explore different strategies to solve mathematical problems.
  • Justify their solutions.
  • Talk through their feelings and emotions.

 

If you have any other queries or matters you would like to discuss with your teachers, please don’t hesitate to organise a meeting.  Your child’s wellbeing is always at the centre of our thoughts and actions.

 

We thank you for your ongoing support and assistance. We are looking forward to a wonderful conclusion to Semester One.

 

Kind Regards,

Yvette Gavalovic, Bianca Liburti, Trish Singh, Kim Stevenson and David Joyce