2021 Information session - William Ruthven Primary School

2021 Information session

Acknowledgement of Country

    I would like to respectfully acknowledge the Traditional
    custodians of this land on which we meet today . I would also
    like to pay my respects to the Elders both past and present.

The team

    Eleanor Marcon   Suzie Nackovski   Emma Pei
         5/6A             5/6B           5/6C

Specialist team

      Raema Barker      Carmen Caruso   Chara Sotos
     Science/Robotics       Italian      Visual Arts

Intervention and Extension team

 Raema Barker     Lauretta Bell    Bridget Gibson    Peter Marco       Amy Buckley
 Tutor program   Tutor program     Tutor program    Tutor program   High ability program
                       and
                 English support

Attendance and punctuality

        School starts at 8:50 am.

        Please ensure that your child arrives at school on time each day.

Speaking with your child’s teacher
Unless the teacher is on before school duty, he or she
is available to see you about small issues from 8:40 am
– 8:50 am.

At 8:50 am, your child’s teacher needs to be teaching
the grade.

If you have an issue that requires more time, please
make a time to meet with your child’s teacher. You can
call the office and the teacher will get back to you to
make a time. Alternatively, you can email your child’s
teacher to make a time.

English: Term 1 focus
READING
The main focus of the reading program is to develop students’ comprehension by using a variety of
strategies such as questioning, inferring, visualising, summarising & connecting with the text.

We conduct individual conferencing with the students which can enable the teacher to give targeted
feedback and appropriate learning goals for the students, to improve their reading skills.

WRITING
Students are introduced to a variety of genres where they practise writing for specific purposes.
Spelling and Grammar is taught explicitly through whole class and individual instruction.

SPEAKING AND LISTENING
Students actively participate and contribute to whole and small group discussions. They expand upon
their ideas and use details to support their points of view. Students also focus on how they can use
their voice to deliver their message.

Students in Grade 5 will participate in NAPLAN in May.

Mathematics: Term 1 focus
Students study Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry and Statistics and Probability. The maths lesson structure is
the same across the school. We begin with a warm up, introduction, task and reflection.

Small groups are taken daily during maths lessons which focus on consolidating students’ skills or extending their learning.

Students in Years 4/5/6 have the opportunity to participate in nationwide events such as the Australian Mathematics
Competition.

The Year 5 students will participate in NAPLAN, in May.

Students need to practise strategies that will improve their addition and subtraction and the multiplication and division
number facts and a useful resource for parents who are able to help their child with these strategies is:
www.youtube.com/DetvDonaldEddington

Inquiry: Term 1 focus
Design and innovation (Design and technology)
All students in Year 1 – 6 will be learning about the design process as part of this term’s unit of
inquiry. The design process is:
• Investigating a problem that requires a solution.
• Designing a solution to a problem with words and pictures.
• Building the design solutions by following as series of steps.
• Evaluating the final product.

Student wellbeing: Berry Street Education Model (BSEM)
BSEM focuses on five areas:
Body, Relationships, Stamina, Character and Engagement.

The program aims to build students’ ability to problem solve,
deal with conflict and have a growth mindset.

Students learn to deal with their emotions, understand their
reactions to situations and problem solve.

Science/Robotics: Term 1 focus
In Term 1, the Year 5/6 students will be introduced to robotics and how they
work.

They will learn the meaning of words like:
- algorithm (a set of instructions in sequential order),
- commands (an instruction given to the robot),
- code (a set of instructions carried out by a robot) and
- debug (to find and fix a coding error)
- loops (instructions that are repeated) and
- branching (using if and when statements to give the robot two different
option to follow depending on input from sensors).

Students will work in collaborative groups through the digital design process
of analyse, design, develop and evaluate to find solutions to robot
challenges using Jimu Robots.

Italian: Term 1 focus
In term one grade 5/6 students will participate in a unit of work called ‘Presentiamoci’. (“Let’s introduce ourselves”).

Students will learn how to introduce themselves to their peers in Italian stating, describing their age, physical
appearance, naming the school they attend, where they live and stating what grade they’re in.
They will learn the names of family members and use and understand greetings relevant to the time of day.
They will begin writing simple sentences in Italian using the language learnt throughout the term.
Students will participate in games, role plays and various language-based activities to assist them with learning the
language.

Visual arts: Term 1 focus
Year 5/6 Visual Art

We are learning the art elements of shape, tone and lines.
Students will:
- Make drawings from observation to create realistic shapes and tone.

- Define tone (an art element that refers to the light and dark shades of a colour) and texture (an art
element that describes the surface of an object).

- Understand the important features of a portrait
- Experiment with different techniques; painting, sketching, pastels, watercolours, iPad photography.

Home reading and homework
Students are generally not expected to complete more than 30 minutes of homework per day and up to
45 minutes for students in years 5 and 6. No homework tasks will be assigned over the weekends or
during the holidays.

Homework will commence on Monday 15 February. An English and mathematics grid filled with various
activities will be stuck into the front of their book. It is the expectation that each student will complete
one activity from the English grid and one activity from the maths grid each week. Homework will be due
back each Friday.

We expect that reading will be done by students either independently or with an adult every night. We
request that parents/carers sign their child’s student diary each night to indicate that home reading has
occurred. The books that students bring home are set to an easier reading level than what they would be
in class, this is to ensure they feel success with their reading.

In year 5 and 6, homework also includes building students’ automaticity with
basic number facts and, if necessary, the completion of set classroom tasks.

Epic – Online Books
• Epic is a free online library.
• New in 2021: Students can have access to Epic at home outside of
  school hours when a parent/carer’s email address is supplied. On this free account,
  students can use Epic at home for a up to 2 hours per week (reset every Monday).
• Epic does not replace home readers, but may be used as an optional extra for
  students to read/listen to books at home after they have read their daily home
  reader book.
• Your child’s teacher will send you an email to seek permission to share your email
  address with Epic. If you consent, please reply and you will be sent an email
  invitation from Epic with a link to sign up for the free account.

Intervention and Extension programs
Tutor reading program
The Department of Education and Training (DET) is funding a
tutor program to support Victorian students who require some
‘catch up’ due to remote learning.
We received funding to support approximately 45 students –
however we are investing more time and human resources so
we can support more.
Your child will receive a letter to inform you if they have been
accepted onto the program.

High Ability program
This Year 5 and 6 program is delivered via WebEx by Virtual
School Victoria. It focuses on extending and developing
students' mathematic and English abilities. The Department
manages the student-selection process.

Parent/carer helpers
We welcome and encourage parent/carer participation
in our programs.

Please contact your child’s teacher if you are interested
in helping out with tasks such as listening to reading
and re-shelving library books.

All parent/carers are required to have a Working With
Children Check (WWCC).

Interschool Sports and Camp
Year 5-6 Camp                                      Interschool Sport
Year 5/6 camp to Waratah Beach        Term 1 Athletics (Meadowglen is tentatively
Camp Wednesday, 9 – Friday, 11 June   booked for March 19th)
2021.
                                      Term 2 Winter sport (football, soccer, tee-ball and
There will be a Parent/Carers         netball)
information session in March where
more accurate details will be         Term 3 Indoor competition at Reservoir High in
discussed.                            basketball and Futsal

                                      Term 4 Summer sport (cricket, Kanga cricket,
                                      rounders and bat tennis)

                                      Cross country is also run towards the end of term
                                      1 or early term 2(district) and then division/Region
                                      in May.

Questions