Australian Curriculum: English Year 3 Learning Sequence

The following Year 3 learning sequence was developed by Year 3/4 teacher Melissa Bennett in our work as a Teacher Development School. The sequence is linked to The Australian Curriculum - English content descriptions. 

 

You can access The Australian Curriculum by clicking this link:

http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/

 

This sequence was developed using the literary text,

“The Twits” by Roald Dahl

 

Please note that the planning template we have used only contains those content descriptions that directly link to the Literature strand. 

Click HERE to download/view the teacher's lesson plan.When you click the link it will open in Google Docs. When that screen opens, click on FILE and then DOWNLOAD.

A copy of some of the comprehension tools used during the learning sequence are available for you to download by clicking on the images below. This will open a new screen in Google Docs. Then click on FILE and DOWNLOAD.

Our next Woodlands Australian Curriculum Implementation (WACI) Club is on April 10 from 4pm to 5pm at Woodlands PS.  We are focusing on "create texts"! To register please go to the Institute for Professional Learning Online Calendar which can be accessed by clicking this link: http://www.det.wa.edu.au/professionallearning/detcms/professionallearning/professional-learning-website/pl-register-modules/institutes-online-calendar-and-enrolment-system.en?oid=MultiPartArticle-id-10961534

Or for more details please email Carlene.Thorpe@education.wa.edu.au

Copyright notice for use of Australian Curriculum material

In regards to the planning tool in this post:

© Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority 2013.
This is an extract from the Australian Curriculum.
ACARA neither endorses nor verifies the accuracy of the information provided and accepts no responsibility for incomplete or inaccurate information. In particular, ACARA does not endorse or verify that:

• The content descriptions are solely for a particular year and subject;
• All the content descriptions for that year and subject have been used; and
• The author’s material aligns with the Australian Curriculum content descriptions for the relevant year and subject.

You can find the unaltered and most up to date version of this material at http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/ This material is reproduced with the permission of ACARA.

Australian Curriculum: English Year 1 Sequence

Our Year 1 teacher, Claire Poole, has developed a lesson using The Australian Curriculum - English content descriptions. You can access The Australian Curriculum by clicking this link:

http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/

 

This sequence was developed using the literary text,

“How the Kangaroos got their Tails” by Pamela Lofts

and uses our new Woodlands PS planning framework.

Click HERE to download/view the teacher's lesson plan.When you click the link it will open in Google Docs. When that screen opens, click on FILE and then DOWNLOAD.

Please find some student work samples below that provide some evidence of student skill and knowledge in relation to content descriptions taught.

Our first Woodlands Australian Curriculum Implementation (WACI) Club was on Thursday 21 February Woodlands PS and a total of 85 teachers and administrators attended! Our next WACI Club is on April 10 from 4pm to 5pm at Woodlands PS.  We are focusing on "create texts"! To register please go to the Institute for Professional Learning Online Calendar which can be accessed by clicking this link: http://www.det.wa.edu.au/professionallearning/detcms/professionallearning/professional-learning-website/pl-register-modules/institutes-online-calendar-and-enrolment-system.en?oid=MultiPartArticle-id-10961534

or  Email Carlene.Thorpe@education.wa.edu.au if you would like to attend.

Australian Curriculum: English Year 7 Sequence

Our Year 7 teacher, Maureen West, has developed a lesson using The Australian Curriculum - English content descriptions. You can access The Australian Curriculum by clicking this link:

http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/

 

This sequence was developed using the literary text, "Didger" by Libby Gleeson and uses our new Woodlands PS planning framework.

Click HERE to download/view the teacher's lesson plan.When you click the link it will open in Google Docs. When that screen opens, click on FILE and then DOWNLOAD.

Click the images below to download the excerpt used and the grid.

Thank you for visiting our blog. We love getting feedback and comments :-)


Our first Woodlands Australian Curriculum Implementation (WACI) Club starts Thursday 21 February 4pm to 5pm at Woodlands PS. Email Carlene.Thorpe@education.wa.edu.au if you would like to attend.

Australian Curriculum: English Year 1 Sequence "When the Snake Bites the Sun"

Our Year 1 teacher, Jenny Russell, has developed a lesson using The Australian Curriculum - English content descriptions. You can access The Australian Curriculum by clicking this link:

http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/

 

This sequence was developed using the literary text, "When the Snake Bites the Sun" by Pamela Lofts

Click HERE to download/view the teacher's lesson plan.When you click the link it will open in Google Docs. When that screen opens, click on FILE and then DOWNLOAD.

