Prep | Year 5 News

Coming up in Year 5

UOI

Week 7-9 How we Express Ourselves

Mathematics

Week 7-9 Patterns and Algebra

English

Writing/Reading

Weeks 7-9 Imaginative: Poetry

Growth – Buddies

What fun we had finally meeting our Pre-K buddies in Week 4. We enjoyed some special time in the Pre-K space, meeting new friends and playing games. It was wonderful to see our Year 5 boys modelling such outstanding behaviour and playing so well with their buddy. Every two weeks we will meet with our Pre-K friends and share fun experiences together. As teachers, we particularly enjoyed hearing the stories the boys shared after our visit and the excitement on the Pre-K boys faces when they saw their buddy around the school after our visit.

Unit of Inquiry

The Year 5 teachers were thrilled to see the conceptual learning that has taken place across our Where We Are in Place and Time Unit of Inquiry. The Unit culminated in a series of outstanding presentations, where students synthesised their understanding of how human response to significant events, due to their values, perspectives and mindsets, has shaped societies. While some of the themes explored were conceptually mature, students attempted to gain empathetic understanding for choices and sometimes, mistakes, that were made in the past. The boys overcame the challenges involved in collaborative inquiry, by developing their approaches to learning. We have observed particular growth in research skills and critical thinking.

This week, we continued the Who We Are Unit of Inquiry, with a focus on developing healthy, respectful relationships, and making decisions to keep ourselves safe. It would be beneficial to continue discussions at home about healthy relationships and keeping safe in different contexts.

English

Building on our understanding of how authors use language devices to bring characterisation to settings, the boys in Year 5 have explored how we can understand perspectives and values of historical events. We now understand that we can view this through the lenses of literature, primary sources and art. We have broken down various historical fiction texts to analyse how authors write to convey value, and to help us deepen our understanding of our Unit of Inquiry investigations. Year 5 boys are now beginning to write, edit and publish their own historical fiction texts, focussing on how to convey values and perspectives to the audience. Keep watching this space to keep up to date with the authors in Year Five!

Mathematics

Over the past few weeks, the students have continued to inquire into multiplication and division. To apply our skills in these areas we have been working on our skills as problem solvers to apply our understanding of these concepts. In our inquiry into time we have been covering the concepts of 24-hour time, elapsed time, and time zones within Australia including daylight saving. As part of this investigation we conducted some time activities, recording and ordering measures of time completing different activities. We also came up with our own questions to further our understanding of the information we had gathered. You might like to discuss with them the benefits of a 24-hour clock or why we even have daylight saving. Has its time passed? Following this we will begin work on Patterns and Algebra.

Mandarin

Year 5 boys have been enjoying the vocabulary competitions and they have boosted their word learning and practice in reading, listening, writing and dictation translating in between English and Chinese.

The teacher focused groups have started in Week 4. While the class concentrates on the assigned learning tasks, the teacher meets small groups checking their learning and creating chances for the boys to communicate in Chinese with their peers. There are a variety of activities in the focused groups, including language recognition, reading, speaking, quiz and competitive games.

Music

In Year 5 Music the students are finding their voice again in the Stand Alone Unit The Harmony of Music. They are reconnecting with the School Song and National Anthem as well as beginning to unpack the use of sequence in music compositions. Do Re Mi from the Sound of Music is a prime example to demonstrate the use of sequence (repetition of a phrase at a higher or lower pitch). Through the Concepts of Form, Change and Perspective, students will continue to develop their analysis, composition and performing skills using the music elements as a reference point in developing their ability to improvise, create sequenced melodies, and notate scales and chords.

Christian Studies

The boys were able to complete their presentations on “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”, reflecting on how the characters and concepts are linked. We are beginning our new UOI on “The Bible and Archaeology”. Over the next few weeks, the boys will be exploring two case studies – Pompeii and Masada. They will be investigating the links between the written evidence and the archaeological evidence. They will also be examining how LIDAR (satellite exploration) is discovering hidden locations that enhance our understanding of the past. In Chapel, we will be continuing to think about Covenants and how they were fulfilled in the person of Jesus.