Grade 5

What’s Happening in Term 2 2023

Reading

Throughout this semester, we will enhance your child’s comprehension of non-fiction and fiction works by implementing reciprocal teaching groups and whole class lessons. Our focus will be on investigating key reading strategies such as predicting, clarifying, questioning, and summarising. To identify individual reading goals, we will be using the PROBE reading comprehension assessment results, which all students undertook in term one. Furthermore, we will delve deeper into the novel ‘Wonder’ and explore its themes.

Writing

In writing, we are exploring the elements of information reports. To begin students will learn how to structure a paragraph effectively using subheadings, topic sentence and related facts, and identify what they want their reader to learn. They will be taught how to paraphrase using multiple strategies and apply this when rewriting researched information. Students will have opportunities to write about topics of interest and importance that connect to our inquiry unit, using specific scientific vocabulary. When completed students will have a full information report consisting of introduction, three informative paragraphs and conclusion with supporting title and diagrams. These information reports will be published in multiple ways including, posters, SWAY and PowerPoint presentations. Towards the end of the term students will explore transactional writing. They will have opportunities to apply learnt persuasive devices to write in the forms of letters, invitations or journal entries. 

Mathematics

In number and algebra, students will develop a deep understanding of addition and subtraction through exploration and practice. They’ll learn a range of efficient mental strategies, such as split, jump, and vertical, to add and subtract numbers up to the tens of thousands. These strategies will incorporate techniques like partitioning, rearranging, and regrouping to solve problems. Additionally, they’ll use estimation and rounding to ensure the reasonableness of their answers and explore the inverse relationship between addition and subtraction. Through collaboration with teachers and peers, students will apply their addition and subtraction skills to real-world contexts, honing their mathematical reasoning abilities.

In applied, the focus of the term will be on measurement and geometry. Students will develop a thorough understanding of length, perimeter, and area, and apply this knowledge to accurately calculate measurements using both scaled informal and standard units. Additionally, we’ll explore data and statistics, delving into the collection, organisation, representation, interpretation, and analysis of data. These transferable skills will be investigated through authentic inquiry into real-world problems, providing students with practical experience in applying their mathematical knowledge.

Inquiry

The main inquiry question for this term’s Geography/History unit is ‘What makes Australia unique?’ Students will engage in collaborative tasks to research important events that shaped the Australian colonies, contributed to Australian Federation and the effects of these on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and migrants.

SEL (Social Emotional Learning)

This term in SEL, students will be working through The Resilience Project and Respectful Relationships program. With a strong focus on gratitude, empathy, mindfulness and emotional literacy, students will be given opportunities to explore different approaches and strategies to cope with situations in a positive way.