MOSSGIEL PARK PRIMARY SCHOOL
AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM (AusVELS in Victoria): The Age of Exploration– Years 3 & 4
This unit combines compatible content and skills from the Australian History Curriculum and the three Priorities and relevant interdisciplinary learning from VELS Personal Learning, Interdisciplinary Learning, Thinking Processes. Some aspects of AusVELS English curriculum are also included.
Background: prior to this unit, these students have completed a Library unit exploring Aboriginal legends which has explored the traditional nomadic lifestyle, use of tools and cultural artefacts, trade with Indonesians in the Northern Territory and how knowledge was transmitted using song, dance and story.
Year 3 students will need a lot of support with this unit, with extensive scaffolding when doing their research. Much of what is available online and in books is too difficult for this age group so it is essential that they use the LisaHillSchoolStuff wiki as their primary source of information because the pages are designed to provide the information that they need in an accessible way. The pages have been designed so that at-risk students research James Cook, and more able students research Dirk Hartog.
This unit was developed by Lisa Hill
NB This unit is usually impacted by the Year 3 & 4 camp which means that non-campers get ahead of the campers AND that partners can’t rely on each other to be present at all times.
Contents
LESSON SEQUENCES
Lesson 1
Lesson 2
Lesson 3
Lesson 4
Lesson 5
Lesson 6
Lesson 7
Lesson 8
Key Understandings for Assessment
Focus Questions
LEARNING FOCUS
VICTORIAN ESSENTIAL LEARNING STANDARDS LEARNING FOCUS
VELS Learning Focus Thinking Processes Level 3
VELS Learning Focus Personal Learning Level 3
VELS Learning Focus Interpersonal Learning Level 3
AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM HISTORY LEVEL DESCRIPTION: Years 3 & 4
AusVELS CONTENT DESCRIPTIONS AND ELABORATIONS – HISTORY: Years 3 & 4
Historical Knowledge and Understanding
Historical Skills
AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM ENGLISH LEVEL DESCRIPTION Years 3 & 4
AusVELSCONTENT DESCRIPTIONS AND ELABORATIONS – ENGLISH: Years 3 & 4
READING AND VIEWING
WRITING
SPEAKING AND LISTENING
Essential Website
AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM PRIORITIES
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures
ATSI Perspectives Flow Chart
ACHIEVEMENT STANDARDS
VICTORIAN ESSENTIAL LEARNING STANDARDS (VELS) ACHIEVEMENT STANDARDS
VELS Thinking Processes Standards Years 3 & 4
VELS Personal Learning Standards Years 3 & 4
VELS Interpersonal Learning Standards Years 3 & 4
AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM ACHIEVEMENT STANDARDS – HISTORY
AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM HISTORY Years 3 & 4
AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM ACHIEVEMENT STANDARDS – ENGLISH
AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM ENGLISH Years 3 & 4
PoLT (Principles of Learning and Teaching)
PoLT focus to be embedded in this unit.
Screen Shot: sample Student use of Explain Everything
Explorer’s Assessment Requirements
Sample Prior Learning Concept Map
LESSON SEQUENCES
Lesson 1
/Lesson 2
/Lesson 3
/Lesson 4
Activities / Assessment for Learning:Using mini C17th globe of the world, ask children to compare it with a modern globe, to identify that Australia is ‘missing’. Cue in by talking about how for a long time people in Europe thought there was a Great South Land but didn’t know where it was. Explorers who were looking for places to trade went looking for it, but it was difficult in old fashioned ships and maps.
Elicit prior knowledge: What do you know about how Europeans first came to Australia? Model on a concept map the use of prompt Qs who/when/where to & from and why and how to cluster information about each explorer separately. In groups of 2-3, students use concept mapping software to show what they know[1].
Share time: what do we know? Explain: using w/b, teacher shows (very briefly) on sketch map of the world the sequence of exploration by Dutch, French explorers, mapping & their routes to Australia. Include the trade between the Macassans and the Yolngu people – what was different about their contact with the Aborigines? What would we like to find out about theEuropean explorers? What could we use? Record answers on w/b to construct a class search plan, which includes these Qs:
- Who were the first to come to Australia after the Aborigines?
- When did they come?
- Where from?
- Where did they land?
- Why did they come?
- What sort of ships did they have?
Complete PLJs / Cue in with explanation of project requirements: Show the Mini Project Practice Sheet and how it will be used to support students to use the iPad app Explain Everything to introduce their explorer and trace on a map of the world, their explorer’s route, departure,at least one landing place en route for supplies and destination in Australia.
Cue in by reviewing Inquiry Questions from previous week:
- Who were the first to come to Australia after the Aborigines?
- When did they come?
- Where from?
- Where did they land?
- Why did they come?
- What sort of ships did they have?
Discuss & model
- how these can be used and shared.
- how to evaluate the reliability and usefulness of sources using the Deep Thinking Choosing a Useful book form[2](i.e. publication date, authorship of websites, whether Australian or not &c.)
- how to use the table of contents and index
Table task: explore resources and decide which ones might be useful. Choose one to start with and record its details ready to start using it at the next lesson.
Browsing and borrowing.
