Footscray City

Primary School

5A and 6A Newsletter
Term 3, 2016

Dear families of 5A and 6A,

We welcome you to term 3 with enthusiasm and excitement! This term, we will be exploring the origins of fairy-tales, fractured
fairy-tales, poetry, financial numeracy, geometry and earth sciences. Please read our newsletter to familiarise yourself with
key dates, as well as to gain further information about our curriculum focus.
IMPORTANT TERM DATES

Drama curriculum has started

Chris Botheras Maths Planning

School Disco

100 Days of School

Week 1
Monday 11th Friday 15th of July
Monday, 11th
Week 2
Monday 18th Friday 15th of July
Tuesday, 19th and Thursday, 21st
Friday, 22nd
Week 3
Monday 25th Friday 29th of July
Friday, 29th

Week 4
Monday 1st Friday 5th of August
NA
NA
Week 5
Monday 8th Friday 12th of August
Grade 6 only: Secondary school placement letters
Wednesday, 10th of August
sent home
Thursday, 11th of August
Grade 6 only: Parents/guardians may lodge non Thursday, 11th August
appeals with secondary colleges
Start Smart Financial Numeracy incursion 5/6
Week 6
Monday 15th Friday 19th of August
Science Week
All week 6
Week 7 - 8
Monday 22nd of August Friday 2nd of September
Book Week
All week 7
Book Week Parade
Friday, 19th (9:15am)
Curriculum Day: Classroom instruction that works
Friday 19th
Literacy and Numeracy Week
All week 8
Week 9 - 10
Monday, 5h of September 16th of September
Student led conferences
Monday, 12th to Thursday, 15th
5/6 celebration of learning (Science Fair)
Thursday, 15th
Interim reports sent home
Friday, 9th

Footscray City

Primary School

Last day of school - 1:30p.m. dismissal

Friday, 16th of September

SPECIALIST TIMETABLES FOR TERM 3 (SUBJECT TO CHANGE DUE TO CURRICULUM EVENTS)

5A

MONDAY
Phys-Ed

TUESDAY
Mr. Harris

WEDNESDAY
Music

6A

Phys-Ed

Mr. Harris

Music

THURSDAY
Art
Mandarin
Art
Mandarin

FRIDAY
Sport (5/6)
Sport (5/6)

LITERACY
The Literacy program will cover a range of reading comprehension strategies, writing text types, speaking and listening
skills and spelling, grammar and punctuation investigations. Our sequence of learning includes traditional fairy-tales,
fractured fairy-tales, and poetry and explanation text. Students will;

Reading
Become familiar with the typical stages and language
features of such text types as narratives and how they
can be composed and presented in written, digital and
multimedia forms
Identify differences in the use of narrator, narrative
structure and voice and language style and register
Notice details in illustrations that provide insight into
characters feelings or motives in graphic texts or
convey action
Examine character traits in a complex way, recognizing
that they are multidimensional and change over time
Understand the difference between poetic and ordinary
language
Identify the beat or rhythm of a poem and its relation to
line breaks
Demonstrate changing perspective as events in a story
unfold, particularly applied to people and cultures
different from the readers own
Draw conclusions from information using prior
knowledge.
Spelling
Continue to build on personal spelling words
Continue to accumulate wondrous words for writing
Continue to participate in targeted spelling investigations
based on students needs.

Writing
Plan, draft and publish imaginative texts choosing text
structures, language features, images and sound
appropriate to purpose and audience
Identify the degrees of words in narrative when
describing character
Break stereotypes in traditional fairy-tales when writing
Understand that writers can learn to write poems from
studying mentor texts
Understand poetry as a unique way to communicate
about feelings, sensory ideas, images or stories
Write poems that take a variety of shapes
Appropriate grammatical features, including more
complex sentences and relevant verb tense, pronoun
reference, adverb and noun groups/phrases for effective
descriptions
Include facts, figures and graphics as appropriate
Use literary language to make the topic interesting.

Speaking and Listening

Understand and talk about the role of setting in realistic
and historical fiction as well as fantasy
Identify the narrative voice in a literary work, discussing
the impact of first person narration on empathy and
engagement
Talk about how the writer built interest and suspense
across a story
Discuss and critique aspects of genre.
Listen actively to others read or talk about their writing
and give feedback.
Tell stories with effective us of intonation and word
stress to emphasize important ideas
Use expression, tone and pitch when presenting
Have an effective beginning to capture attention
Present information in ways that engage listeners.

