This term has just flown past, the Grade 5/6 students have been extremely busy, having lots of fun. It was awesome to have Catherine Roberts (Ms. Cath), she developed some wonderful connections with the students, creating a numeracy sequence that enabled students to get hands on and creative as they designed, built and cooked using various measurements.

Our excursion to BioCats was amazing, the students loved learning how Science and Maths are used in sport. We measured our running speed in various ways and learnt about all aspects of football; diets, how they are made, history etc.

Our GGF project with Peter Day continues, getting closer to making our geoglyph. The kids have been designing and making “road signs” that will be placed around the community to raise awareness of the threatened growling grass frog (GGF).

During our literacy time we have been looking at how authors modify their language to suit the audience and purpose. We have compared various non-fiction texts, traditional and picture story books to see how the language differs. It was great to learn about Space during Education Week, reading up about various famous astronauts.  The students then applied this to construct their own information report on their chosen astronaut. The quality of work was sensational, with students showing many ways to engage their reader while providing facts.

In numeracy we have started our Birregurra Football Maths League (BFML). Students are using their skills with the four operations to keep a record of their scores, opponents’ scores and their percentage. We continue to explore our strategies around the four operations, becoming more adept at solving problems that contain multiple parts. We have investigated averages; looking at mean, median and modes. This was a great chance for students to revisit their strategies around the four operations. It also provided us to discuss how data can be skewed by have outlining numbers.

Our Science unit has been completed, with the students gaining a better understanding of how energy is harnessed and used. Our excursion to the Mt. Gellibrand Wind Farm has been postponed, due to COVID restrictions. It has been moved to the middle of Term 3, hopefully we will get the all clear to go. Students have started an inquiry project about a European or North American country. Students will apply their research skills to learn about these places and track their progress through the Tokyo Olympics.

-Mr Fetherston