Only 3 more weeks left of the 2016 school year! It’s not over yet though, we still have many fun and exciting things planned. Year 6 graduation, 2017 student leader applications and much, much more.
 
Graduation:
Could you please make sure your child has brought in a picture of themselves as a baby and when they were in prep. We need these photos for the graduation presentation that is coming up really soon.
 
Numeracy:
In Numeracy we have been looking at factors and multiples. Firstly, we asked the students what they knew about factors, multiples, and composite and prime numbers. After discovering the students' prior knowledge we then had the students playing games using playing cards where they explored the differences between factors and multiples, and prime and composite numbers.
 
Reading:
During our Reader’s Workshop we have been looking at synthesising and organising our prior and new knowledge. The students have been identifying their prior knowledge on each state of Australia, then after reading facts and history on each state, they have been adding their new knowledge. We have had many incidental teaching moments where the students have explored their particular interests and misconceptions of states, capital cities and locations.
 
Writing:
The students have successfully finished publishing their information reports and have chosen excellent words to enhance their pieces, along with strong structure and organisation. We will begin our new unit of writing, immersing and identifying the ways authors use the traits in their writing. At the end of this writing unit the students will have published a picture storybook that they will share with their buddies in prep.
 
Inquiry:
The billy carts are complete! We have had a busy few weeks constructing and designing billy carts. We had a practise run this week, it looks as though it will be a tough competition on our Billy-cart Derby Day at C.S.P.S!!

Inquiry:
In weeks 4 and 5, the grade 5/6 students have begun their Billycart projects. So far it has been fantastic to see students working together in teams to complete a variety of tasks. Students have created in their booklets: team names, essential agreements and logos. They then acquired their timber and worked as a team to measure and cut it into the appropriate lengths. As teams they have then painted their timber and seats and will soon be drilling and constructing the final parts of their billycarts.

Numeracy:
This week we have begun our new unit of numeracy, and we our now deepening our knowledge of number and place value. In particular, we have been looking at factors, multiples, prime numbers and composite numbers.
Last week we had the Victorian Maths Challenge. It was great to see parents there!!
 
Reading:
The students have done an incredible job of refining their skill of summarising. Students understand they need to identify the key points and key phrases, and then sequence their work chronologically.
 
Writing:
Our students have successfully chosen, drafted, revised and edited their Information Reports and are currently publishing. We are absolutely flabbergasted by the excellent word choice, sentence fluency and organisation. Well done years 5/6!!

The never ending challenges and fun continue to be a highlight in the Year 5/6 Learning Community.
 
Inquiry:
 
Students have begun their new Inquiry, which is based around Teamwork. They are working in groups of 6 and together they have created a team name, a Team Essential Agreement (which describes how their team will look, sound and feel like), and their own big idea. Some examples of these are;
‘Teamwork is essential’
‘There is no I in Team so we all work together’
‘Working together brings us closer together’
‘To get a good outcome you need to work well with your team’
In their teams the goal is to successfully build a Billycart and race it in the CSPS Great Billycart Derby, date TBA. As the unit evolves we will share more information and details. We would love any extra help during our construction sessions, which are Tuesday and Thursday from 2:00-3-30pm. You will need a Working With Children Check which is free for volunteers and available from the Post Office.
 
 
Numeracy:
 
We have been continuing to develop our understanding of fractions and have begun using the 4 processes to problem solve simple tasks moving toward more challenging tasks. The students have been using various strategies and skills to do this. Ask them how to divide fractions, it’s an interesting concept!
 
Reading:
 
This week we have begun a new focus in reading, we are revisiting Summarising. To do this it is important that the students can pick out the key words so that they can write a short summary in their own words. The students were amazing at tapping into their prior knowledge and got straight into the task.  Mr Richards happened to be in the room and was impressed with our note taking skills! Being able to summarise with the right amount of important information is a great skill to have especially during their further education at High School.
 
Writing:
 
After our Information Report immersion over the past two weeks, we are continuing to explore concepts, which will help the students produce high quality pieces of text. Some of these concepts are word choice, which can be quite different in a non-fiction text as opposed to a fiction text, and conventions, which includes capitalisation and correct spelling. Grammar is also important as it contributes to clarity and style, and paragraphs in the right place help organise the text. We are looking forward to the highly informative reports the students are developing to be published.