Yr5 Curriculum Update – 21/09/18

Working together to achieve success for every child

Transdisciplinary Learning – It’s all connected!

Matter exists in different forms which can be changed and used for different purposes. 

The lines of inquiry for this unit are:

• what defines matter (form)
• changes matter can undergo (change)
• how matter can be used to suit purposes (connection)

Unit of Inquiry

Not even Hong Kong’s most powerful typhoon can stop humanity’s quest for understanding and scientific progress!  Well, maybe for a couple of days.  But either side of the storm the year 5 learners have been using their practical skills and the scientific inquiry cycle to delve deeper and deeper into how matter works and what is happening when it changes states.

 

Testing the hypothesis, “Butter will melt quicker than ice.”

 

Applying heat to an ice cube.

 

Literacy

The children have been reading and writing all about change.  They have also started to build their technical vocabulary so that they can communicate their understanding of the science more accurately.

In a related learning area the children have been locating, analysing and using explanation writing.  This involves tracking down nonfiction writing which explains how something works, then analysing the key features of each piece to see what features appear repeatedly in successful writing.

 

Maths

Maths gets messy as learners are given the challenge to measure and record as much data as they can about a simple orange!  So far we have measured width, height, circumference, mass, volume, capacity and surface area.

 

Measuring the volume of juice from an average orange.

 

Things get mess quickly!

 

Chinese Learning

In the Chinese classrooms, we continue to focus on the concept of wellbeing and providing different learning opportunities for children to explore their own interests and promote agentic learning.

Here is a glimpse of some of our classrooms:

How you can help at home

If you have the time, energy and inclination, it would be great to let the kids do some easy, safe experiments at home.  They could keep a little scientist’s notebook and bring it in to show the class.  Alternatively, cooking is an excellent way to start operating in a scientific way, so try and have them getting involved with that; it is a great excuse to have a cake baked for you on Sunday afternoon.

 

Key Dates for the diary

No school 24th or 25th September

No school 1st October