Dear parents of the students in the Year 5 ESL programme,

Year 5 is beginning a new unit of inquiry called, “How the World Works.”

What your child will be doing at school

In this unit of inquiry the students will learn about how the Earth’s landforms
change because of natural causes and human activity.. In math, the students will
be learning about space and shape, focusing on number skills, addition, and
subtraction. In language arts the students will learn the features of non-fiction
texts, the explanation text type, and how to do research.

What we would like you to do at home

We would like you to help explain the following vocabulary words and ideas to
your child in their mother tongue. Once they understand the ideas and words in
their mother tongue, please help them to learn the words and ideas in English.

Vocabulary Words

Flood, volcano, earthquake, tsunami, landform, erosion, disaster, climate,

rhombus, cone, sphere, cylinder, cube, cone, triangle, glossary, index, paraphrase,
research, fact, conclusion.

Scaffolding and Differentiation

I will be helping your child learn how to use the table of contents, index, glossary,
and chapter headings to find information in non-fiction texts. I will assist your
child in learning how to take notes, paraphrase, and make references. Finally, I
will help them learn how to write an explanation including a title, an introduction
telling what the explanation is about, a series of facts explaining how or why, and
a conclusion.

Thank you for your help and support with this unit

William Vosko

ESL Teacher Year 5