Footscray City

Primary School

MATHEMATICS
Our first two weeks of Numeracy will involve revision of Multiplication and Division facts. We will also be running
our Scaffolding Numeracy Program weekly, which aims to develop multiplicative reasoning in students, as well as
a broad range of problem solving skills
The mathematics program from weeks 3 to 10 will cover a range of topics including;
Number & Algebra
Topic/learning outcomes
Decimal Numeration

Add and subtract decimals, with and

without digital technologies, and use
estimation and rounding to check the
reasonableness of answers
Multiply decimals by whole numbers
and perform divisions by non-zero
whole numbers where the results are
terminating decimals, with and without
digital technologies
Multiply and divide decimals by powers
of 10.
Topic/learning outcomes
Financial Numeracy

Explain plans for simple budgets.

Students create a simple financial plan.
Calculate a simple fraction of a quantity
and calculate common percentage
discounts on sale items, with and
without the use of digital technology.
Investigate and calculate 'best buys'
and solve problems involving simple
ratios, with and without the use of digital
technology.

Vocabulary
Decimal, parts, conversion, percentage, powers, exponents, terminating
decimals, estimation.

Vocabulary
Economy, budget, best buy, percentage of and off, discount, mark up,
financial, bank, income, tax, return, time frame, goal, priorities, timelines,
spread sheets.

Measurement and Geometry

Topic/learning outcomes
Metric system (year 5 focus)

Connect decimal representations to the

metric system
Convert between common metric units
of length, mass and capacity
Solve problems involving the
comparison of lengths and areas using
appropriate units
Connect volume and capacity and their
units of measurement
Topic/learning outcomes

Vocabulary
Metric prefixes and meanings, length, mass, capacity, volume, linear, height,
distance, area.

Vocabulary

Footscray City
Geometric Reasoning (year 6 focus)

Know the features of acute, right,

obtuse, straight and reflex angles and
the range of degrees.
Understand that there is a range of
degrees that define each angle.
Estimate, measure and compare and
construct angles using a protractor.
Know relationships exist between
objects.
Understand how to describe relationship
between spatial objects.
Know that transformations are
processes that happen to shapes and
may change the orientation.
Understand each process of
transformation and how rotational
symmetry works.

Primary School

O
btuse, acute, right, reflex, congruent, polygons
(prefix poly, base word gon), equilateral, isosceles, scalene, corners, sides,
protractor, line symmetry, parts, wholes, composite shapes, non-examples,
properties, rotation, translation, reflection, enlargement, dilation, rotational
symmetry.

INTEGRATED CURRICULUM
Integrated Curriculum Units engage students by teaching new concepts and skills, which are transferrable to other areas of the
curriculum. The Integrated Curriculum in term 3 will explore the topic of Science, our earth and the changes it is subjected to
due to natural phenomenon. We will be focusing on extreme weather, geological events and technological advances due to
these studies. We will pose questions, make predictions, solve problems and examine connections from previous studies.

Integrated Topic: Extreme Weather Science/Earth and Stability/Change

Key Understandings

The Earth is subject to natural phenomena.

Scientific knowledge is used to inform personal and community decisions.
Function: How does it work?
Stability / Change How is it changing?
Concepts
Connection How is it connected to other things?

Learning Experiences
Throughout the Unit

Differentiate between a natural disaster and extreme weather

Investigate major geological & weather events in Australia, the Asia region and throughout the world

Describe how people measure significant weather events

Refine questions to enable scientific investigation

Ask questions to understand the scope or nature of a problem
Apply experience from previous investigations to predict the outcomes of investigations in new
contexts
With guidance, pose questions to clarify practical problems or inform a scientific investigation, and
predict what the findings of an investigation might be based on previous experiences or general rules
With guidance, plan appropriate investigation types to answer questions or solve problems and use
equipment, technologies and materials safely, identifying potential risks.