Australian Curriculum Work Sample Portfolios

 The Australian Curriculum Student Work Sample Portfolios have been published online. You can view the portfolios for English by clicking the link below:

http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/English/Curriculum/F-10

Then scroll to your selected year level and view the portfolios following the Achievement Standards for each year level.

Under the "Organisation" tab in the Achievement Standards section, you will find the following information: "Student work samples play a key role in communicating expectations described in the achievement standards. Each work sample includes the relevant assessment task, the student’s response, and annotations identifying the quality of learning evident in the student’s response in relation to relevant parts of the achievement standard. Together, the description of the achievement standard and the accompanying set of annotated work samples help teachers to make judgments about whether students have achieved the standard."   http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/English/Achievement-standards

Please remember that the portfolios are an indication of the extent to which a child demonstrates an END OF YEAR achievement standard.  Satisfactory is at the Achievement Standard.  If you attend our Woodlands Australian Curriculum Implementation (WACI) Club you will discover ways you can utilise the portfolios. Our next WACI Club is on 21 February 4pm to 5pm.

The work sample portfolios for Maths, History and Science are also available.

Enjoy! Woodlands PS contributed many of the work samples so it is exciting for our team!

Carlene Thorpe
Deputy Principal
Woodlands PS

AC:English Planning Tools

It is almost time for the school year to officially begin. Some of the most popular posts on this blog are in relation to planning tools.

Woodlands PS has endeavoured to develop planning tools that are SIMPLE and TIME EFFECTIVE. We understand as teachers, that we do not have hours to spend collating huge documents. The essence of our tools are to provide a way of tracking content you have taught whilst also ensuring you are teaching the content that each child is entitled to access.

This post contains the very latest versions of our planning tools. Please note that all content is sourced from The Australian Curriculum v4.0 which is available by clicking the following link http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/

The first document enables teachers to make the links between the Year Level description, the content descriptions and the achievement standards at each year level. This document is useful in planning meeting between teachers as it can guide discussion. Don't forget that the Year Level descriptions contain useful information, particularly in regards to the types of texts students need to engage with and create. By using this document you can ensure your student are engaging with a variety of texts, creating a variety of texts and communicating with a variety of sources. It is all about MAKING THE LINKS for teachers.

This document also allows teachers to identify possible evidence they could collect that would demonstrate understanding of the content descriptions taught and the progress towards achievement standards.

Please click HERE to download this document from our Google Docs.

The next document is a planning tool for Literature based learning sequences. This document only contains content descriptions that inter-relate with the Literature strand. It is NOT ALL the content descriptions for AC:English. It is a useful document for planning sequences related to a Literary text. Our school uses this document when posting Literature sequences to our blog.  This document also contains a planning tool for Kindergarten using the DoE Early Years of Schooling Statement.

Please click HERE to download the Literature Planning doc from our Google Docs.

We also have a planning tool for AC:E Writing. Please keep in mind that when using this plan, many of the content descriptions that are listed ALSO need to be catered for in the other modes of Reading, Speaking and Listening. The Writing planning tool only contains the content descriptions linked to a "Writing" element.

Please click HERE to download the Writing Planning doc from our Google Docs.

Lastly we have our very popular English Audit sheets. These sheets are to track what has been taught each term in response to the needs of the students. It also enables you to track that you are teaching the content descriptions through a variety of modes: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening. This is very important as if you view the content descriptions in modes online, it will place the content descriptions in to a "best fit" mode. In version 4.0 of AC:E it also lists the other modes that the content needs to be taught in.

Please click HERE to download the AC:E Audit sheets from our Google Docs.

We hope you find our tools useful, simple and time effective.

We would love to receive any feedback or comments from you in regards to these tools.

Have a lovely start to Term 1. We hope to see many of you at our first Woodlands Australian Curriculum Implementation (WACI) Club for 2013 on Thursday 21 February.

Kind regards

Carlene Thorpe

Australian Curriculum Version 4.0

Thank you for over 13 000 hits to our blog in the last month! Considering we have been on school holidays, this is an amazing amount of hits. Currently the most popular post is in regards to classroom planning templates. I will be posting the very latest templates from Woodlands PS this week, so please keep popping back to check.

I have lots of lessons to share to get you started for the new school year with Literature.

