Welcome
Hi and welcome to the 5/6 team blog for Week 6, Term 3!
Firstly, we would like to say a massive thanks to all of our wonderful Educational Support Staff! Penny, Jason, Tammy, Leanne, Kerry, Anna, Tracey, Mandy, Kellie, Amanda, Denise, Michelle, Millie, Chris, Brendan and Paul, you are all greatly appreciated by the teachers at C.S.P.S and we are so grateful for your continuous help. A special shout out to Tammy, Kerry and Tracey who go above and beyond with their attention to detail, the guidance and the care they show towards all of the 5/6 students.
 
Camp
19 days until camp, please make sure you have handed all notes in as we will be finalising bookings, tickets etc on Monday 22/08/16. 
 
Maths
Measurement is on our minds! After looking at data from the 5/6 cohort we have identified an area for growth. This week we began studying measurement and this will continue for another 2 weeks. So far we have been focussing on the attributes of measurement (length, width, height etc) and how to identify them. We have also been focusing on perimeter and with the weather this week being beautiful and sunny we decided to take our classrooms outside. The students measured the perimeter of the features of our schoolyard, such as; the basketball court, gaga pit, 4 square courts, sand pits and so on.
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Reading
Our Reader's Workshop sessions have been focusing on summarising what the students have read. In particular the students have been identifying the key points and words to then develop their summaries. All students have been working extremely hard to achieve their reading goals. Please make sure your child is reading every night and logging it in their diaries. If the students read 40 nights this term there will be a movie and fun session on the last day of term. We have a visual in the classroom where students are tallying how many nights they have read.

Writing
Our poetry unit was put on hold for 2 weeks as our heads were in the Olympic Games. We will return to our poetry unit at the start of next week. The writing focus has been to research and create an information report about a Summer Olympian of their choice. The students were given a rubric to follow and guide their investigation.
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Inquiry
Pack your bags, we are leaving Rio!
We have completed our Inquiry topic on the Olympics and are returning to Immigration. The students will begin researching for their summative assessment task. Please have a look at the rubric and discuss with your child. Ask ‘What country are you immigrating from?’ and ‘What country are you immigrating to?’ Country is the key word! Some students are finding it difficult to identify the difference between a country and a continent, could you please follow this up with a discussion at home.

Summative Assessment Task
Immigration
Task Instruction:

1. Choose a country other than Australia that you will be immigrating from.
2. Choose a country other than Australia that you will be immigrating to. E.g. Canada to China
3. Research both countries and complete a Venn Diagram about similarities and differences or things that are the same e.g., traditions, food, national costume, music etc.
4. Write a short story about your reasons for leaving, your hopes and your dreams from your perspective as an immigrant e.g. better life, better education, better job.
5. Make or bring to school a small suitcase. This will be for you to put in the things that you think will be important for your new life e.g. passport (make one)
6. Organise a traditional costume so you can dress in character for our expo (T.B.A) (this would be from the country you are migrating from)

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Reminders
Please hand in any camp notes ASAP and make sure you circle either 'Yes' or 'No' to dropping your child off at the train station.
Important dates to remember:

Tuesday 23rd August- Student Led Conferences. Please make sure you have booked a time.
Wednesday 7th September - Camp

Welcome
Hi and welcome to the 5/6 team blog for Week 4, Term 3! 5 more weeks until camp, please make sure you have all notes signed and handed in. 
Maths
Following on from our Money Maths topic, the 5/6s held a Maths Exhibition where the students showcased their learning. The students should be extremely proud of themselves as they all presented a fantastic project! We have begun a new topic for Maths and are now studying Statistics and Probability, which will tie into the Olympics as we follow the Australian team.












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Reading
Our Reader's Workshop sessions have been focusing on deepening our schema/prior knowledge. We have been deepening our knowledge on the Olympics this week as this is a hot topic in our classes. Again, this strategy is to broaden student knowledge by expanding their thinking and adding to their prior knowledge. We have been using resources from the Olympics Official Home Page. Here is the link if you would like to explore and expand your own schema:
www.olympic.org/

Writing
In our Writer's Workshop sessions we have been investigating and researching different structures of poems and the variety of poems. We have researched varieties to expand student thinking and understanding of poetry. Next week we will begin drafting our own poems.

Inquiry
Our Inquiry topic is the Olympics while they are in action. We will continue with Immigration in a fortnight which will then tie back in with camp and our visit to the Immigration Museum. The Olympic Inquiry unit has a Big Idea of "The goal of the Olympic Movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world". Students will explore and break the Big Idea down by investigating and researching an athlete of their choice and creating a biography about them. 

Reminders
Again, please hand in any camp notes ASAP and make sure you circle either 'Yes' or 'No' to dropping your child off at the train station.
Important dates to remember:

Monday 8th August - CSPS Olympics Opening Day. Please wear colours that represent your class's country
Tuesday 9th August - Health and Human Development begins for Year 5 and 6
Wednesday 7th September - Camp