English

Students deepened their understanding of fiction and non-fiction texts by making connections between what they read and other texts, their own lives and the wider world. They made predictions about fiction texts by investigating the events of the story and utilising their own knowledge, and also made inferences about characters based on their words and actions.

Students wrote persuasive pieces that argued a point of view on an issue. They incorporated emotive language (“This is not acceptable!”, “How could anyone believe…”), persuasive language (“It’s clear that…”, “Surely…”), anecdotes and evidence to convince the audience. They also explored diary writing in which they wrote in past tense and first person, and used their “Character’s Diary” to express their learning in our “First Contacts” Inquiry unit.

Students worked on using accurate punctuation consistently in their writing, including full stops, commas and quotation marks, and using appropriate capitalisation for proper nouns, place and street names, and holidays. They have also focused on the organisation of their writing, including using “bold beginnings” that make the audience want to read more, paragraphs to separate the main ideas and endings that finish their piece memorably.

All students identified features of their spelling that they need to master and used lists of words to practice, in conjunction with words from their own writing and topic words from our units of inquiry. They also investigated spelling patterns including contractions, as well as parts of speech including verbs and adjectives. Students regularly practiced handwriting so that printed letters are of correct size and orientation, and cursive handwriting joins and flows.

Mathematics

Students solved worded and number problems using a range of strategies, including creating Venn diagrams, identifying patterns and splitting the problem into smaller parts. They expanded larger numbers by identifying how many Tens of Thousands, Thousands, Hundreds, Tens, and Ones are in the number, and used their place value knowledge to rename numbers e.g. 1362 can be renamed as 13 Hundreds and 62 Ones. Students also used strategies for identifying odd and even numbers.

Students created “arrays” of rows and columns to represent multiplication facts and identified the corresponding division facts, used number lines to skip count and found the multiplication facts in the pattern. They solved more difficult multiplication problems by using a grid to break the numbers apart.

Students used metre rulers and trundle wheels to measure longer distances and converted measurements from metres to centimetres. They found surface area by multiplying width by length and explored depth to find the volume of 3D objects. Students also used measuring containers, scales and thermometers to measure capacity, mass and temperature.

Students collected data by conducting surveys, and created data displays including tables, column graphs and picture graphs where one picture can represent many values.

Inquiry

Students discovered the importance of making healthy choices in their lives, including eating plenty of fruit and vegetables, being physically active every day, drinking water and limiting sedentary activities such as watching television or using the computer. They tracked their own healthy choices over a week and identified areas for improvement. They also created their own “Health Camp”, including a map of the facilities, a menu and an activities schedule, to express their understanding of healthy choices.

Students explored and compared the life cycles of different living things, including plants and animals. They investigated the different names and stages of lifecycles, the changes that occur and what is needed for survival.

Students examined Aboriginal history and culture before European settlement and explored the impact of Australia’s colonisation on the indigenous population. They discovered the reasons behind convict transportation to Australia and learned important facts about life on The First Fleet. Students learned about the issues that resulted from the differences between the Aboriginal and European cultures after colonisation.