HASS | OpenSTEM Pty Ltd

This Week in HASS – term 2, week 6

This week students doing the Understanding Our World® program are exploring their environment and considering indigenous peoples. Younger students are learning about local history and planning a poster on a local issue. Older students are studying indigenous peoples around the world. All the students are working strongly on their main pieces of assessment for the term.

Foundation/Prep/Kindy to Year 3

Our youngest students, using the stand-along Foundation/Prep/Kindy unit (F.2) are exploring the sense of touch in their environment this week. Students consider a range of fabrics and textiles and choose which ones match their favourite place, for inclusion in their model or collage. Students in integrated classes of Foundation/Prep/Kindy and Year 1 (Unit F.6), Year 1 students (Unit 1.2), Year 2 students (Unit 2.2) and Year 3 (Unit 3.2) are starting to prepare a poster on an issue regarding their school, or local park/heritage place, while considering the local history. These investigations should be based on the excursion from last week. Students will have 2 weeks to prepare their posters, for display either at the school or a local venue, such as the library or community hall.

Years 3 to 6

Students in Years 3 to 6 are continuing with their project on an explorer. Students in Year 3 (Unit 3.6) are examining Australian Aboriginal groups from extreme climate areas of Australia, such as the central deserts, or cold climate areas. Students then choose one of these groups to describe in their Student Workbook, and add to their presentation. Students in Year 4 (Unit 4.2) are studying indigenous peoples of Africa and South America. They will then select a group from the area visited by their explorer, to include in their presentation. Year 5 students (Unit 5.2) do the same with indigenous groups from North America; whilst year 6 students (Unit 6.2) have a wide range of resources on indigenous peoples from Asia to select for study and inclusion in their presentation. Resources are available on groups from across mainland Asia (such as the Mongols, Tatars, Rus, Han), as well as South-East Asia (such as Malay, Dyak, Dani etc.). This is the last section of work to be included in the presentation, and students will then finish their presentation and present it to the class.

This Week in HASS, term 2 week 5

NAPLAN’s over and it’s time to sink our teeth into the main body of curriculum work before mid-year reporting rolls around. Our younger students are using all their senses to study the environment and local area around them, whilst our older students are hard at work on their Explorer projects.

Foundation/Prep/Kindy to Year 3

Unit F.2 for stand-alone Foundation/Prep/Kindy classes has the students continuing to think about their Favourite Place. This week students are considering what they can hear in their Favourite Place and how they will depict that in their model of their Favourite Place. Students can also think about what their Favourite Sounds are and whether or not these would occur in their Favourite Place. Students in integrated Foundation/Prep/Kindy classes (Unit F.6) and Years 1 (Unit 1.2), 2 (Unit 2.2) and 3 (Unit 3.2) have this week set aside for an excursion to a local park or area of heritage significance. If an excursion outside school grounds is impractical teachers can achieve similar results from an excursion around the school and oval. Students are using their senses to interpret their environment, as well as thinking about living and non-living things, natural and managed landscapes and sources of heat and light.

Years 3 to 6

Students in Years 3 (Unit 3.6), 4 (Unit 4.2), 5 (Unit 5.2) and 6 (Unit 6.2) are continuing their project on an explorer. This week the focus for most students is on animals which may have been encountered by their explorer. Year 3 students are examining animals from different climate zones and how they are adapted to deal with climate extremes. Students in Years 4 and 5 look at extinct animals from Africa, South America or North America, assessing impact and sustainability issues. Students in Year 4 (and optionally as an extension for Year 3) consider the life cycle of their chosen animal. Students in years 4, 5 and 6 also start to examine the differences between Primary and Secondary sources and some of the OpenSTEM resources contain quotes or copies of primary material, so that students can refer to these in their project. Year 6 students are examining the changing Economies and Politics of Asia through time, in order to place the explorations within a broader context and to gain a greater understanding of the development of the global situation. Students have another 2 weeks to complete their presentation on their explorer (including environment and other aspects), before assessment of this project.

This Week in HASS – term 2, week 4

It’s NAPLAN week and that means time is short! Fortunately, the Understanding Our World™ program is based on 9 week units, which means that if you run out of time in any particular week, it’s not a disaster. Furthermore, we have made sure that there is plenty of catch-up time within the lessons, so that there is no need to feel rushed. This week students are getting into the nitty gritty of their term projects. Our youngest students are studying their surroundings at school and in the local area. Older students are getting to the core of their research projects.