Complete PLJs / Cue in by reviewing Inquiry Questions from previous week:
- Who were the first to come to Australia after the Aborigines?
- When did they come?
- Where from?
- Where did they land?
- Why did they come?
- What sort of ships did they have?
Discuss available resources (books and navigation of the LisaHillSchoolStuff wiki with links to other websites).
Review how resources must be shared; how to use the table of contents and index and how to evaluate the reliability and usefulness of using the Deep Thinking Choosing a Useful book form.
Model how to record Inquiry Qs and keywords on a research note-taking sheet.
Table task: evaluate the resource chosen last week & decide if still useful. Choose another if necessary record its details & take notes to answer the Search Qs.
Share Time: What have we found out so far? Which resources have been useful?
Browsing and borrowing.
Complete PLJs / Review Inquiry Questions from previous week:
- Who were the first to come to Australia after the Aborigines?
- When did they come?
- Where from?
- Where did they land?
- Why did they come?
- What sort of ships did they have?
Review how to use the table of contents and index and how to evaluate the reliability and usefulness of using the Deep Thinking Choosing a Useful book form. Model how to ‘take notes’ and ‘make notes’.
Table task: Students continue researching Jansz, Tasman, Hartog, Cook and Dampier. Encourage students to look for references to contact with the Aborigines and evaluate the explorer’s impression. Discuss: what might the Aborigines have thought about the arrival (and departure) of the explorers?
Also discuss and reinforce effective online navigation strategies, using links, graphics and layout.
Share time: what dates have we found? Make a human timeline showing which explorers came first.
Browsing and borrowing.
Complete PLJs
Resources / Laptops: Kidspiration (or Inspiration if students are more familiar with it)
iPads with Explain Everything App.
Globe of the world.
C17th mini globe or map of the world (reproduction) i.e. one that doesn’t show Australia.
Personal Learning Journals (PLJs) / Laptops: LisaHillSchoolStuff.wiki
Mini Project Practice Sheet
Research note-taking sheets
Selected non-fiction texts about maritime explorers, including poster-sized charts.
iPads with Explain Everything App.
Thinking Choosing a Useful book form / Laptops: LisaHillSchoolStuff.wiki
Research note-taking sheets
Selected non-fiction texts about maritime explorers, including poster-sized charts. Research note-taking sheets
iPads with Explain Everything App. / Laptops: LisaHillSchoolStuff.wiki
Research note-taking sheets
Selected non-fiction texts about maritime explorers, including poster-sized charts. Research note-taking sheets
iPads with Explain Everything App.
Exploration sites in Sydney
Special needs / At risk: support with extra prompts, partner with confident writer
EAL: partner with other students more familiar with Australian history
Enrichment: encourage sharing ideas with other group members to avoid frustration when turn-taking. / At risk: narrow the focus to a pre-selected ‘easy’ explorer & assist with Table of Contents/index searches
EAL: partner with other students more familiar with Australian history, as for at-risk if Phase 2 EAL
Enrichment: encourage choosing more complex texts and websites, assisting others with evaluating reliability of sites and books. / At risk: narrow the focus to a pre-selected ‘easy’ explorer (i.e. manipulate the Lucky dip so that these students research Cook) & assist with Table of Contents/index searches
EAL: partner with other students more familiar with Australian history, as for at-risk if Phase 2 EAL
Enrichment: encourage choosing more complex texts and websites, assisting others with evaluating reliability of sites and books. / At risk: provide students with a copy of Exploration sites in Sydney (easy reading explanation of Cook’s landing sites).
EAL: partner with other students more familiar with Australian history, as for at-risk if Phase 2 EAL
Enrichment: encourage choosing more complex texts and websites, assisting others with evaluating reliability of sites and books.
SLAV Library Program / Y4 IL 3.1 Defining: select from within a broad topic area and narrow the topic to arrive at focus questions and a simple search plan / IL 3.2 Locating: identify and locate resources / IL 3.2 Locating: identify and locate resources / IL 3.2 Locating: identify and locate resources
VELS
learning focus
Level 3 / Thinking Processes:
With thinking tools to assist them, students begin to ask more focused and clarifying questions. / Thinking Processes:
Students develop skills in collecting and organising ideas from a range of sources to construct knowledge. They learn to question the validity of sources, communicate and record their questions, responses and thoughts, and give reasons for conclusions. / Personal Learning:Students monitor their learning through strategies such as share time and seeking feedback from the teacher and, where appropriate, their peers.
Students learn to recognise the various positive and negative emotions that may be associated with their learning, and that feelings of uncertainty do not equate with an inability to complete a task. / Personal Learning:With support, students develop strategies for managing their own learning, and identify the need for resource and time management in completing short tasks. They begin to use various tools, such as PLJspersonaldiaries and portfolios, to help them reflect on the effectiveness of the strategies they use in learning and in recording and commenting on task outcomes. They learn to set simple goals for future learning such as ‘to practise a specific skill’. They begin to review their work to check for accuracy.
AusVELS history content Y3 / Days and weeks celebrated or commemorated in Australia (including Australia Day, Harmony Week, ANZAC Day, NAIDOC week) and the importance of symbols and emblems (ACHHK063)
See also Y4.