It is important to note that as of 10 January 2013 we are currently at Version 4.0 of the Australian Curriculum.

The changes are as follows:

• Inclusion of senior secondary Australian Curriculum (content and achievement standards) for 14 subjects in English, Mathematics, Science and History
• Revised home page to access F-10 curriculum and Senior secondary curriculum

The revised F-10 access looks like this and can be accessed by clicking F-10 Curriculum at http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/

This is a much easier interface to use. It allows you to select a Year Level and view all the content for the Phase One subjects of English, Mathematics, Science and History for that year level on the one screen.

ACARA is also getting set to release the Portfolios for each year level and Phase One subjects. The portfolios will display student work samples for Satisfactory, Above Satisfactory and Below Satisfactory in relation to the Achievement Standards.  Keep checking back as when you click the link now it says COMING SOON. I will ensure I blog to let you know when they are live.

Please feel free to leave a comment if this information was of use to you :-)

Carlene Thorpe

The Woodlands Hub Update

Hi Everyone

Thank you for supporting our blog throughout 2012!

Please find a copy of a Christmas thematic plan linked to Australian Curriculum: English Foundation content descriptions. Click HERE to download/view the Christmas pack. When you click the link it will open in Google Docs. When that screen opens, click on FILE and then DOWNLOAD.

You can access The Australian Curriculum by clicking this link:

http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/

As it is a busy term with reports and end of year requirements, we will not be loading new learning sequences for the remainder of the term.

Please check back over the school holidays as we will be posting learning sequences and other helpful documents in preparation for the start of the new school year!

Kind regards

Carlene Thorpe
Deputy Principal

"Brolga Song" - AC:English Year 2 Lesson

Our Year 2 teacher, Carlene Thorpe, has developed a lesson using The Australian Curriculum - English content descriptions. You can access The Australian Curriculum by clicking this link:

http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/

This sequence was developed using the Dust Echoes resource of Brolga Song.

Dust Echoes is recommended by ACARA in their resources section. Please note that you will need to assess the suitability of the resources on Dust Echoes depending on the age of your students. You can view all the Dust Echoes resources by clicking this link:

http://www.abc.net.au/dustechoes/

Click HERE to download/view the teacher's lesson plan.When you click the link it will open in Google Docs. When that screen opens, click on FILE and then DOWNLOAD.

A copy of the visualisation grid is below. Click the picture to download in Google Docs.

 

Year 3 Australian Curriculum English Learning Sequence

Our Year 3 teachers, Melissa Bennett and Casey Finlen, have developed a learning sequence using The Australian Curriculum - English content descriptions. You can access The Australian Curriculum by clicking this link:

http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/

 

This sequence was developed using the picture book Louisa May Pickett by Rod Clement. This text was suggested by another Year 3 teacher at the Woodlands Australian Curriculum Implementation (WACI) Club during their collaborative planning session.

 

Click HERE to download/view the teacher's lesson plan.When you click the link it will open in Google Docs. When that screen opens, click on FILE and then DOWNLOAD.

Some of the tools the teachers developed for comprehension use are below.  Click the photo to download in Google Docs.

Some photos of student work samples are below. Click to enlarge.

Australian Curriculum - English Year 2 - Olga the Brolga

Our Year 2 teacher, Carlene Thorpe, has developed a learning sequence using The Australian Curriculum - English content descriptions. You can access The Australian Curriculum by clicking this link:

http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/

 

This sequence was developed using the picture book Olga the Brolga by Rod Clement.

 

Click HERE to download/view the teacher's lesson plan.When you click the link it will open in Google Docs. When that screen opens, click on FILE and then DOWNLOAD. 

 

 

I have created a series of comprehension sheets that you can download by clicking  the picture below.

 

 

 

"The Very Cranky Bear" Australian Curriculum - English Year 2 Sequence

Our Year 2 teacher, Carlene Thorpe, has developed a learning sequence using The Australian Curriculum - English content descriptions. You can access The Australian Curriculum by clicking this link:

http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/

This sequence was developed using the picture book The Very Cranky Bear by Nick Bland.

Click HERE to download/view the teacher's lesson plan.When you click the link it will open in Google Docs. When that screen opens, click on FILE and then DOWNLOAD. 

Please note this is a two page sequence of learning.