Foundation to Year 3

Students in our standalone Foundation/Kindy/Prep class (unit F.2) are starting to build a model of their Favourite Place. It is the teacher’s choice whether they build a diorama, make a poster or collage, or how this is done in class. This week students start by drawing or cutting out pictures to show aspects of their favourite place. Students in an integrated Foundation/Kindy/Prep (unit F.6) and Year 1 class are using their senses to investigate their class and school – what can we see, hear, smell, feel and taste? Some ideas can be found in resources such as My Favourite Sounds and the Teacher Handbook also contains lots of ideas for these investigations. Students in Years 1 (unit 1.2), 2 (unit 2.2) and 3 (unit 3.2) are also discussing how the school and local area has changed through time. The teacher can use old maps, photos or newspaper reports to guide students through these discussions. What information is available in the school? What do local families remember?

Years 3 to 6

Students in Year 3 (unit 3.6), 4 (unit 4.2), 5 (unit 5.2) and 6 (unit 6.2) are continuing to research their explorer. This week year 3 students are focusing on the climates encountered by their explorer. Resources such as Climate Zones of Australia and Climate Zones of the World can help the class to identify these climate areas. Year 4 students examine Environments in Africa and South America, in order to discuss the environments encountered by their explorer. Students in Year 5 can read up about the environment encountered by their explorer in North America, and Year 6 students examine the Environments of Asia. In each case, the student workbook guides the student through this investigation and helps them to isolate pertinent information to include in their presentation. This helps students to gain an understanding of how to research a topic and derive an understanding of what information they need to consider. Teachers can use the workbook to check in and see how students are travelling in their progress towards completing the project, as well as their understanding of the content covered.

This Week in HASS – term 2, week 2

It is hoped that by now all the school routine is shaking back down into place. No doubt you’ve all got ANZAC Day marked on your class calendars, and this may be a good time to revisit some of the celebrations with the younger students. This week our younger students are looking at types of homes and local Aboriginal groups. Students in Year 3 are investigating climate zones and biomes of Australia, while students in Years 4 to 6 are looking at Europe in the ‘Age of Discovery’ (the 15th to 18th centuries).

Foundation/Prep to Year 3

Students in our stand-alone Foundation/Prep class (Unit F.2), in line with the name of the unit “Where We Live”, are examining different types of homes and talking about how people get the things they need (such as shelter, warmth etc) from their homes. Students examine a wide range of different types of homes including freestanding houses, apartments, townhouses, as well as boats, caravans and other less conventional homes.

Students in integrated Foundation/Prep classes (Unit F.6) and in years 1 (Unit 1.2), 2 (Unit 2.2) and 3 (Unit 3.2) are finding out about their local Aboriginal groups, in the area of their school. Students will be considering how the groups are connected to the land and what changes they have seen since they first arrived in that area, thousands of years before. Remember, if you need information about your local Aboriginal group, feel free to contact us and ask.

Years 3 to 6

Students in Year 3, doing the Unit “Exploring Climates” (Unit 3.6) are consolidating work done last week on climate zones and the biomes of Australia. This week they are focusing on matching the climate zone to the region of Australia. Students in Years 4 (Unit 4.2), 5 (Unit 5.2) and 6 (Unit 6.2) are shifting focus across to Europe in the 15th to 18th centuries – the ‘Age of Discovery’.

This sets the scene for further examinations of explorers and the research project students will undertake this term, as well as introducing students to the conditions in Europe which later led to colonisation, thereby providing some important background information for Australian history in Term 3. Students can examine Spain, Portugal and England and the role that they played in exploring the world at this time.

Science!

Did you know: the Understanding Our World™ program also fully covers the Science component of the Australian Curriculum at each year level, integrated with the HASS materials!

In line with the Age of Discovery explorer theme, student start their Science activity: “Ancient Sailing Ships“. A perennial favourite with students, this activity involves making a simple model sailing ship and then examining the forces acting on the ship, the properties of different parts of the ships and the materials from which they were made, examining different types of sails (square-rigged versus lateen-rigged), as well as considering the phases of matter associated with sailing ships.

Some schools set up water troughs and fans and race the ships against each other, which causes much excitement! This activity also helps students understand some of the challenges faced by explorers who travelled the world in similar vessels.