BOUNCEBACK
This program teaches resilience and social skills through engaging and co-operative activities. It assists students to
understand and appreciate the school values. We anticipate that the understandings students gain will help facilitate
positive interactions with all members of the school community. Bounce Back units are linked to the concepts taught in the

Footscray City

Primary School

Integrated Curriculum. We will complete a Bounce

investigation during Term 3 will continue to include:

Back session every third week. The topics for

Concepts

Connection
Responsibility and adaptability

Lesson Topics
Growth Mindset
Resilience

HOMEWORK
Grade 5 and 6 students are expected to complete approximately 20-30 minutes of homework each night. This could consist
of:
Reading Just Right Books, a range of media or responding to reading.
Practising personal spelling words
Accessing differentiated Numeracy tasks assigned on class blogs.
o http://misszclassblog.weebly.com
o http://Mrfarrer5.weelbly.com
Homework is given to students every Monday and is due the following Monday for review and feedback.
HOMEWORK CLUB
Homework Club is held after school twice a week from 3.30pm. If you would like your child to participate, you can book
through the online booking system. Please contact the office for more information.
LEAVING/ABSENT NOTES
If your child leaves school early you are required to fill out an early dismissal form from the office and give it to your childs
teacher. We understand that children are sometimes absent from school due to illness or other circumstances. If this is the
case, please notify the school by phone or by writing a short note to the classroom teacher.
LATE NOTES
Please ensure your child arrives at school on time (8.55am). If your child is late, he/she is required to report to the office and
will be given a late pass to take to the classroom teacher.
We look forward to working in partnership with you throughout the school year.
Kind Regards,
Viriana Zeneli and Dwight Farrer

zeneli.viriana.v@edumail.vic.gov.au
farrer.dwight.l@edumail.vic.gov.au

Footscray City

Primary School

Specialists Programs for Term Three:

Visual Art with Emily Power-Moore
power.moore.emily.e@edumail.vic.gov.au
The first part of the term sees us exploring the concept of artists as storytellers. We will be looking at Indonesian Shadow
Puppets and creating our own puppets based on fractured fairytale characters using recycled plastic. Our second project
will integrate with the music program to create a CD cover art design using one-point perspective.
The Science integrated unit of study will see us examine that artists can be scientists, observing and recording the world
around us and experimenting with materials. We will be looking at the artwork The Big Wave by Japanese Katsushika
Hokusai as it depicts a tsunami and relates to the unit topic of extreme weather and natural disasters. Students will create
their own tsunami prints using foam board and printmaking techniques. Please feel free to visit me before school in the art
room or via email power.moore.emily.e@edumail.vic.gov.au if you would like any further information. Emily Power Moore
(Art Teacher)
LOTE Program - Chinese Mandarin with Hannah Gan
gan.suk.han.s@edumail.vic.gov.au
This term, students continue to learn Chinese through songs and gestures in AIM method. Students will be introduced the
story, Xiao ji li li which will eventually be performed as a play with accompanying songs and dance. There will also be a
guest speaker coming in week 7 to introduce students the style of Chinese painting. Students will then present these
drawings along with song singing as gifts of Fathers Day during the assembly in week 8!
Music with Alison Handley
handley.alison.m@edumail.vic.gov.au
Grades 5 and 6 have a busy term ahead. We are finally getting to develop those garage band skills in a formal way
following a step-by-step procedure to introduce instruments, layers and loops to our compositions and providing
opportunities for explorations of aesthetics, development of music theory and performance. We will be working in groups
using the jam function to compile exciting new compositions that will be showcased later in the year. We are also
beginning work on developing items for the Big Day Out in term 4. The senior classes are fully involved in the planning,
design and rehearsing of their items that combine instrumental, vocal and movement aspects so the process is lengthy with
wonderful opportunities to demonstrate their collaborative and listening skills!
Grade 5 students are also collaborating in a song writing exercise as we explore options for a school song! I envisage a
chart topper here!
The Muso of the Week program continues to give students an additional opportunity to share their skills and discoveries
with their peers in a supportive environment as supported by our essential agreement and the school values.
Physical Education with Joe Diamond
diamond.joseph.j@edumail.vic.gov.au
During term 3, Gr.5/6 will be competing in various Interschool carnivals, including Basket-ball and Athletics. The focus will
be a concentrated effort between Team strategies, team management and individual skill development. Combining specific

Footscray City

Primary School

training ideals, using cross sport skill

development, students will be continually
challenged both physically and intellectually in P.E lessons. Students at this Grade level are consistently learning to deal
with defeat, the disappointments of non- team selections and the art of winning graciously-all coming under the bracket of
Sportsmanship. Strength building and aerobic/anaerobic conditioning, are an important factor this semester, achieved
through self- discipline, constant training, real game structuring, including technique/ form, and rules.