Integrated Studies

Students in Grade 5 have been learning about the Victorian Gold Rush.  We have learned many new interesting facts about the Gold Rush era and we all enjoyed a great day out at Sovereign Hill.  It was fabulous experiencing the gold fields life first hand; seeing the clothes worn during that time, the buildings, and learning about the conditions at the Victorian gold fields!  Some children have written their account of our excursion, and there are some great photos to follow.

Our term 4 Integrated Studies topic is ‘Young Einstein’s’.

Sovereign Hill

On the 6th of August, the grade 5’s went to Sovereign Hill. When we got there, a tour guide gave us a tour around Sovereign Hill. The first thing they showed us was the miners’ hut. The miners’ huts were so small and looked old. After recess we went gold panning. It was really hard to find gold because we didn’t know how to do it. Some people found gold, some didn’t. After that, some grade 5’s went to the gold pouring. It was really cool to see how they made gold into gold bars. Then we went down to the Red Hill Mine. It wasn’t the real mine but it was an example of what it looked like. When we went inside, it was really dark. We had to wait for the lights to come on. We saw how the miners travelled up and down the mine. We saw how they found the “Welcome Nugget” and everyone like the underground mine. Finally, everyone could go to the shops and buy things. Some of the shops were the Waterloo shop, the Candle shop, the Lolly shop and the Blacksmith.

Everyone loved the experience of Sovereign Hill!

Literacy and Numeracy

Students in Grade 5 have been extremely busy learning about new concepts in maths.  Most recently, we have been developing our skills in using percentages, decimals and fractions.  It has been interesting to see how these three concepts are all very closely related!  We have also been busy learning about time and continuing to practice the four operations.

In Literacy, the Grade 5’s have been practicing their Questioning skills.  We have all been engaged in deep thinking when reading different types of text, and listening to our inner conversations.  Students have also had time to think about how certain stories or characters relate to them in some way, and have been writing their own Text-to-Self pieces.  Next we are going on with Summarising and Paraphrasing.  During writing sessions, we have been practicing writing Explanation and Information pieces.

Year 5 Camp 2010 – Baanya Biami

The flying fox is so cool, it feels like you’re flying with wings and if you look down, the kids look like ants. When you get to the top it looks really scary but trust me, it’s not scary. I’ve tried it, it’s so much fun.

The giant slide is awesome as you just slide down and down, then run back up for another turn. It was so hard to get back up that hill with a big mattress, but without it you wouldn’t be able to slide properly.

Frisbee golf was excellent. The point of the game was to hit a target on a pole with the least amount of throws. It was so funny when people threw their Frisbee and then it rolled back down the hill.

Baanya Biami was exceptionally fun.