This Week in HASS – term 2, week 1

Welcome to the new school term, and we hope you all had a wonderful Easter! Many of our students are writing NAPLAN this term, so the HASS program provides a refreshing focus on something different, whilst practising skills that will help students prepare for NAPLAN without even realising it! Both literacy and numeracy are foundation skills of much of the broader curriculum and are reinforced within our HASS program as well. Meantime our younger students are focusing on local landscapes this term, while our older students are studying explorers of different continents.

Foundation to Year 3

Our youngest students (Foundation/Prep Unit F.2) start the term by looking at different types of homes. A wide selection of places can be homes for people around the world, so students can compare where they live to other types of homes. Students in integrated Foundation/Prep and Years 1 to 3 (Units F.6; 1.2; 2.2 and 3.2) start their examination of the local landscape by examining how Aboriginal people arrived in Australia 60,000 years ago. They learn how modern humans expanded across the world during the last Ice Age, reaching Australia via South-East Asia. Starting with this broad focus allows them to narrow down in later weeks, finally focusing on their local community.

Year 3 to Year 6

Students in Years 3 to 6 (Units 3.6; 4.2; 5.2 and 6.2) are looking at explorers this term. Each year level focuses on explorers of a different part of the world. Year 3 students investigate different climate zones and explorers of extreme climate areas (such as the Poles, or the Central Deserts of Australia). Year 4 students examine Africa and South America and investigate how European explorers during the ‘Age of Discovery‘ encountered different environments, animals and people on these continents. The students start with prehistory and this week they are looking at how Ancient Egyptians and Bantu-speaking groups explored Africa thousands of years ago. They also examine Great Zimbabwe. Year 5 students are studying North America, and this week are starting with the Viking voyages to Greenland and Newfoundland, in the 10th century. Year 6 students focus on Asia, and start with a study in Economics by examining the Dutch East India Company of the 17th and 18th centuries. (Remember HASS for years 5 and 6 includes History, Geography, Civics and Citizenship and Economics and Business – we cover it all, plus Science!)

You might be wondering how on earth we integrate such apparently disparate topics for multi-year classes! Well, our Teacher Handbooks are full of tricks to make teaching these integrated classes a breeze. The Teacher Handbooks with lesson plans and hints for how to integrate across year levels are included, along with the Student Workbooks, Model Answers and Assessment Guides, within our bundles for each unit. Teachers using these units have been thrilled at how easy it is to use our material in multi-year level classes, whilst knowing that each student is covering curriculum-appropriate material for their own year level.

This Week in HASS – term 1, week 9

The last week of our first unit – time to wrap up, round off, finish up any work not yet done and to perhaps get a preliminary taste of what’s to come in future units. Easter holidays are just around the corner. Our youngest students are having a final discussion about celebrations; slightly older students are finishing off their quest for Aunt Madge, by looking at landmarks and the older students are considering democracy in Australia, compared to its early beginnings in Ancient Greece.

Foundation to Year 3

Foundation/Prep (units F.1 and F.6) students are finishing off their discussions about celebrations, just in time for the Easter holidays, by looking at celebrations around the world. Teachers may wish to focus on how other countries celebrate Easter, with passion plays, processions and special meals. Students in Years 1 (unit 1.1), 2 (unit 2.1) and 3 (unit 3.1) are finishing off their Aunt Madge activity, looking at landmarks in Australia and around the world. There is the option for teachers to concentrate on Australian landmarks in this lesson, setting the stage for some local history studies in the next unit, next term.

Years 3 to 6

Ancient Greek pottery with votes scratched into the surface

Older students in Years 3 (unit 3.5), 4 (unit 4.1), 5 (unit 5.1) and 6 (unit 6.1) start looking ahead and laying the foundations for later studies on the Australian system of government and democracy, by comparing democracy as it arose in Ancient Greece, with the modern Australian democratic system. Our word for democracy comes from the Ancient Greek words demos (people) and kratia (power). Students move on from their discussion of Eratosthenes to looking at the Ancient Greek democratic system, which was to lay the groundwork for modern democratic systems around the world. Discussing Ancient Greek democracy leads students to consider the rights and responsibilities of being a citizen, at both the local and international levels. Students also consider who could and could not vote and what this meant for different groups. They can also touch on the ancient practise of ostracism, which can lead to ethical debates around fair election practises. By considering these fundamental concepts, students are better able to relate the ideas around modern democracy to their own lives.