Level 4 - Grades 5 & 6
TeachersJacqui Cook - Room 13
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Level 4 Reflections on Term 1 2009
For the first four weeks of Term 1 our integrated studies topic has been Learning to Learn Together or in other words working in teams. Our big question was “What makes a great team?” One of the activities we did was setting goals regarding being a team player. We have also been reading a book called ‘The Redback Leftovers’ and reflecting on this book by doing group activities based on the text.
Halfway through Term 1 we changed integrated topics. Now our topic is ‘What is democracy?” We are learning about the Australian government and comparing it to other forms of government around the world. We have only just started tuning into this topic and our main tuning in activity has been a brainstorm about what we know about government now.
At the end of 2008 the year 5 students met their Prep buddies for the first time and they now regularly talk to them. This system is put in place so the Preps feel welcome and more comfortable coming to the school and to strengthen the friendships between the higher and lower year levels.
The grades 5 also made balloon people and cards for their buddies as a welcoming gift.
On Thursdays we have been doing level 4 rotations. We spend one session doing a reading activity, one session doing an integrated activity and one session doing an ICT activity. All of these activities are done with different teachers in different classrooms. On Thursdays we also split into problem solving math’s group across level 4. There are three different groups each with a different teacher. These groups are designed to help us mix in with other level 4 students.
At the moment all the level 4 students are enjoying summer Interschool Sport. The five sports are rounders, kanga cricket, cricket, softball and bat tennis. We have three more games in this competition.
As homework we are following a matrix where there are four activities we have to do and then we have to select three of the remaining options. It is interesting to see what different people select as their extra activities for homework! This helps level 4 students to understand their learning styles.
This term level 4 have been working on class shields and mottos. We have had to vote for the one that we think will represent each of our classes the best. The 5/6 area have also also put together MySpace in the classrooms. We have our own spaces on the walls where we can to display some of our personal things such as photos and certificates. This helps everyone else to understand more about what we are like outside of school.
Written by Rachel D and Patrick H