Classroom News – Year 5/6
Our week in pics…

LITERACY

Supporting Readers
Give your child lots of opportunities to read aloud. Inspire your young reader to practice every day! The tips below offer some fun ways you can help your child become a happy and confident reader. Try a new tip each week.
See what works best for your child.
• Read from day one - Start a reading routine in those very first days with a newborn. Even very young babies respond to the warmth of a lap and the soothing sound of a book being read aloud.
• Share books every day - Read with your child every day, even after he becomes an independent reader.
• Reread favourites - Most children love to hear their favourite stories over and over again. Rereading books provides an opportunity to hear or see something that may have been missed the first time, and provides another chance to hear a favourite part.

NUMERACY

Students in year 5/6 were given a collection of dice to solve a variety of problems. The first was to count the total number of dots on top; it was interesting watching the counting strategies. The next problem was to find the total number of dots on the bottom without turning them over. This encouraged students to think about their knowledge of a die and that the opposite sides always add to 7.

Year 5/6 students were asked to place a variety of decimal cards onto a 0 to 1 number line. I was impressed with how students justified their choices and what strategies they used to estimate. Students were then asked to record a fraction and place on the number line. Students also contributed very well to discussions about what they knew about decimals and fractions, some very sophisticated language was shared and we found out that the line dividing the numbers in a fraction is called a ‘vinculum’.

Students in 2/3/4 are looking at time this week. We began this week by recording all we know about time, after that, students were asked to draw a clock. For homework this week, I encourage all students to practise telling the time using an analogue clock. We played clock patience using the numbers for the hour; we will add minute numbers, in 5-minute increments, next then cards with ‘past’ and ‘to’ times.
Kindergarten and year 1 students are learning about the mass of a variety of everyday objects. They are very good at ‘hefting’ and estimating how many informal units might weigh the same as an everyday item. After estimating, students use the balance scales to check their estimations. A suggested activity for home might be to talk to you child/children when and where you use scales and why we need to weight things.