What's happening this term in our 5/6 area.......

LITERACY 

In Literacy this term, 5/6 students will delve deeper into how to infer meaning from fiction and non-fiction texts. They will learn essential skills such as determining author's bias and analysing the purpose of different texts, including advertising and news articles. They will make connections between what they read and their own lives, and other texts, and use critical analysis to form judgements. We will also focus on reading with fluency and at a suitable pace. 

Students will further develop their skills in writing effective, persuasive texts. They will construct and deconstruct persuasive pieces, learning to apply strategies to convince the reader of their argument or opinion. We are using the Seven Steps to Writing Success to guide the writing process. All students will write and deliver a persuasive speech based on a common theme. Two Year 6 students will have the opportunity to participate in the Darebin District Public Speaking competition, held at the beginning of Term 4 at Northcote High School. This long running competition has seen a high level of success for NPS students, and we have provided several winners and placegetters over recent years. 

We have a weekly spelling and grammar focus. Spelling words all contain the same visual, sound or meaning pattern. These will include silent letters (such as 'h' and 'p'), complex sentences, and using colons and conjunctions correctly.

NUMERACY 

In Maths, students will consolidate their understanding of fractions, decimals, percentages, ratios and proportional reasoning. We will continue to build upon the concepts already learnt in previous terms to engage and empower the students. This term, we will also develop students' skills in Measurement - focusing on volume, capacity and mass. They will have hands on experiences of measuring and calculating using the correct units of measurement, and convert between them, eg. expressing mass in grams and kilograms. In mixed ability groups, students will become more proficient with their geometric skills and language, focusing on locations and transformations (including directional language, enlargements and rotations). In each area of Maths, students create a glossary of relevant maths terminology which assists them to speak in a common, technical language. At every opportunity, Maths skills are linked to real life, practical situations to emphasise the importance of learning these skills. 

OTHER CURRICULUM AREAS 

In Digital Technologies, students will learn to collaborate to create a film trailer. They will need to problem solve to allocate roles, plan, script and perform in a persuasive or entertaining short film trailer about a chosen topic. 

In Performing Arts, students will hone their skills in singing and dancing by rehearsing their production item. We don't want to reveal too much at this stage so we don't ruin the surprise for September 14th. 

In Social Emotional Learning (SEL), the focus is on help seeking. This includes looking at trusting relationships, healthy friendships and support networks. We will also continue to focus on other significant events such as NAIDOC Week. We enable and encourage respectful discussions about topics related to fairness and social justice (past and present), such power imbalances, race, gender, and rights. 

In 5/6 Sport, each student will be placed in a winter team squad, based on their preferences (either basketball, T-ball, Newcombe or Ultimate Frisbee). Every Friday, the squads practise their skills in preparation for a one-off Gala Day, to be held later in Term 3. Weekly interschool sports matches are not occurring this year.