Prep | Year 5 News
Coming up in Year 5
UOI
Where We Are in Place and Time
Mathematics
Addition Subtraction Division and Time
Week 7 – Patterns and Algebra
English
Writing – Historical Narrative
Reading – Understanding Perspective – Visual Literacy
Bathurst Overnight Excursion
In Term 1, Year 5 embarked on their first ever overnight school excursion to Bathurst. We were all so excited to finally be able to go on this adventure and make the big trip over the Blue Mountains and into the country. Our first stop was at Echo Point Lookout in The Blue Mountains. Unfortunately, we had to imagine the beautiful, blue sky that overlooked The Three Sisters, as it was too foggy that morning to see anything at all. It gave us all a bit of a laugh and made for some fun photos in the fog. After learning about Indigenous Culture from an incredible Primary Source we were ready to make our way down the mountain to Bathurst.
On arrival in Bathurst we explored the Bathurst Historical Society and Heritage Centre. What an experience! We saw a huge selection of antiques and historical artefacts preserved within the museum and even had a chance to try out a wide variety of kitchen and home utensils that were used over 100 years ago!
After a quick lap around Mount Panorama race track we pulled up to the Bathurst Goldfields Motel and finally found out what we had all been waiting to hear…CABIN GROUPS! The highlight so far, for sure. We settled into our rooms, chose our bunks and made sure we knew how to get to the closest bathroom for those midnight toilet runs. Our rooms were so cool! Dinner and night time activities kept us entertained in the evenings with line dancing and folk songs by the campfire. Such fun!
Hill End here we come! What a magical place; it was like stepping back in time. Exploring historical buildings and learning about life back in the time of the Gold Rush and of course, Gold Panning. Some of us even struck it lucky and found gold…all five cents worth, but GOLD nonetheless! What an incredible first hand experience of life in the goldfields.
On our journey back home we got to stop at Scenic World in Katoomba for three epic rides. The Scenic Railway, Skyway and Cableway. A wander through the forest and a chance to, finally, take in the incredible views of The Three Sisters, this time with a lot less fog. A brilliant way to end a fun filled, action packed school trip with our friends and teachers.
Unit of Inquiry
In our unit Where We Are in Place and Time, we continue to explore significant events throughout time and their impact on our lives. After exploring an interactive timeline of events throughout the history of time, the boys have identified a significant historical event to complete a collaborative inquiry. Students are working in inquiry groups to find out more about topics ranging from The Black Death to World War 2, The Industrial Revolution to Slavery. We are focussing on finding primary sources to ensure our research is credible and accessing a range of sources to broaden our understanding.
English
In our writing we are developing our skills as writers of historical narrative by exploring the literary devices successful authors use in their writing. Such as personification, alliteration, symbolism and foreshadowing. We have been reading a range of texts by author Jackie French which all contain excellent examples of powerful literary devices to convey meaning and build understanding.
Mathematics
We have been exploring our understanding of multiplication and division and our application of strategy to solve problems. It has been wonderful to see the boys so engaged in demonstrating a range of effective strategies and challenging themselves to try new methods, which they may never have tried before.
Mandarin
This term Year 5 students continue to improve their language skills using Education Perfect as a tool. We focus on student agency in the personalised learning as the assigned tasks put students’ various needs and levels into consideration.
Students are learning and practising useful skills starting from the vocabulary practice and they are guided to use the vocabulary lists. Then they use the word foundation to recognise key information from written and oral texts, as well as to build on sentences with the attention to the word order and sentence structures.
To encourage students’ learning, we have set up vocabulary competitions for bronze, silver and gold medals and many boys are enjoying this.
Music
In Year 5 Music the students are finding their voice again in the Stand Alone Unit The Harmony of Music. They are reconnecting with the School Song and National Anthem as well as beginning to unpack the use of sequence in music compositions. Do Re Mi from the Sound of Music is a prime example to demonstrate the use of sequence (repetition of a phrase at a higher or lower pitch). Through the Concepts of Form, Change and Perspective, students will continue to develop their analysis, composition and performing skills using the music elements as a reference point in developing their ability to improvise, create sequenced melodies, and notate scales and chords.
Christian Studies
The boys were able to complete their presentations on “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”, reflecting on how the characters and concepts are linked. We are beginning our new UOI on “The Bible and Archaeology”. Over the next few weeks, the boys will be exploring two case studies – Pompeii and Masada. They will be investigating the links between the written evidence and the archaeological evidence. They will also be examining how LIDAR (satellite exploration) is discovering hidden locations that enhance our understanding of the past. In Chapel, we will be continuing to think about Covenants and how they were fulfilled in the person of Jesus.
