Senior Unit - Year 5 and Year 6


Mathematics

At ASPS in the senior unit we learn mathematical skills and apply them in problem solving activities that promote investigation and mathematical thinking. We promote 5/6 students to:

  • Solve problems in more than one way.
  • Justify their ideas and thinking.
  • See mistakes as opportunities for learning.
  • Accept challenges.
  • Collaborate with others.
  • Recognise and use their own strengths and weaknesses.

Our teachers nurture a classroom culture that promotes this “growth mindset” approach to the learning of mathematics.

 

 

Literacy

We follow the Australian Curriculum to ensure that English standards are met for our year level. Following these guidelines we plan lessons with an emphasis on real literature at the core, to explicitly teach concepts involved in Reading & Viewing, Speaking & Listening and Writing.

 

The way we approach teaching the English curriculum enables our students to:

  • be confident communicators, imaginative thinkers and informed citizens who learn to analyse, understand, communicate with, and build relationships with others and with the world around them.
  • read, view, speak, write, create, and reflect on increasingly complex and sophisticated spoken, written, and multimodal texts across a growing range of context with accuracy, fluency, and purpose.
  • learn to appreciate, enjoy, and use the English language in all its variations and develop a sense of its richness and power to evoke feelings, convey information from ideas, facilitate interaction with others, entertain, persuade, and debate.

 

Inquiry Units

This year the topics we will be learning about are:

 

Term 1

Students will learn about sustainability and the effect our lifestyles have on our planet. Students will learn about a range of climate change and environmental impact such as logging, plastic waste, food waste, emissions and electronic waste. Students investigate how these impact our environment using evidence and data to support this topic.

 

Term 2                                                                                                                           

Students will learn about the values of Australian democracy and the key features of the electoral process. Students will learn about the responsibilities of the three levels of government. Students will learn about the Stolen Generations and the fight for equal rights in Australia. They will set personal and social goals and work as a class towards a common goal.                                   

 

Term 3                                                                                                                                                  

Students will learn about the biggest problems facing children around the world. They will learn some persuasive techniques and work in groups to prepare and deliver a slideshow presentation encouraging people to support an aid agency. Students will learn some literary devices and write a spoken word poem about a cause that they are supporting. They will perform their spoken word poem at the Slamming Social Justice Show. 

 

Term 4                                                                                                                                                         

Students gain a real-life understanding of the design and production process when creating a brand new product. Each student produces an item that is marketed and then sold in a Market held at school. The item that is produced must be original.