5/6 Area Newsletter Term 4 2018

ENGLISHReading and Viewing :

This term sees the addition of our fantastic new classroom libraries which are already being appreciated by our students. We look forward to many more books finding their way to the shelves, thanks to the wonderfully generous donations from community members. Students will continue to learn and practise a range of reading strategies and skills to support their learning. Some areas we will focus on include evaluation and reaction to texts. We will also be analysing and critiquing texts, that is, teaching skills that help students think beyond and about the text at a deeper level. The students will do this by exploring a variety of reading materials including guided readers, newspaper articles and electronic media and complete tasks independently and/or cooperatively. These skills will also be taught through ‘Guided Reading,’ ‘Reciprocal Reading’ and/or ‘Literature Circle groups. Each reading lesson will also include independent reading. Students will be conferencing with their teacher to create specific individual reading goals. They will review their progress toward their set goals at regular intervals throughout the term. It is through this process that we hope to encourage a genuine and self-motivated love of reading for all students in 5/6 as they are able to have an authentic voice in their own learning. A great way to prepare your children for this new addition to our reading program is to have a conversation with them about what they think their reading goal might be.

Writing: For our last term of 2018, the 5/6 unit will be creating their own short stories for a class story book as a gift for our year 6 students to take with them onto high school. Finding lots of rich, quality short stories during the holidays is a great way to start preparing our students for a successful final term. In the middle of the term we will briefly look at procedural texts before ending with a four week unit of poetry to finish off the year.

Speaking and Listening:Speaking and listening are necessary for effective communication. Students will have the opportunity to explore and practice important skills that include the ability to share and clarify their ideas depending on the context and purpose, eg. entertaining, informing and/or influencing others. They will also explore and develop the spoken language features such as pace, pitch and pronunciation to enhance meaning. Students will do this through class discussions, circle time, presentations, unit and whole school activities and opportunities that may arise during the term.

Mathematics*In Term 4 students will continue their exploration and study of fractions. This will involve addition, subtraction, multiplication and division with the same and different denominators. Students will make links between fractions, decimals and percentages and create simple financial plans. They will extend their knowledge of place value beyond hundredths. *Students will explore prime and square numbers, and explain and continue patterns. *Worded problems will continue to be a whole school focus and students will be required to choose mathematical strategies to solve them. They will need to justify their reasoning and use estimation to check the reasonableness of their answers. Students will explore solving number sentences using the correct order of operations and learn to calculate percentage discounts.

*The instant recall of basic mathematical facts will continue to be of vital importance to your child’s mathematical success. You can support your child by testing their automatic recall of

number facts in multiplication and division by simply drilling them with tables facts.

*In measurement, students will explore angles. They will identify, measure and compare 2D and 3D shapes and measure angles within a shape. Students will use a grid reference system to describe location and routes using landmarks. Students will explore the translation, reflection and rotation of shapes. Students will order pairs of integers to represent coordinates of points and locate a point in any one of the four quadrants on the Cartesian plane. Students will also measure and record temperatures and make predictions of the probability of an event. Finally, students will represent probabilities of those outcomes using fractions.

* We recommend that students practise and improve their mathematical fluency through playing online maths games, particularly Manga High. Students have their own unique login and the platform is designed to regulate the level of difficulty as the child plays so that it is pitched at the optimal level for each individual. All students in Grade 5/6 have their own log in to Manga High and can access tasks at home to practise skills and work towards gaining points in tasks. They are encouraged to work on their areas of need throughout the week, as part of their regular home learning.

Values The focus for our values lessons in Term 4 is developing

resilient students, ready to be leaders in Grade 6 or begin their High School life in Year.The unit focuses on what it means to be resilient and how that quality impacts on their lives.Students will explore how stresses can affect them and learn to recognise this in others.Through discussion, questions, activities and Circle Time, the unit looks at how we can manage our stress and develop strategies to cope with the challenges presented.

InquiryThis term the students will be immersed in a monetary unit of work titled: Money Makes the World Go Around. This unit supports students in becoming informed consumers encouraging them to make effective financial decisions. Students will participate in a range of activities as well as research, to develop their knowledge related to the management of money and making choices. The students will be developing, producing and marketing a product or service. They will work in groups to develop a business plan including a budget and marketing strategies. The products or services will be marketed and sold at the school market.

Home LearningEach week students will be expected to read a book from the school library, the student’s personal collection or the local library. Students must also practise their times tables, learn spelling words and in addition complete a home learning task

as directed by the teacher, which is also uploaded to the 5/6 blog on the Coburg West Primary School website. The tasks usually have a learning focus for that week such as Maths, Inquiry, Values. If you have any questions about homework, speak to your child’s classroom teacher.

*Grade 6 Graduation will be held in Week 11. Details about how Grade 5 families can help the Grade 6 families celebrate graduation, will be sent home in Term 4 with additional details. Keep an eye out for them.

IMPORTANT DATES FOR TERM 4

Week

Date Event

2 19.10.18 T20 Cricket Blast Day Tournament5 6.11.18 Melbourne Cup Public Holiday5 16.11.18 Great 6 Basketball Tournament, Coburg

Basketball Stadium6 23.11.18 Great 5 Basketball Tournament, Coburg

Basketball Stadium6 16.11.18 Grade 6 Graduation practice begins/ Grade

5 Yearbook9 3.12.18 Grade 5/6 Market Day10 11/12/18 Grade 6 Orientation day: government

schools11 18.12.18 Grade 5 Reports home11 19.12.18 Grade 6 Reports home11 19.12.18 Grade 6 Graduation

Dinner for Grade 6 Students at 5:30pm in the Adrian De Ross Hall(small hall).Family get together 6:00pm in the courtyardGraduation ceremony in the BER Building(large hall) at 7:00pm.

11 20.12.18 End of year celebration at MSAC11 21.12.18 Last day of term and the year, finishing at

1.30Next year

27.2.19 to 1.3.19

For Your Information: 2019 Grade 6 CAMP

Grade 6 Sport Fixture