This year our class is linked into a social media website and app called edmodo.  It works a little like facebook, but is protected.  Only members from our class can be “friends” and see what we post.  Parents can join as well, but can only watch, not participate.

We are using edmodo for a variety of reasons.  It gives us an online space where we can chat to each other from home, post our homework, ask questions of each other, share interesting content and comment on each others work.

Edmodo also provides a safe and secure space for students to learn how to engage with social media in a constructive, considerate and safe manner.  We learn what is appropriate to post, how things we say can be seen by others, and also how to be careful that our comments and picture uploads dont upset or offend others.

Ask you child about it and get the parent code through their homepage!

This week we have been working on percentage.  We have a class money and employment system this term, with the kids required to apply for and perform jobs for wages, and rent their tables, chairs, tubs etc.  This week they have to pay tax!  But how to work out the percentage….

Our homework has been the 6 times tables, and next week will be the sevens.  Students should be practicing these everyday!

 This week we have been working hard in the garden.  It’s a little crispy and neglected from the summer, but the kids are putting it in order!  

Next week we are focusing on the 4 times tables.  Practice them with your family, quiz your brothers and sisters, chant them to the dog, write them down in a book, practice them with a calculator.  Whatever helps you the most!

This is our shared text for the term.  I fits nicely with our study of economics – our needs and our wants- and how the needs and wants, and work conditions, of today are very different from the past.  This is a must read Australian classic!

This year we are all in grade 5, so that means we are getting pretty big, pretty smart and oh so cool….

Follow our class blog this year to keep in touch with our class projects and discussions, what we are reading and interested in, and the apps and websites we are using.  We are lucky to have lots of technology to help us with our learning this year, so watch out for video posts, ‘flipped’ learning, presentations and online collaborative work.

We will be doing mountains of maths this year, only because its fun!  Expect to hear about our amazing problem solving skills, incredible understanding of fractions and decimals, brilliant use of coordinates and graphs plus a whole lot more.

Coming up this term we have our school camp at Lake Nillacootie, and our Village Fair close to Easter.

We would love to get in touch with other classes, schools and smart people generally!  Drop us a line….