Weekly News: 6th - 10th October

Another busy week for Year 6 at SDIS. We started our Maths groups with the assistance of Mr Costello and Ms Costa Pereira. Reading groups on Thursdays are progressing well with students working at a variety of skills each week, including comprehension, reading, research and grammar. The Unit of Inquiry is now approaching the final stages. We have received very positive feedback about the class blogs. Keep on blogging to keep up with all of the latest news and links.

Reflections: 29th September – 3rd October
Last week the children continued their study and role play of political systems and the economics of political systems. We saw some students playing the part of dictators and all students saw from the role plays that dictatorships do not succeed very well and that the life of a dictator can be difficult, unpleasant and dangerous! During reading groups the children read about and discussed the strengths and weaknesses of democracy, read a passage for comprehension about fascism and practised punctuation. In the library with Ms Costa Pereira the students undertook a research challenge about Melvil Dewey, the man who created the library cataloguing system.

Weekly News: 6th – 10th October

Unit of Inquiry
The children have further developed a good understanding of different types of governance and will this week begin to focus on basic features of organising an election campaign. Students will be put into groups, each with an election candidate, and start planning for an election.

Mathematics
This week the children will continue to focus on mental strategies for addition and subtraction and will use these skills in problem solving. They will also continue to work on concepts from the Data Handling strand and will conduct surveys and analyse tables and graph. Students will use computer software for the recording and presentation of data.

English
Students will continue to work on persuasive texts in preparation for Year 6 Presidential Elections as part of their summative assessment. In our reading groups this week we will continue to practise basic comprehension, reading and grammar skills and use the library computers for further research.

What can I do to help?
· Make sure your child is doing the required homework each night. Remember, those students who have clearly rushed their work and not completed their homework to an acceptable standard will not have their work marked. As a reminder, if for any reason your child is unable to complete their homework, please write a note to your child’s teacher in their class diary.

Upcoming Events and Reminders:
· Friday 17th October. Classes finish at 12:00. Teachers’ Maths In-service
· Wednesday 22nd October. Years 4-6 Athletics Day. Further information will be provided.
· Saturday 25th October – 3rd November. Mid-term break

With thanks,
David Barrett, David Gocentas and Ms Isabel Costa Pereira