Welcome to Year 5, 2013
Term Letter Print Version | Overview of Year 5 Maths Curriculum 2013
How to communicate with your child's teacher
Term Letter, Term 2, 2013
Dear Families
It was lovely to meet parents at the recent Parent/Teacher interviews, and it was wonderful to have the opportunity to discuss your child’s progress with you. Term 2 is shaping up to be another hectic term with Cross Country and Gala Sports starting in week 4. We will be requiring some parent support for Gala Sport, and will forward a letter of request for your assistance in the near future.
Below is an overview of the content we will be covering in Term 2. As you read below you will see that we have an action packed term ahead. As always if you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
NAPLAN preparation
As students in Year 5 will be involved in the annual NAPLAN testing in May, we will initially concentrate on the aspects of Literacy and Numeracy they may encounter during the three days of testing. We will have a particular focus on the writing of persuasive texts, so that our students are aware of the structure and language that is required. We have already had numerous sessions on this activity using a variety of topics, and will also ask our students to write persuasive texts to develop and explain a point of view (a book review) about a book of choice.
Religious Education
Students will be making connections between contexts of scriptural texts and the audiences of the text. They will connect scriptural texts with the lives and times of the people of that time, and will analyse scriptural texts in light of their historical, social and cultural contexts to arrive at personal and shared meanings.
English
We will focus, for the first four weeks of the term, on Australia’s involvement in conflicts, including the World Wars. Students will investigate the Legend of the ANZACs and explore the impact of war on our nation. This will provide us with a range of contexts to continue to develop our persuasive writing skills, including being able to identify the pattern in a paragraph of a persuasive text and see how this structure supports us to move beyond making bare assertions. Students will use the metalanguage of topic sentence (main ideas), supporting detail (explanation of the main idea) and linking sentence (link to the argument). We will continue to develop our handwriting, grammar and punctuation skills through this context.
We will also continue our studies of Australian Poetry with local Bush Poet Noel Stallard, and will have a performance alongside Year 5 classes from two other schools later this term.
Mathematics
Our Term Two mathematics programme will continue to be enhanced by the use of the iMaths Programme, which explores numeracy through maths investigations. Some of the maths topics covered this term will include
- Addition and subtraction of fractions;
- Division by a one-digit number, including those that result in a remainder
- Three-dimensional objects;
- Chance and probability.
I have attached a copy of our maths programme for your information. Students also participate in maths rotational activities twice per week, using iPads and “Maths in a Box” and “Think Tank” resources, which provide a wide range of challenging activities for multiple ability levels. They will also complete a Maths Investigation requiring them to plan and design an educational game of dominoes that show equivalent fractions.
Science
Students will look at the Earth as part of a system of planets orbiting around a star (the sun). Students will identify the planets of the solar system and compare how long they take to orbit the sun, model the relative size of the planets and recognise the role of the sun as a provider of energy for the Earth.
History
Our unit this term relates to the settlement of Australia, in particular Life on the Australian Goldfields, and also incorporates English, The Arts and Information Technologies. The English component of this topic will include writing a recount and making picture books about The Eureka Stockade.
Health and PE
Mrs Evans, our PE Specialist, has started the term with activities to develop netball skills. This includes gaining an understanding of the rules and concepts as well as practical experience in various game skills (i.e. breaking, defence) in preparation for the Zone 4 Gala Sports. Later in the term we begin to review a variety of athletics skills, these include shot put, ball games, and long jump in preparation for the athletics carnival in term three. During the various activities students are developing various skills including team building and social skills as they work together teams. We will also continue to participate in cooperative games as part of our whole school implementation of The Game Factory. These games are invaluable to the development of the individual and the way in which they relate to their classmates and community. Year 5 students are also participating in preparations for the Cross Country season, and run for 15minutes most mornings at school with the Year 6/7’s. For those students who are keen, Kilometre Club takes place each Tuesday morning at Sid Loder Park and Thursday mornings at school.
Music
This term, Mrs Johnson will work with Year 5 students to consolidate and practice all known rhythms and demonstrate this through a variety of musicianship activities. Melodically they will consolidate their knowledge and performance of the pentatonic scale and apply this to known repertoire.
LOTE
Year 5 students will learn to name the small things in their desks and the larger items in the classroom. They will be able to ask politely for a classroom item. As well as this they will learn classroom language associated with manners. They will also learn to listen to classroom instructions in Japanese and ask the teacher politely May I go to the bathroom, have a drink etc. They will learn how to count to 100 and colours will be reinforced. Culturally, students will investigate similarities and differences in the Japanese and Australian education system as well as Japanese classrooms, expectations and ways of learning.
What else is happening?
- Gala Sports start on Friday of Week 4. The Year 5 students are playing Netball this term and games will be played each Friday morning at Downey Park for six weeks. If you can help with coaching or umpiring I would be very grateful. My thanks to Jackson Rielly’s mum, Brenda, who has kindly offered to provide some coaching for the Year 5’s to prepare them in advance for Gala Sports.
- Because of our involvement in Gala Sports on Friday mornings, Library borrowing has been rescheduled to take place on Mondays.
- Homework is distributed each Friday, and returned for marking the following Friday. Homework consists of some Mathematics and English activities, plus additional Project work that relates to our classroom program. Students in Year 5 are also strongly encouraged to read for at least fifteen minutes every night.
- Dance lessons are every Thursday with Miss Nicole.
Some key dates for Year 5 in Term 2 are:
Tuesday 30 April (7:00pm) |
Information Session for parents of Year 5 & 6 students |
Friday 10 May – Friday 14 June |
Inter-school Gala Sports |
Tuesday 14 - Thursday 16th May |
NAPLAN Testing |
Friday 24 May (2pm) |
Year 5 Prayer Assembly |
Wednesday 29 May (Teralba Park) |
O.L.D. Cross Country Carnival |
Monday 10 June |
Queen’s Birthday Holiday |
Wednesday 12 June (Teralba Park) |
Zone 4 Cross Country Carnival |
If you have any concerns or issues, you are welcome to contact me at any time.
I hope you and your family enjoy the term and thank you for your continued support.
Kind regards,
Duncan Crawford Patrick Davis
Classroom Teacher Principal
Overview of Year 5 Maths Curriculum 2013
How to communicate with your child's teacher