Year 6 Curriculum Overview
Crestwood Public School Term 1 2023
Overview of Teaching & Learning
Programming is the process of selecting and sequencing learning experiences which enable students to engage with syllabus outcomes and develop subject specific skills and knowledge. The process of programming is typically shared and offers an opportunity for collaboration, professional reflection and evaluation.
Programs:
- reflect the needs, interests and abilities of students
- are based on syllabus outcomes and include a variety of teaching, learning and embedded assessment activities, strategies and resources to address the learning needs of all students
- are flexible and dynamic documents that change in response to student learning needs, school context, teacher evaluation and feedback
English
This term the students focus on developing critical literacy skills within the context of fostering intercultural understanding of Asia. A diverse range of texts is used to ensure a broad understanding is developed through quality literature.
An emphasis has been placed on thinking routines, discussion and responding to texts. Whilst informative types of text are the focus, teachers will also include teaching and learning activities for both persuasive and imaginative types of texts. Explicit writing skills are included as part of the unit, as well as other aspects of the English curriculum (e.g. grammar, spelling, punctuation) as indicated by the identified needs of the students using quality literature as models for their writing.
Mathematics
The students will be ordering, reading and representing integers of any size and describing the properties of whole numbers. They will select and apply appropriate strategies for addition and subtraction with numbers of any size. Students will also select and apply appropriate strategies for multiplication and division, and apply the order of operations to calculations involving more than one operation.
They will have the opportunity to select and use the appropriate unit and device to measure lengths and distances, calculates perimeters, and converts between units of length. Students will identify three-dimensional objects, including prisms and pyramids, on the basis of their properties, and visualise, sketch and construct them given drawings of different views. They will measure and construct angles, and apply angle relationships to find unknown angles. The students will compare, order and calculate with fractions, decimals and percentages.
Science & Technology
Each Year 6 class will rotate through 4 science topics throughout the year, commencing a new one each term. The topics are:
Living World
Students will explore sustainability with a specific focus on food. They will design and construct a mini greenhouse from recycled materials to grow and germinate a vegetable or herb. Students will investigate the concept of sustainable designs, what plants need to grow and photosynthesis.
Digital Technologies
There are many ways in which digital systems interact with each other to transmit data. The students will explore this concept by investigating binary coding and taking part in other computer coding. Using the program, Tinkercad, they will complete a design task that involves critical thinking and problem solving. Students will then have the opportunity to print their design using a 3D printer.
Forces
Students will describe and explore specific forces such as applied force, friction, air resistance and gravity. They will engage in hands on experiences and perform scientific investigations to explore each force. There will be a design and make task on decreasing the strength of air resistance on a falling object.
Electricity
Through investigating a range of everyday products, students will identify and observe examples where light, sound, heat and electrical energy transform from one type of energy to another. Using the Makey Makeys, students will design, test and evaluate a product that involves an energy transformation to meet an identified need.
Human Society and Its Environment - Geography
Students will locate and identify Asian countries and regions. They will explore an Indigenous tribe, studying its customs, beliefs and culture using TEEL paragraphs to show understanding. Following on from this, students will investigate a particular country from Asia and create a presentation for the rest of the class. Students will compare and contrast different countries, reflecting on and discussing the similarities and differences.
Creative Arts
Students will focus on the appreciation and understanding of the ideas that artists are trying to convey throughout street art. Through this they will explore freedom of expression versus crime and punishment. Students will also explore the street artist Banksy and design 'tags' conveying their own meaning.
Students in Year 6 will learn about different composers who notated music in different musical periods which forms part of an appreciation of the history of music. Students will also be focusing on the musical concept of beat. Through listening, playing and moving to the beat, they will learn about concepts such as accent, upbeat and metre, as well as time signatures. Students will record their own musical ideas using formal notation.
Personal Development, Health, Physical Education
Students will attend Be Skilled Be Fit weekly sessions to engage in various physical activities including incorporating fundamental movement skills into game-based play. Lessons will include learning the correct techniques for locomotor skills of running, sprinting and relays. They will also work on their ball skills for throwing (under and overarm), moving throw and catch, as well as various kicking and passing techniques using both soccer and rugby balls in individual and game situations.
In PDH lessons, students will develop skills to effectively manage themselves and the way they interact with others.
Library
This term the library program will firstly focus on establishing routines and reinforcing the skills needed to be an effective library user. Good borrowing habits will be established along with the ability to search for and reserve books using Oliver library. They will revisit the Premier’s Reading Challenge website and will be encouraged to complete this in 2023. Students will be learning how to write a bibliography and how to cite books and website resources. They will also be developing their critical thinking skills by exploring ways to evaluate websites.