Term 1

In Term 1, Grade 5/6 students will be reading a wide range of genres to build their knowledge of a range of texts through the Book CAFE process. Students will enhance their reading skills by looking critically at texts, and analysing the structure, language and purpose of narratives to understand how stories are created. Students will also analyse and explain key characters, setting and conflict resolution within the stories. Additionally, they will build their knowledge and skills of how to understand and comprehend a text using a wide variety of strategies to interpet the text.  

In Term 1, Grade 5/6 students will enhance their understanding of the 6+1 Traits of Writing to further refine their writing skills. Students will create seeds in their Writer's Notebook to generate ideas and brainstorms of different text types and ideas which students can use to create their own texts. Through Free Choice Writing, they will continue developing as young authors, exploring their creativity and individual voice. Building on their Reading lessons, which focus on narratives structure, ideas, and conflict resolution, students will apply these skills towards creating narratives. 

This year students will use SpellEx and continue to use THRASS to support their spelling development. SpellEx involves explicit instruction of the sounds (phonemes) and letter/letters (graphemes) that formulate words. For this term, we will be looking at short vowels, morphemes and understanding how a suffix changes the meaning or grammatical form of a word. They will use this phonological, morphological and vocabulary knowledge to read words that share common letter patterns but have different pronunciations. Additionally, we will use Word Work sessions to strengthen their literacy skills. They will continue to improve their spelling and punctuation through self and peer-review tasks, providing opportunities to revise and edit their writing for clarity and accuracy.

In Term 1, 5/6 students will establish strong foundations in number understanding, with a particular emphasis on place value as the cornerstone of all future learning. Students will deepen their understanding of the base-ten system by reading, writing, comparing and ordering large numbers, and by applying rounding and renaming strategies to support accurate and efficient calculation. They will explore different number types, including integers, prime and composite numbers, and figurate numbers such as square and triangular numbers, developing both conceptual understanding and mathematical language. Alongside this, students will strengthen their multiplicative thinking through the use of multiplication and division facts, number properties, and flexible strategies for solving problems, with a focus on explaining their reasoning. Estimation will be embedded throughout all learning to encourage students to check the reasonableness of their answers and select efficient approaches. A strong emphasis will also be placed on mental strategies to build fluency, confidence, and efficiency. Through rich problem-solving tasks, hands-on activities, and differentiated learning experiences, students will be challenged to think deeply about numbers, make connections between concepts and apply their mathematical understanding to real-world contexts. 

In Term 1, Grade 5/6 students have been enjoying CHAMPS lessons. CHAMPS (Creating Harmony at Mitcham Primary School) is our start of year program designed to build connections between teachers, students in classes and across cohorts. The lessons have reintroduced students to our school values, positive behaviour expectations and a growth mindset for learning. As the term continues, we will be exposing students to the Friendology program which is all about empowering kids with friendship skills while providing the adults in their lives, both parents and teachers, with a common language to support them. Kids learn what's normal in a friendship, the difference between healthy and unhealthy friendships and how to stand up for themselves with kid-friendly concepts. 

In this unit, students will be learning about Australian History. They will be focusing on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, history and the colonisation of Australia. This will be reinforced through the opportunities provided through our learning activities within our Inquiry Inquisitive program. 

In Economics and Business, students will be setting up their Classroom Economy. Students will apply for class jobs to earn "money". They will be required to "pay" weekly for utilities and payments that are a natural part of life. At the conclusion of the term, we will hold an auction, where students will have the opportunity to spend their money on class rewards.