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This Week in HASS – term 2, week 8

This week we are starting into the last stretch of the term. Students are well into their final sections of work. Our youngest students are thinking about how we care for places, slightly older students are displaying their posters and older students are giving their presentations.

Foundation/Prep/Kindy to Year 3

Our youngest students doing the stand-alone Foundation/Prep/Kindy unit (F.2) are thinking about how we look after different places this week. Students in integrated Foundation/Prep/Kindy and Year 1 classes, doing Unit F.6, are displaying their posters on an issue in their local environment. These posters were prepared in proceeding weeks and can now be displayed either at school or in a local library or hall. The teacher may choose to invite parents to view the posters as well. Students in Years 1 (Unit 1.2), 2 (Unit 2.2) and 3 (Unit 3.2) also have posters to display on a range of issues, either at the school, in a local place, such as a park, or even a local heritage place. Discussions around points of view and the intended audience of the posters can help students to gain a more in-depth understanding and critique their own work.

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 in the second of 3 weeks set aside for their presentations. The presentations cover a significant body of work and thus a 3 weeks of lessons are set aside for the presentations, as well as for finishing any other sections of work not yet completed. Year 3 students are considering extreme climate areas of Australia and other parts of the world, such as the Sahara Desert, Arctic and Antarctica and Mount Everest, by studying explorers such as Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, Robert Scott and Pawel Strzelecki. Year 4 students are studying explorers and the environments and animals of Africa and South America, such as Francisco Pizarro, the Giant Vampire Bat, Vasco Da Gama and the Cape Lion. Year 5 students are studying explorers, environments and animals of North America, such as Henry Hudson, Hernando de Soto and the Great Auk. Year 6 students are studying explorers, environments and indigenous peoples of Asia, such as Vitus Bering, Zheng He, Marco Polo, the Mongols and the Rus.

This Week in HASS – term 2, week 7

This week students are starting to round off their main body of assessable work for the term. Older students are completing and starting to present their presentations, while younger students have posters and models to finish off.

Foundation/Prep/Kindy to Year 3

Students in our stand-alone Foundation/Prep/Kindy unit (F.2) are continuing to explore with their senses this week. While still working on their model or collage for their Favourite Place, they are using their sense of Smell to consider which aromas they like or dislike. Teachers (and students) can bring in a range of things with different smells to explore in class. Ideas for these are given in the Teacher’s Handbook. An important part of this investigation is considering how one can represent one’s favourite smells in the model or collage – students might try to draw the objects associated with the smells, or see if they can find creative alternatives to represent this sense.

Students in integrated Foundation/Prep/Kindy and Year 1 classes (Unit F.6) and those in Years 1 (Unit 1.2), 2 (Unit 2.2) and 3 (Unit 3.2) are completing their posters to be displayed next week. These posters cover topics of local significance – either local history information, or dealing with issues, such as littering or the need for play equipment. As the students work on the posters, teachers are holding discussions with them on responsibility for different issues. The delegation of responsibility to members of the community, local government, other authorities, people who use the facilities, the school P&C, the students etc. should be discussed in class, so that students start to understand how people have different responsibilities in different situations. The teacher can also revisit issues of responsibility in the classroom – what are the students responsible for? What is the teacher responsible for? What is the school responsible for? These discussions are an important means of allowing the students to interact and practise group discussion skills, as well as helping them to think about responsibilities.

Years 3 to 6

Students in Year 3 (Unit 3.6) are completing their presentation on an extreme climate explorer and may start presenting it to the class this week. Year 4 students (Unit 4.2) are presenting on their explorer of Africa and South America. Year 5 students (Unit 5.2) are presenting on their chosen explorer from North America; and Year 6 students (Unit 6.2) are presenting on their chosen explorer from Asia. The remaining 3 weeks of this unit are allocated to the presentations, to ensure enough time for these to be given in full. The presentations should cover all the aspects raised over previous weeks and answered in the Student Workbook – the environments and geography of the areas explored; sustainability issues, such as extinction of animals and changes in local environments; characteristics of the countries involved in the explorations; reasons for explorations and how these created the background which led to the settlement of Australia and the role of indigenous people, as well as impact on indigenous people and their environments. The presentation is thus a comprehensive body of work.

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 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.

New Viking Site in North America

The Vikings were the first Europeans to reach North America, more than 1000 years ago. The Vikings established settlements and traded with indigenous people in North America for about 400 years, finally abandoning the continent less than 100 years before Columbus’ voyage.

The story of the Vikings’ exploits in North America provides not only additional context to the history of human exploration, but also matches ideally to the study of the Geography of North America, as the names used by the Vikings for areas in North America provide a perfect match to the biomes in these regions.

Long consigned to the realms of myth within Norse sagas, the first archaeological evidence of the truth of the old stories of “Vinland” (Newfoundland) was uncovered by a Norwegian archaeologist in 1960. In recent years archaeologists have uncovered yet more evidence of Viking settlements in North America. OpenSTEM is delighted to share this story of how satellite technology is assisting this process, as we publish our own resource on the Vikings in North America.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/01/science/vikings-archaeology-north-america-newfoundland.html

The site was identified last summer after satellite images showed possible man-made shapes under discoloured vegetation on the Newfoundland coast.