Grade 5 Term 1 Newsletter

GENERAL COMMENT

This Term Newsletter will provide you with information about your children’s upcoming teaching and learning experiences in the new term. To find out what other year levels are doing, please refer to the school’s website. There is also plenty of additional information provided via Compass throughout the school year, so please make a point of touching base regularly.

GENERAL
Welcome to Term 1, 2021! What a wonderful and positive start we have had. We have transitioned well into our new learning spaces and are slowly filling our walls with learning tasks. The Grade 5 cohort have shown enthusiasm and respect during our first couple of weeks and we expect this to continue throughout the year. We have begun the year reinforcing the high expectations we have of our students and reflecting on the ways in which we are able to maintain these non-negotiables. The Grade 5 students have maintained many of the same routines as last year and will begin to understand the expectations and requirements of being in the Senior Department as the term unfolds.

As the Grade 5 teachers, we aim to promote consistency and unity between the three classes and are excited to work collaboratively to get the very best from our students. There will be opportunities for students to voice opinions and share feedback with each other and their teachers. This year is about generating collaborative learning opportunities, providing leadership opportunities and promoting cooperation amongst our students. We want all students to develop their social and emotional wellbeing, along with their literacy and numeracy skills.

LITERACY
All Grade 5 classes have set up their own classroom libraries. We have a wide variety of fabulous texts of which the students will take ownership, sort, organise and display in their library for everyone to enjoy. Students will have the opportunity to borrow these books to read independently in the classroom daily. Students will continue to be encouraged to practice metacognition and become more aware of their own thinking as they read stories. For example, ‘What questions or wonderings do you have as you are reading?’ ‘Why do you think that?’ ‘Are your wonderings or questions answered in the story?’ ‘How do you know that?’ ‘What does that word mean?’ ‘What can you do if your reading doesn’t make sense?’

Students will be engaged in daily Independent Reading sessions and small group reading support. They will also have the opportunity to be part of a close reading program that will assist in reading a range of articles, highlighting the main idea and answering questions using evidence from the text. Through close reading, students will also be asking detailed questions about the text to further their thinking and comprehension.

In writing, children will once again participate in our Writer’s Workshops, developing their ability to generate seed ideas and write purposeful texts for real audiences. We want students to write with passion and ease, to be motivated, confident writers who see writing as an everyday, useful, even enjoyable tool. Through the use of a ‘Writer’s Notebook’, students will be encouraged to record seed ideas that they can develop into potential written pieces based on their likes, interests and curiosities. Students will be encouraged to explore the many different genres their seed ideas could flow into – narratives, information reports, persuasive pieces etc.

NUMERACY
In Term 1, the Grade 5s will focus on number and place value. Students will investigate the value of larger numbers including how to represent and manipulate these numbers using a range of strategies and materials. Students will be encouraged to solve open ended questions involving addition, subtraction, multiplication and division and problem solve using a variety of strategies. They will be given opportunities to work in collaborative groups to assist each other in their learning.

INQUIRY
During our first few weeks of 2021, Grade 5 students will be inquiring about themselves and sharing information about themselves both as learners and individuals in and out of school. Students will be exploring how to regulate emotions, maintain respectful relationships, their personal traits and will integrate these into their everyday learning.

SCIENCE
In Science this semester, students will be ‘Wildlife Warriors’ exploring their local and global natural environment and analysing how adaptations of living things enhance their survival. Students will predict and describe the effect of environmental changes on individual living things. Students will have the opportunity to inquire and research sustainability as well as look into taking action at a personal and local level. Students will also be visiting Melbourne Zoo to immerse themselves in the topic.

The Grade 5 Department will oversee our school vegetable garden and look at continuing to transform this area into a user friendly space that promotes self-efficiency.

iPADS
Google Classroom will continue to be an accompaniment to our everyday learning. iPads will be required at school, fully charged so that students can continue to access blended learning. Please ensure any non-school based apps are deleted from your child’s iPad to comply with the LLPS User Agreement.
A reminder that Department of Education policy stipulates that phones, watches or other devices with communicative ability cannot be carried by students while on the school premises during school hours, without Principal approval. For further details please refer to the policy documents on Compass and the Lara Lake PS website.

HOMEWORK
Each week the Grade 5 students will receive their homework log sheets as well as an outline of the week’s expectations. Their log requires students to record their Reading and Maths homework and must be signed and dated by a parent/carer each night. According to the Homework Policy, Grade 5 students are required to read for four nights a week, twenty minutes per night. This equates to eighty minutes of reading.
Students are also asked to complete forty minutes of Maths homework per week which is also recorded and initialled by a parent or guardian. The Maths homework involves students using iPad apps such as Sumdog, Sunset Maths, Hit the Button (Times Tables) and Essential Assessment. They are all wonderful resources and we will keep you informed if there are other apps that will be of use throughout the year.

Please ensure your child is bringing their green LLPS reading satchel to school each day so that they may swap their home reading books and borrow from the class library.

There will also be opportunities throughout the term for students to actively write when at home as well as revise the Science content covered in class. Homework is due every MONDAY.

As always, we look forward to working with our families and students to make 2021 the best year yet!

Mrs Torney, Mr Leggett and Mr Joustra