What’s on in Year 5
Religion
In Year 5 we have been working hard on our Leadership unit. Students have been reminded that, as they transition into their senior years at St Mary’s, they will have more responsibility to lead by example.
We have worked in class to create mind maps and charts depicting what students themselves look for in a strong leader. We have discussed the differences between leaders and legends as well as come up with characteristics of good leaders.We have spent this week working on a project, researching prominent leaders who inspire us. Each student was asked to choose a leader they identify as having the characteristics that they themselves value in a leader - someone who represents an issue close to their heart. We are very excited to get the opportunity to share our research with Year 6!
Martin Luther King inspires me because he makes me want to treat everybody equally and not have racism in the world. He changed the rights for many people and made sure they had the same equal rights as white people. Christian C
Dylan Alcott inspires me because he helps people around the world by raising money and he is very kind and generous. He hasn’t let having a disability get in the way for him. He tries to help people to like their disability, not hate it. Jaxon E
Princess Diana inspires me because she was very kind and loving to other people. She gave a lot of her time and she started charities to help people with AIDS, people with disabilities and people living in poverty in Africa. Grace R
Kurt Fearnley inspires me because he is in a wheelchair and I am standing so that means I can go out into the world and do anything! Axel S
Steve Hart inspires me to be a better person and to look on the bright side of life, even when challenges are thrown your way. Cooper H
English
English and literacy has been without a doubt one of the busiest times in our Year 5 rooms. The students are fresh, focused and ready to learn every morning and are really starting to move through the gears with Soundwaves, Spelling, Literacy Rotations and Writing. Amazingly we have managed to sneak in our daily class novel reading of Wonder by RJ Palacio, structured work on language conventions and daily fruit breaks as well!
Following the Seven Steps to Writing Success, we have focused on the importance of planning in a way that is both structured and meaningful to us. We have worked hard on creating a sizzling start to hook the reader, we have acted out dramatic situations and dynamic dialogue to “tighten the tension” as well. One of our main focuses has been to “show” and not “tell” the reader what is going on in our stories to keep the reader interested, engaged and wondering what’s next. Best of all we have taken the opportunity to create a short story combining all of our skills, edit with constructive feedback from peers and teachers and start to publish ready for print!
Art
We have embraced Lent in a number of ways over the last two weeks, including creating “stained glass” artworks depicting the cross. As we worked, we discussed the significance of the colour purple during lent, the sacrifice that the cross symbolises as well as making an artistic statement through the dichotomy between cold and warm colours.
PDHPE/Sport
Always a big favourite in Year 5, we never cease to be amazed at the enthusiasm, excitement and participation displayed by this amazing group of students. Students have been working on some serious basketball skills with Mr Bateman over the first five weeks. Last week they were introduced to a completely new game in European Handball and have absolutely thrived on the fast pace, teamwork and quick scoring nature of this sport.
Our weekly visits to the Moruya Pool have been going swimmingly! We are so proud of the way ALL students have conducted themselves both on the way to the pool and when they are there. Students are learning, developing and honing an extremely important life skill and having a great time in the process.