Lesson Aim: The aim of this lesson is to engage students with the idea Australia has plenty to offer in terms of its flora, fauna, landscape and attractions. The purpose of this is to provide a more exciting and richer experience for students in their construction of an advertisement for their specific state.
Focus Outcome: HSIE-ENS2.5 Describes places in the local area and other parts of Australia and explains their significance.- Locates and names the capital city of Australia and of each State and major regional centres.
Lesson Outcomes:
English - TS2.1 Communicates in informal and formal classroom activities in school and social situations for an increasing range of purposes on a variety of topics across the curriculum.- Offers opinion about stories read-aloud. - Participates in class discussion on a variety of topics. - Engages in improvisation or role-play based on texts read, heard or viewed.
English - TS2.2 Interacts effectively in groups and pairs, adopting a range of roles, uses a variety of media and uses various listening strategies for different situations. - Uses correct word order when asking questions or making statements. - Performs, giving some consideration to use of voice and gesture in improvisation.
Resources: > "Are we there yet" by Alison Lester, > Giant map of Australia with the states and major cities marked, > Markers, > Blu-tak, > Pencil and paper for each pair, > Envelopes for each partnership with 25 images (e.g. thongs, jumper, hat, boots, esky, socks, bag, toothbrush, shampoo, towel, joggers, umbrella, torch, chewing gum, cereal, bike, teddy, tent, matches, sun glasses, shorts, jeans, slippers, insect repellent, swimmers), > Two large sheets of paper with 2 columns - the first column will name and contain a picture of each item, the second column will be used to tally, > Pad of Post-it-notes, > ‘Hot Seat’ chair.
Lesson Outline:
Introduction (10 minutes): Have students look at the front cover of the text. Ask questions such as: Have you ever gone on a trip or holiday? What activities did you do there? Who did you go with? How did you get there? Open the text to the first double page and ask students to describe the experience they think the family is about to have using only the pictures. Have student explain why they think the family will experience this. As the text is being read, students will take turns in recording the journey the family take on a large map of Australia located at the front of the room.
Teaching and Learning Experience:
Students will:
Teacher will:
Activity One (30 minutes): The purpose of this activity is to engage students in discussion. There is no right or wrong answers, so students justification of their selection is more important than the selections themselves.
Students will move with their partner and envelope to their desk.
Students will rank the items from most to least likely that Grace would have needed on her trip around Australia. (10 minutes)
On the board, one person from each group will put a tally for the top 5 items they selected on the first sheet of paper. (5 minutes) Students will engage in discussion regarding these choices. (5 minutes)
The other person in each pair will tally on the second sheet of paper the 5 choices they selected as least likely to be needed. (5 minutes) Engage in discussion lead by teacher. (5 minutes)
The teacher will place students into pairs based on those children that work well with one another. They will also distribute envelopes with images to each of the groups.
The student's will be instructed to rank the items from most to least likely they feel Grace would need on her journey. The teacher will blue-tak the tallying sheets to the board and instruct students to come up and tally their choices.
The teacher will use the results from the tally to discuss the pros and cons of taking particular items. Students will be asked questions regarding items that had the most tallies, few tallies and no tallies. They will be asked to consider how their choices would change if Grace was required to purchase all the items with her pocket money, if they would change if the trip was for one week or one month (how?) and other higher order thinking questions such as these. The teacher will total the results of the tally, and lead discussion in a similar way to the last discussion utilizing higher order thinking questions.
Activity Two (15 minutes): The purpose of this activity is to have students think critically about the different activities that take place all over Australia. They will be required to take into account the individual experiences of many people, thus developing a sense of different perceptions on the same event.
Listen to instructions and engage in the discussion to identify the characters within the text. (5 minutes)
In their pairs, the students will write 3 questions down on a sheet of paper they wish to ask characters within the text. (5 minutes)
Move to the floor.
Either sit out the front and engage with questions asked, or sit on the floor and ask questions of the characters out the front. (5 minutes)
The teacher will inform the students that in their pair, they must come up with three questions they would like to ask characters in the text. The teacher should write on the board and verbally convey that each question must be directed at a different character, and the question can relate to anything – from how the character felt at a particular time, to what their favourite activity was in a certain place. With the class and the book, go through and identify characters within the text and thus, those people they might like to address their questions to (Mum, Dad, Luke, Billy, Grace, Nan, Poppa, Buffy, Tigger and Bess (the pets), football team, Ruth (Mum’s friend), local boys. Cousins, Tony (Kakadu guide), Uncle Pete.
Help students where needed in writing their questions.
Once each group has completed at least one question each, instruct students to move to the floor.
Select a student to come out the front of the room and sit on the ‘hot seat’. Select another student and ask them who their question is directed at. Inform the student out the front that they will be this person for the purposes of the question being asked. Rotate students for each question.
Concluding Activity: (5 minutes) Students will be each given a post-it-note and asked to write down their favourite place within Australia. This can be anywhere (i.e. another state, within the state, in the same town). Once they have written this down, instruct them to stick it on the map of Australia that was used to trace Grace’s journey. Have the last student read out all the experiences to the class. The teacher should point out how many amazing places there must be in Australia if this is how many the class managed to come up with in a couple of minutes.
Assessment: As this is the first lesson, the outcomes will not be achieved. Instead however, the teacher will partake in informal observation of students in their participation over the lesson in order to gauge what their general understanding of Australia as a whole is, and thus assist in setting lessons at the right level for student ability further on. This will be done in Activity One by listening to students responses justifying their ranking of items. In Activity Two by listening to students responses to questions asked in terms of their reflection of depth and understanding.
Any special considerations or contingency plans: Student’s placement in pairs will be dependent upon students that work well with one another.
