Tag: timeline

This Week in HASS – term 3, week 3

This week our youngest students are playing games from different places around the world, in the past. Slightly older students are completing the Timeline Activity. Students in Years 4, 5 and 6 are starting to sink their teeth into their research project for the term, using the Scientific Process.

Foundation/Prep/Kindy to Year 3

Playing hoopsThis week students in stand-alone Foundation/Prep/Kindy classes (Unit F.3) and those integrated with Year 1 (Unit F-1.3) are examining games from the past. The teacher can choose to match these to the stories from Week 1 of the unit, as games are listed matching each of the places and time periods included in those stories. However, some games are more practical to play than others, and some require running around, so the teacher may wish to choose games which suit the circumstances of each class. Teachers can discuss how different places have different types of games and why these games might be chosen in those places (e.g. dragons in China and lions in Africa).

Students in Years 1 (Unit 1.3), 2 (Unit 2.3) and 3 (Unit 3.3) have this week to finish off the Timeline Activity. The Timeline activity requires some investment of time, which can be done as 2 half hour sessions or one longer session. Some flexible timing is built into the unit for teachers who want to match this activity to the number line in Maths, and other revise or cover the number line in more depth as a complement to this activity.

Years 3 to 6

Arthur Phillip

Last week students in Years 3 to 6 chose a research topic, related to a theme in Australian History. Different themes are studied by different year levels. Students in Year 3 (Unit 3.7) study a topic in the history of their capital city or local community. Students in Year 4 (Unit 4.3) study a topic from Australian history in the precolonial or early colonial periods. Students in Year 5 (Unit 5.3) study a topic from Australian colonial history and students in Year 6 (Unit 6.3) study a topic related to Federation or 20th century Australian history. These research topics are undertaken as a Scientific Investigation. This week the focus is on defining a Research Question and undertaking Background Research. Student workbooks will guide students through the process of choosing a research question within their chosen topic, and then how to start the Background Research. These sections will be included in the Scientific Report each student produces at the end of this unit. OpenSTEM resources available with each unit provide a starting point for this Background Research.

 

This Week in HASS: term 1 week 1

We thought it would be fun to track what’s happening in schools using our primary HASS program, on a weekly basis. Now we know that some of you are doing different units and some will start in different weeks, depending on what state you’re in, what term dates you have etc, but we will run these posts based off those schools which are implementing the units in numerical order and starting in the week beginning 30 January, 2017.

Week 1 is an introductory week for all units, and usually sets some foundations for the rest of the unit.

Foundation to Year 3

Our youngest students are still finding their feet in the new big world of school! We have 2 units for Term 1, depending on whether the class is standalone, or integrating with some Year 1 students. This week standalone classes will be starting a discussion about their families – geared towards making our newest students feel welcome and comfortable at school.

Those integrating with Year 1 or possibly Year 2, as well, will start working with their teachers on a Class Calendar, marking terms and holidays, as well as celebrations such as birthdays and public holidays. This helps younger students start to map out the coming year, as well as provide a platform for discussions about how they spent the holidays. Year 2 and 3 students may choose to focus more on discussing which season we are in now, and what the weather’s like at the moment (I’m sure most of you are in agreement that it’s too hot!). Students can track the weather on the calendar as well.

Years 3 to 6

Some Year 3 students may be in classes integrating with Year 4 students, rather than Year 2. Standalone Year 3 classes have a choice of doing either unit. These older students will be undertaking the Timeline Activity and getting a physical sense of history and spans of time. Students love an excuse to get outdoors, even when it’s hot, and this activity gives them a preview of material they will be covering later in the year, as well as giving them a hands-on understanding of how time has passed and how where we are compares to past events. This activity can even reinforce the concept of a number line from Maths, in a very kinaesthetic way.