A Snapshot of Learning in Year 5
English
This term we have been focusing on Explicit Direct Instruction to inform our writing. This has helped us recognise the specific grammatical components required to construct compound sentences and complex sentences and punctuate accordingly. We are putting the concept of “little and often” into practice, with students challenged to write many different grammatically correct sentences in creative ways. Year 5 have been using that knowledge of correct sentence structure to form paragraphs and construct sizzling starts to hook the reader from the very first line.
The Daily Review has become a big part of our literacy program, with students continuing to engage with fast paced, high impact lessons. These lessons are aimed at recognising the way digraphs, trigraphs and morphographs can be identified in many different words throughout the English language. Students have been called upon to challenge themselves and each other to build their vocabulary and knowledge of spelling rules.
Maths
Students have been using the Maths Pathway program all year. This program assists students in the development of growth mindset and independent learning. We continue to personalise the learning experience for all students and support them through targeted instruction and rich learning. Small group instruction with a teacher provides the students with an opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of content that they have completed in modules.
Daily Review is also a huge part of our Maths curriculum. Students are able to put their learning that has been previously taught into practice through a range of rich activities. A clear favourite is speed times tables where students complete as many questions as they can, including various challenge questions at the end involving three and four digit numbers.
Religion
In Religion we are developing an understanding and appreciation of mission and the call to mission through Scripture. The students have been exploring and learning to implement ways to continue the mission of Jesus in our school and community.
We will explore further in depth the role of the Caritas organisation and investigate a range of stories that involve Project Compassion to raise awareness and about the challenges experienced by people who live in poverty. We are looking forward to Mission Week next week where we can play our own part in raising awareness and money for those in need.
Science
In Science, we are learning about forces including gravity, wind resistance, aerodynamics and Newton’s Third Law (for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction). We constructed parachutes out of different materials and of different sizes to measure the effect of wind resistance. We had loads of fun throwing them off the second story balcony and timing their fall. We are now setting our sights on a loftier mission to send a bottle rocket straight up into the air as high as we can. Our aim is to apply the concepts of aerodynamics, thrust and stability to ensure our rockets have sufficient fuel (air pressure and water), are adequately streamlined and as stable as possible so they go as high as they can. We will measure the effects of altering the fuel payload on how high they go.
Geography
Our current Geography unit places a big emphasis on the impact of humans on the environment. We split into groups to study specific biomes around the world including polar and tundra, tropical, ocean, wetlands, grasslands, alpine and desert. As we progressed through we began to formulate our own ideas about how these regions could be appropriately settled or used by humans with a deliberate focus on minimising the impact and maximising the natural geographic features. We are now studying how humans manage their environments in well established areas with a specific focus on council zoning in order to segregate specific industries and business from living and community spaces to maximise satisfaction. We have also looked out how communities have evolved to have less negative impacts on the environment through adequate waste management and sustainable building.
Mr Campbell, Mrs Kenny & Mrs Afflick
Year 5 Teachers