For students learning English as a second language and other students with special needs requirements, the use of group work will help to ensure they have support throughout the course of the lesson and thus are able to engage on a deeper level with the content than if they were working individually.
If Activity One takes a longer period of time, Activity Two can be cut out. If Activity One finishes earlier than expected, more students will be able to ask questions in Activity Two.
Self-Reflection: Was the lesson geared to high or low? Were students engaged with the lesson? Was time managed/allocated effectively? What worked well? Why? What didn't work well? Why? What would be changed for next time? Were the resources sufficient in supporting students learning? Were the outcomes addressed appropriately in the lesson?
Australian States and Territories
HSIE and English
Stage 2 (Year 3)
1 of 10
Getting Interested!!
Introduction
The aim of this lesson is to engage students with the idea Australia has plenty to offer in terms of its flora, fauna, landscape and attractions. The purpose of this is to provide a more exciting and richer experience for students in their construction of an advertisement for their specific state.
HSIE - ENS2.5 Describes places in the local area and other parts of Australia and explains their significance.- Locates and names the capital city of Australia and of each State and major regional centres.
Lesson Outcomes:
English - TS2.1 Communicates in informal and formal classroom activities in school and social situations for an increasing range of purposes on a variety of topics across the curriculum.- Offers opinion about stories read-aloud.
- Participates in class discussion on a variety of topics.
- Engages in improvisation or role-play based on texts read, heard or viewed.
English - TS2.2 Interacts effectively in groups and pairs, adopting a range of roles, uses a variety of media and uses various listening strategies for different situations.
- Uses correct word order when asking questions or making statements.
- Performs, giving some consideration to use of voice and gesture in improvisation.
> "Are we there yet" by Alison Lester,
> Giant map of Australia with the states and major cities marked,
> Markers,
> Blu-tak,
> Pencil and paper for each pair,
> Envelopes for each partnership with 25 images (e.g. thongs, jumper, hat, boots, esky, socks, bag, toothbrush, shampoo, towel, joggers, umbrella, torch, chewing gum, cereal, bike, teddy, tent, matches, sun glasses, shorts, jeans, slippers, insect repellent, swimmers),
> Two large sheets of paper with 2 columns - the first column will name and contain a picture of each item, the second column will be used to tally,
> Pad of Post-it-notes,
> ‘Hot Seat’ chair.
Have students look at the front cover of the text. Ask questions such as: Have you ever gone on a trip or holiday? What activities did you do there? Who did you go with? How did you get there? Open the text to the first double page and ask students to describe the experience they think the family is about to have using only the pictures. Have student explain why they think the family will experience this. As the text is being read, students will take turns in recording the journey the family take on a large map of Australia located at the front of the room.
The purpose of this activity is to engage students in discussion. There is no right or wrong answers, so students justification of their selection is more important than the selections themselves.
Students will rank the items from most to least likely that Grace would have needed on her trip around Australia. (10 minutes)
On the board, one person from each group will put a tally for the top 5 items they selected on the first sheet of paper. (5 minutes)
Students will engage in discussion regarding these choices. (5 minutes)
The other person in each pair will tally on the second sheet of paper the 5 choices they selected as least likely to be needed. (5 minutes)
Engage in discussion lead by teacher. (5 minutes)
The student's will be instructed to rank the items from most to least likely they feel Grace would need on her journey.
The teacher will blue-tak the tallying sheets to the board and instruct students to come up and tally their choices.
The teacher will use the results from the tally to discuss the pros and cons of taking particular items. Students will be asked questions regarding items that had the most tallies, few tallies and no tallies. They will be asked to consider how their choices would change if Grace was required to purchase all the items with her pocket money, if they would change if the trip was for one week or one month (how?) and other higher order thinking questions such as these.
The teacher will total the results of the tally, and lead discussion in a similar way to the last discussion utilizing higher order thinking questions.
The purpose of this activity is to have students think critically about the different activities that take place all over Australia. They will be required to take into account the individual experiences of many people, thus developing a sense of different perceptions on the same event.
In their pairs, the students will write 3 questions down on a sheet of paper they wish to ask characters within the text. (5 minutes)
Move to the floor.
Either sit out the front and engage with questions asked, or sit on the floor and ask questions of the characters out the front. (5 minutes)
Help students where needed in writing their questions.
Once each group has completed at least one question each, instruct students to move to the floor.
Select a student to come out the front of the room and sit on the ‘hot seat’. Select another student and ask them who their question is directed at. Inform the student out the front that they will be this person for the purposes of the question being asked. Rotate students for each question.
Students will be each given a post-it-note and asked to write down their favourite place within Australia. This can be anywhere (i.e. another state, within the state, in the same town). Once they have written this down, instruct them to stick it on the map of Australia that was used to trace Grace’s journey. Have the last student read out all the experiences to the class. The teacher should point out how many amazing places there must be in Australia if this is how many the class managed to come up with in a couple of minutes.
As this is the first lesson, the outcomes will not be achieved. Instead however, the teacher will partake in informal observation of students in their participation over the lesson in order to gauge what their general understanding of Australia as a whole is, and thus assist in setting lessons at the right level for student ability further on. This will be done in Activity One by listening to students responses justifying their ranking of items. In Activity Two by listening to students responses to questions asked in terms of their reflection of depth and understanding.
Student’s placement in pairs will be dependent upon students that work well with one another.
If Activity One takes a longer period of time, Activity Two can be cut out. If Activity One finishes earlier than expected, more students will be able to ask questions in Activity Two.
Was the lesson geared to high or low?
Were students engaged with the lesson?
Was time managed/allocated effectively?
What worked well? Why?
What didn't work well? Why?
What would be changed for next time?
Were the resources sufficient in supporting students learning?
Were the outcomes addressed appropriately in the lesson?