 If you would like a copy of the reflection grid we use with the Year 2 class please download by clicking the photo below. The reflections grid is an individual reflection tool that students use throughout the learning sequence to indicate their level of understanding. Each student has a photo of themselves and it is velcroed to the grid and moved along as student understandings increase. "What?" meaning - What is the teacher on about? I have no idea! "A Little" meaning - I know a little bit about what we are learning.  "A lot" meaning - I understand the learning goal now!  There is space for the children to write notes.

The Interview with The Very Cranky Bear can be viewed by clicking this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGMY90P9-7Y

You can also view the video below. Please be mindful of the Terms and Conditions for using YouTube at school.

If you would like to know how to use and create QR Codes for the classroom please utilise Google search or email Carlene.Thorpe@education.wa.edu.au

Australian Curriculum - English Pre Primary Plan

Our Pre Primary teacher, Wendy Murray, and a Pre Service teacher on prac in her classroom, have developed a learning sequence using The Australian Curriculum - English content descriptions.

 

This sequence was developed using a traditional tale - The Three Little Pigs.

 

Click HERE to download/view the teacher's lesson plan.When you click the link it will open in Google Docs. When that screen opens, click on FILE and then DOWNLOAD.

 

 

Copies of templates used during this learning sequence are below. 

Click the photo to download in Google Docs.

 

 

 

 Below is a photo of some of the activities from the learning sequence. Click to enlrage or download.

AC:English - Brolga Song Learning Sequence

Our Year 1 teacher, Robyn Blekkenhorst, has developed a sequence of lessons in relation to the Dust Echoes traditional Aboriginal dreamtime text of The Brolga Song.

 

Dust Echoes is a series of twelve beautifully animated dreamtime stories from Central Arnhem Land, telling stories of love, loyalty, duty to country and aboriginal custom and law.  You can access Dust Echoes videos and study guides by clicking this link http://www.abc.net.au/dustechoes/

 

The sequence of lessons addresses aspects of the Australian Curriculum English content descriptions across the three strands of Language, Literature and Literacy. The learning sequence also caters for the AC Cross Curriculum Priority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures.

In Brolga Song, the major theme of the story is
the importance of culture, and of
knowing one’s place in Aboriginal
society.

Click HERE to download/view the teacher's lesson plan.When you click the link it will open in Google Docs. When that screen opens, click on FILE and then DOWNLOAD.

Click on the photos below to download a copy of the graphic organisers used as part of this learning sequence.

 Some samples of student work are below. Click a photo to see an enlarged version.

Year 1 Australian Curriculum English Plan

Our Year 1 teacher, Robyn Blekkenhorst, has developed a sequence of lessons in relation to the literary text Winners Never Quit by Mia Hamm. The sequence of lessons addresses aspects of the Australian Curriculum English content descriptions across the three strands of Language, Literature and Literacy.

In Winners Never Quit, the character Mia loves playing soccer. That is, until she has trouble scoring a goal when her team is about to lose. Before she can lose, she quits. Fed up with her attitude, Mia's brothers and sisters will not let her play with them anymore. Will Mia learn that being a team player is more important than winning or losing the game?

This wonderful and motivating story is a mini autobiography of one of the top female soccer players from the USA, Mia Hamm, who helped the United States win a gold medal in soccer in the 1996 Olympics.

Click HERE to download/view the teacher's lesson plan.When you click the link it will open in Google Docs. When that screen opens, click on FILE and then DOWNLOAD.

Year 3 Australian Curriculum English Learning Sequence

Our Year 3 teacher, Melissa Bennett, has developed a sequence of lessons in relation to "Bad Characters." The sequence of lessons addresses aspects of the Australian Curriculum English content descriptions across the three strands of Literature and Literacy.

Click HERE to download/view the teacher's lesson plan.When you click the link it will open in Google Docs. When that screen opens, click on FILE and then DOWNLOAD.

 Pictured below are the characters the students used for this learning sequence:

Below are two videos where students have discussed the type of character they think it is and why. 

 Pictured below are students adding features using SimultaneousRoundTable and the end result from 

Session One.

In Session 2 the students engaged with a ranking ladder.

Here is a photo of the students using Ranking Ladder:

A copy of the Ranking Ladder PMI template used in Sessions 3 can be downloaded by clicking HERE

Pictured below is a student creating their own "bad character":

Thanks for popping by the WHUB!

If you haven't registered for our Woodlands Australian Curriculum Implementation (WACI) Club for 22 August and would like to - please register through the Institute for Professional learning.