GRADE 5
GRADE 5 CURRICULUM NEWS 2020
Introduction
Welcome to Term 1, 2020! What a wonderful and positive start we have had. We have transitioned well into our new collaborative spaces and are slowly filling our walls and windows with bright and colourful learning tasks. The new Grade 5 cohort have shown enthusiasm and respect during our first couple of weeks and we expect this will continue throughout the year. The students have settled in well, making new friends and catching up with old friends. 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.
In the Grade 5 Department, we aim to promote consistency and unity between each of our five classes and are excited to work in open, collaborative learning spaces for the 2020 school year. There will be the opportunity 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 begun setting 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 and at home. 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 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 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.
Measurement will feature throughout the term whereby students will estimate, measure and convert units (mm, cm, m, km, kg, ml, l). At home, cooking, measuring and discussing numbers and the cost of items would be of great assistance to the students.
Quick number facts and more advanced problems will feature each day in Mathematics lessons, so a basic understanding of the 4 processes (+, -, x, /) is expected, for example 25 plus 7 =?, 44 divided by 4=?, 12 take away 8=?. Knowledge of times tables 1-12 is expected and practice encouraged regularly if there are gaps in knowledge.
Inquiry
During our first few weeks of 2020, Grade 5 students will be inquiring about themselves and sharing information about themselves as learning and individuals outside of school. Students will be exploring personal traits and will be integrating these into their everyday learning.
As we move beyond getting to know one another, the Grade 5 students will transition into our Semester 1 Inquiry topic, ‘Sustainability’. Students will be immersed in a range of texts and short videos (such as BTN episodes) that show us what our environmental footprint really looks like on a global, local and personal scale.
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 be required to use their own questions, initiative, ideas and research to promote sustainability in the department and in the school. 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.
New Department of Education guidelines stipulate that no mobile phones or smart watches can be used on the school premises during school hours. 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 a homework log. This log requires students to record their Reading and Maths homework, as well as evidencing research on our weekly spelling study. We will be exploring four word/spelling concepts this year – etymology, orthography, phonology and morphology. 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. This must be recorded and then initialed by a parent or guardian.
Students are also asked to complete forty minutes of Maths homework per week which is also recorded and initialed by a parent or guardian. The Maths homework involves students using iPad apps such as Mathletics, 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.
We encourage families to begin noticing patterns, rules, base words, prefixes and suffixes in words that surround us each day. This will allow students to begin growing and developing a more extensive vocabulary. Increased vocabulary has significant impacts on a child’s ability to access and comprehend texts, as well as create more complex written pieces for varied audiences and purposes.
As always, we look forward to working with our families and students to make 2020 the best year yet!