YEAR 5

Year 5’s are working on Geography this term with a focus on how human behaviour has impacted the Australian landscape as well as learning more about countries in Europe and North America.

In Maths so far we have worked on Subtraction and Multiplication and doing multiple digit numbers, looking at multiple ways to find the answer that will enable them to choose a technique that works best for them. Our next unit will be long division, expanding on what we’ve learnt last year.

In English, our grammar focus has been on pronouns, words that replace nouns and how to properly use them and the different forms for past, future and present tenses. Students are also learning persuasive or expository writing. A big focus is on having three clear ideas and sufficient evidence to back these ideas up. Some examples written by students are included below:

Weekends should be three days long.

Weekends should be three days long. It would allow extra rest; more family time and it would allow for an extra t.v. night.

Firstly, you can have more rest. More rest refreshes the brain, you can work more after a refresh. Some people work a lot and they need more time to relax.

Secondly, you can have more family time, you can spend time playing games as a family. As a family, you could go on short trips anywhere you want.

Finally, you have an extra night of movie time. You can catch up on movies or shows that you like. You can stay up late to watch them. If you were going to work or school you would’ve had to go to sleep early.

In conclusion, three-day weekends have lots of benefits including, more relaxation, increased family time and the ability to catch up on our favourite shows - Rajbir Singh Dhaliwal

There should be no homework!

There shouldn’t be any homework. There is scientific evidence that homework doesn’t add to children’s understanding. Homework also causes family conflict and most importantly, children have already completed a day of school, then why the extra homework?

To begin with, research shows that homework has no educational benefits for those lower than high school. No study has ever shown any benefits of homework on a student’s knowledge. There is absolutely no evidence to show that homework teaches any non-academic life skills, like work ethics or responsibilities.

In addition, homework causes family conflict. It causes stress and arguments. When parents cannot help their children with their work, they feel displeased. Constantly, children are forced to do their work by their parents, but refuse and this causes fights.

Moreover, children already spend six hours at school doing work. Children need time to relax with the little amount of time they have. Research also shows that playing is an important part of learning. Children should also learn to socialize by helping in family tasks, such as helping the family to cook or clean the house, which actually helps children to learn life skills.

In fact, homework gives teachers additional work to mark. Teachers already spend their weekend marking students’ work for the week. By giving them more work to mark, teachers won’t get time to spend with their family which is truly unfair.

To conclude, homework causes fights, stress and arguments among the family. We need to spend more time outside, not stuck inside doing homework. We’re already at school the whole day, and homework doesn’t add to learning, what’s the use of homework? Besides, everyone knows that homework is totally not cool! - Zainab Syeda

This term in Drama, the students are excited to use video cameras to record each other to make a mock news segment. Students also made Mother’s Day gifts and were excited to take them home. We have had the RACV come to school to talk about safety in the home and on the road and as well, we headed to Riverlinks in Shepparton to see a play The Midnight Gang. With students now completing NAPLAN, it has been a busy term so far. As a class, we signed up for the Maths game Prodigy. A game they can work at their own pace or alongside classmates. As assemblies are running again as normal, Year 5 did their presentation on Internet Safety. How to be safe online and some of the laws that relate to online activities.