Transdisciplinary Theme - International School of Europe

Grade 5 Curriculum Newsletter Unit 4
Please read about what your children will be learning and how you can support them at home...
Transdisciplinary Theme: Where we are in Place and Time
Central Idea: Exploration leads to discoveries, opportunities and new
understandings.
Key Concepts:
 Causation
 Reflection
 Perspective
Lines of Inquiry:
 Reasons for exploration (historical and personal)
 How explorations have taken place over time
 The consequences of exploration
Focus for Learner Profile and Attitudes:
 Empathy
 Reflective
 Independence
 Integrity
PSE – (Personal and Social Education) - students will:
 Develop an understanding of empathy through the exploration of a range
of viewpoints and learning about various struggles for survival.
Language - students will:
 Read a range of fiction and non-fiction texts about exploration
 Revise reading strategies for non-fiction texts
 Write diary entries
 Write newspaper reports
 Write discussion texts, using different perspectives
 Use and apply knowledge of glossaries and bibliographies
Mathematics – students will:
 Understand how to convert between proper fractions,
improper fractions and mixed numbers
 Order and simplify fractions
 Locate features on a grid using coordinates
 Understand that directions for location can be shown by coordinates on a
grid
 Learn to classify angles and measure accurately using a protractor
Social Studies – students will:
 Explore the reasons for exploration
 Sort explorers and civilizations into chronological order
 Find out about how exploration has had an impact on the world, both at
the time of the exploration and today, influencing our view of the world
 Evaluate different points of view about exploration
 Research individually chosen explorers
Italian
 I verbi - ripasso in particolare il modo indicativo di tutti i verbi. Il modo
congiuntivo e condizionale.
 Analisi grammaticale e logica delle frasi (presento il complemento di
specificazione, di termine, di materia).
 Ripassi ortografici.
 Uno sguardo al passato: i Fenici , grandi esploratori , navigatori ed inventori
– cosa cambiarono del loro mondo? Quali influenze ebbero sul nostro
mondo? - Utilizzo del sussidiario, del web, schede di approfondimento,
cartelloni, video
 Produzione a gruppi di scenette per spiegare agli altri ciò che ho imparato
2015-2016
 Il testo narrativo avventuroso, storico, realistico: composizione di un testo
ambientato nel passato, con un esploratore come protagonista.
Italian as an additional language (beginner) - students will:
 Study the present tense of the verbs
 Practice the use of the determinative articles
 Improve reading comprehension skills
 Learn vocabulary about Italian geography
 Locate and be able to use the atlases in the library
 Prepare for Reading Together Week (22nd to 26th of February)
ICT – students will:
 Identify possible sources of information and/or ways to gather data
 Use ICT as a tool to represent ideas using KeyNote and Timeline
Italian as an additional language (intermediate)Students will read texts about places where they live or they are from and write
texts about Milan, Italy or travels, using an adequate Italian vocabulary.
Grammar: Students will continue using and analysing grammar rules and verbs.
Visual Art – students will:
 Learn how to accurately draw a fifteenth century ship
 Experiment with angles when creating pictures
Unit:

Music – students will:
 Create a piece of music which reflects their understanding of a style of
music
 Prepare a presentation about the characteristics and historical context of
their chosen style of music
PE – Students will:
 Develop an understanding of the rules of Badminton, Dodgeball and
Swimming
 Develop decision making within small sided matches
 Explore different roles and strategies in a match context
 Participate in swimming lessons that will start on the week beginning on
Monday the 1st of February until Friday the 15th of April
Library – students will:
 Inquire into the British exploration of Australia, including
Captain Cook and the First Fleet
 Explore what happened between the British and the native
Australian Aboriginals and use it as a case study to explore the
consequences of exploration
Useful websites :
 http://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/ - Explorers
 http://cybersleuth-kids.com/sleuth/History/ - Explorers
 http://www.shmoop.com/columbian-exchange/timeline.html
 www.thinkingblocks.com – Maths Problem Solving
Helping at Home
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Please support students in applying their skills of selecting relevant
information for individual research
Investigate local exhibitions and museums that may include local
histories, ancient civilisations and information about explorers
Encourage an awareness and expression of a range of points of view,
for example in relation to current affairs
We recommend the following apps to support learning at home:
 Maths Drills (free lite version or paid) – practice calculating with the
four operations and learn strategies
 Spelling City
 Virtual manipulatives
 MyScript Calculator
 DK Findout
2015-2016