We are half way there...

I know that it is hard to believe, but we are now over half way through the school year.  Time certainly is flying and we are having fun while learning.

This week's post is an overview of what we have in store this term.  Again, it will be a busy time, and doubly so as many of our students and teachers are deeply involved with the school musical.  As rehearsals start to ramp up, our usual schedule will change to accommodate the extra practice time for performers.  The up side is that we will have additional time to inject more art and PE into our learning program for students who are not involved with the musical.

Learning overview for Term 3

Reading

Students will use non-fiction books to practise taking notes and summarising important information. They will also continue to learn a range of different reading strategies to help them work on their individual reading goals during our Readers' Workshop.

Writing

In writing, we will focus on the structure and features of  information reports, linking with our reading work on note-taking and summarising. We will also be targeting sentence structure, including simple, compound and complex sentences, and proofreading and re-crafting skills.

Maths

Important Mathematical concepts that will be covered this term include fractions, decimals and percentages. Spatial concepts will also be taught, including 2D shapes, 3D objects, angles and symmetry. Please support your children to continue practising their number facts at home, as this will assist them when working with fractions, decimals and percentages.

Word Work

• Mrs Layton: spelling patterns for phonemes such as ‘k’ (as in kite, duck, school, bouquet)  
• Miss Hall: Building letter sound knowledge such as igh, y and f, ff, ph.
• Miss Vanderfield: Origins and meanings of complex words, including derivational suffixes, such as -ary (imaginary), -ness (friendliness), -ious (rebellious)
• Mr Nicholls & Miss Rossiter: Alternative spellings for each phonemes for example: j sounds as in jump and gouge and judge
• Mrs Harding: Complex consonants in multi-syllable words, e.g. silent letters, hard and soft g and c

Science

Electrical energy is a part of our everyday lives at home, work and school. We use it for refrigeration, machines and lighting. Portable devices, such as mobile phones, watches and many toys, rely on batteries for electrical energy. Electric circuits allow energy to be transferred from battery to light bulbs, motors and buzzers, where it is changed into light, movement or sound.

'It’s Electrifying' will develop student's understanding through hands-on activities that explore the role of electrons in transferring energy in electric circuits. Using batteries, light bulbs, switches, conductors and insulators, students will investigate how battery-operated devices, such as a torch, work.

History and Social Sciences (HaSS)

'Who’s the Boss?' - our civics and citizenship Inquiry this term will focus on democracy and the Australian system of government.  We will look at a number of forms of government throughout the world and the benefits and responsibilities of living in a democratic state. We will then investigate how our government operates, who represents us in the decision making process and how we can get involved in decisions that affect us.

Health and PE

Healthy Food for Life: We will investigate each of the food groups and how many serves should be eaten a day, as well as how much water we should be drinking. Students will find out how much one serve equals for a variety of food types and see what a balanced food intake is for the day.

PE: This term the Year 5/6 students have begun participating in minor games focusing on teamwork and cooperation, with games such as Kaboom and Jungle Trouble proving to be favourites. Over the coming weeks, students will focus on developing  a range of specific skills through a games sense approach. The skills covered in Term 3 will include overarm and underarm throwing, as well as catching and dodging.

Technologies

Students will participate in the design, make and appraise process in Design and Technology. This learning will link with the Healthy Food for Life learning as students will use the knowledge they have gained about the food groups to design a new food product to meet a set of criteria, make its packaging and reflect on their product.

Japanese

5/6 students will be planning an imaginary trip around Japan, then creating an illustrated diary in Japanese about the trip. They will continue working on hiragana and katakana belts.

Key Dates

Oz Tag Gala Day Wk 3 - Thursday 9 August

5/6 Assembly Wk 3 - Friday 10 August

Musical Wk 5 - Tuesday 21 , Thursday 23 , Friday 24 August

Book Week Wk 5

Dress up Day Wk 5 - Wednesday 22 August

Father’s Day Breakfast Wk 6 - Friday 31 August

Student Led Conference Wk 7 - Monday 3 to Friday 7 September

Grandfriends morning Wk 7 - Monday 3 September