Year 5

This term, the Year 5 Writing program will include formal letter writing, developing both informative and persuasive writing skills, and historical fiction narratives. A key focus of the term is composing an application letter to Ms Howley for a prefect role in Year 6. The oral language program will build on students’ persuasive writing strategies through a focus on debating skills, including listening to and presenting arguments on given topics. In Grammar, students will continue to enhance their understanding of sentence level grammar and consolidate areas of need from the Year 5 curriculum. In Novel Studies and Comprehension lessons, the girls will utilise a variety of comprehension strategies to read imaginative and factual texts. This term will include an author study of Michael Morpurgo, with students studying one of his novels in a small group. The girls will engage in shared reading and rich discussion to enhance their understanding of the characters and themes in their novel. The girls will continue using the Reading Plus program to support their reading and vocabulary development. Additionally, students will continue building their understanding of spelling rules through the Spelling Mastery program.

Please note: The girls are expected to read each night for 20–30 minutes.

In Term 4, Year 5 will continue to consolidate and extend their understanding of the four number operations; multiplication and division, addition and subtraction. Students will enhance their knowledge of fractions by looking at ordering common fractions and solving addition and subtraction problems involving fractions with the same denominator. Students will select and use appropriate units to measure area and will learn to calculate the area of rectangles with varied perimeters. Building on their knowledge of time, students will read, interpret and use timetables from real life situations and convert between 12- and 24-hour time formats. Finally, students will continue to develop their understanding of two-dimensional objects by investigating symmetrical properties, including line and rotational symmetry. To conclude the year, students will consolidate their understanding of place value of decimal numbers and whole numbers up to 1 billion.

In the unit The Future is Out There students will journey beyond the Earth’s surface to learn about the Earth’s position in the Solar System and as a dynamic part of a complex, interrelated system. Students will develop their content knowledge of Earth and Space by comparing Earth’s features to those of the other planets in our Solar System. Through exploration of the seasons and phases of the moon, students will gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between the Sun, Earth and Moon. The girls will research how Indigenous Peoples use their knowledge of the night sky to inform their daily lives. Additionally, students will discover more about the exploration of Mars using space technologies and apply their knowledge of the unique conditions on Mars in their design of a space probe.

In Digital Technologies, students will continue to investigate complex algorithms with the Delightex platform (formerly known as CoSpaces) as they further develop their computational thinking skills. They will apply their understanding and skills of coding a Delightex program for a small project that links to their learning of the Solar System. This will be a STEAM focused collaborative project where students will design and code a realistic simulation of the Solar System.

Following on from Term 3, students will continue their study of the Australian colonies in the 1800s, considering significant people and events of this time and their impact on the growth of Australia. Through a continued focus on the development of source analysis skills, the girls will learn about the daily lives of people and groups in the 1800s. Students will study how Australia changed following the Gold Rush and the long-term effects of key events, such as the impact of the Eureka Stockade on Australian democracy. Students will be introduced to the bushrangers, including the infamous Ned Kelly, and will conduct source analysis into Sidney Nolan’s artworks to discover more about his life.

Paris will be the focus in Term 4 for Year 5 students in French. They will familiarise themselves with the names of famous tourist attractions and monuments. Cultural lessons will delve into the history of these Parisian icons and in language lessons the students will learn how to describe the monuments and attractions in French.

This term, the girls will complete their History project about Australia’s colonisation from the Indigenous perspective. Key skills will include identifying different points of view within a historical context and applying knowledge to create either an Infographic or digital collage about their understanding.

Students will learn adjectives and prepositions to provide more detailed descriptions of the house. Using their prior knowledge of designing a floor plan, they will have the opportunity to design a brochure for an open house event.

In Term 4, Music students will reinforce their rhythm and pitch skills through singing, moving and listening activities based on folksongs from around the world. A performance task focusing on accompaniment patterns and chords will conclude the term.

During Wednesday PE lessons, the girls will be participating in a Synchronised Swimming unit and water safety skills for Term 4. They will be required to wear full summer uniform on this day and bring their Ascham Swimming costume, swimming cap, goggles, towel and a change of underwear. On Thursday, students will need to wear their PE uniform to school. They will be participating in a range of activities and games to improve their skills and understanding of the strategies and tactics associated with a range of sports including AFL and Cricket.

In PDH, students will engage in the unit Healthy Bodies. The focus of this unit will be on nutrition, healthy eating and drug education. Students will explore the 5 food groups and the importance of a balanced diet. They will also participate in lessons that develop their understanding of the effects of legal drugs on the body such as caffeine, tobacco and alcohol and discuss how to make safe decisions for their bodies.

The unit Tiny, Strange Worlds, invites students to use photographic techniques and digital manipulation to explore how artists construct illusions. Work by artists David Gilliver, Tatsuya Tanaka, Beth Hoeckel, Achraf Baznani and William Kass are used as a catalyst for exploring how artists may manipulate reality to suggest ideas that may exist only in our dreams and imagination.

Homework assignments will be given in English and History or Science to complement and consolidate concepts taught in class and to develop the skills of independence and responsibility. Homework assignments will be explained in class on a Tuesday and will be due the following Tuesday. In addition, girls will receive weekly homework in Mathematics, Languages and occasionally in other subject areas. These tasks will be recorded in student diaries. Homework help will continue this term, and girls are encouraged to attend these sessions if they require additional teacher support to complete homework tasks.