AusVELS History
content Y4 / The journey(s) of AT LEAST ONE world navigator, explorer or trader up to the late eighteenth century, including their contacts with other societies and any impacts(ACHHK078)
- identifying key individuals and groups who established contacts with Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania during the age of discovery; examining the journey of one or more of these explorers (e.g. Christopher Columbus, Vasco de Gama, Ferdinand Magellan) using internet mapping tools, and examining their impact on one society
- using navigation maps to reconstruct the journey of one or more explorers
AusVELS History Skills
Y 3 / Pose a range of questions about the past (ACHHS067)
Use a range of communication forms (oral, graphic, written) and digital technologies (ACHHS071) / Identify sources (ACHHS215)
Locate relevant information from sources provided (ACHHS068) / Identify sources (ACHHS215)
Locate relevant information from sources provided (ACHHS068) / Sequence historical people and events (ACHHS065)
Use historical terms(ACHHS066)
Identify sources (ACHHS215)
Locate relevant information from sources provided (ACHHS068)
Identify different points of view (ACHHS069)
AusVELS History Skills
Y4 / Pose a range of questions about the past (ACHHS083)
Use a range of communication forms (oral, graphic, written) and digital technologies (ACHHS071) / Identify sources (ACHHS215)
Locate relevant information from sources provided (ACHHS068) / Identify sources (ACHHS215)
Locate relevant information from sources provided (ACHHS068) / Sequence historical people and events (ACHHS081)
Use historical terms(ACHHS082)
Identify sources (ACHHS215)
Locate relevant information from sources provided (ACHHS068)
Identify different points of view (ACHHS085)
AusVELS
English
Prep, Y1, Y3 & Y5 / Understand that successful cooperation with others depends on shared use of social conventions, including turn-taking patterns, and forms of address that vary according to the degree of formality in social situations (ACELA1476) / Understand how different types of texts vary in use of language choices, depending on their function and purpose, e.g. tense, mood, and types of sentences (ACELA1478)
Identify the features of online texts that enhance navigation (ACELA1790) / Read an increasing range of different types of texts by combining contextual, semantic, grammatical and phonic knowledge, using text processing strategies, e.g. monitoring, predicting, confirming, rereading, reading on and self-correcting (ACELY1679) / Use comprehension strategies to build literal and inferred meaning and begin to evaluate texts by drawing on a growing knowledge of context, text structures and language features (ACELY1680)
AusVELS
English
Y2, Y4 & Y6 / Understand that social interactions influence the way people engage with ideas and respond to others e.g. when exploring and clarifying the ideas of others, summarising students' own views and reporting them to a larger group (ACELA1488) / Understand how texts vary in complexity and technicality depending on the approach to the topic, the purpose and the intended audience (ACELA1490)
Identify features of online texts that enhance readability including text, navigation, links, graphics and layout (ACELA1793) / Read different types of texts by combining contextual , semantic, grammatical and phonic knowledge using text processing strategies e.g. monitoring meaning, cross checking and reviewing (ACELY1691) / Use comprehension strategies to build literal and inferred meaning to expand content knowledge, integrating and linking ideas and analysing and evaluating texts (ACELY1692)
Deep Thinking / Blooms’ Evaluating (Prioritising): What is the most important thing we would like to find out? Why is that one the most important? / Blooms’ Evaluating : how to evaluate sources / Blooms’ Evaluating : how to evaluate sources / Blooms’ Evaluating : how to evaluate the reliability of sources
Lesson 5
/Lesson 6
/Lesson 7
/Lesson 8
Activities / Review Inquiry Questions (What We Want to Know) from previous week:- Who were the first to come to Australia after the Aborigines?
- When did they come?
- Where from?
- Where did they land?
- Why did they come?
- What sort of ships did they have?
Review research strategies from previous weeks. Model constructing an introductory bio from a student’s research notes.
Table task: Students continue researching Jansz, Tasman, Hartog, Cook and Dampier.
Students continue Explorers Practice Sheet in preparation for oral presentation to the class. Fast finishers practise their Explain Everything presentation
Share time: focus on writing a brief narrative about the explorer’s life.
Browsing and borrowing.
Complete PLJs / Review Inquiry Questions:
- Who were the first to come to Australia after the Aborigines?
- When did they come?
- Where from?
- Where did they land?
- Why did they come?
- What sort of ships did they have?
Table task: Using their research on Jansz, Tasman, Hartog, Cook and Dampier students finish Practice Sheet in preparation for iPad presentation.
Review how the information could be presented in a timeline.Students who have completed the Practice Sheet research for extra information about their explorer’s life, to make a timeline of his life for display.
Browsing and borrowing.
Complete PLJs
NB Y3 students may need an extra lesson to finish Practice Sheet, depending on how much experience they’ve add in doing research. / Review project requirements.
Negotiate a rubric for self-assessment of the project. Identify descriptors for 1 (unsatisfactory, not finished, not enough work done to tell) 2 (ok, but not quite at the expected level) 3 (at the expected level, as defined in previous lessons) and 4 (working at the expected level for Year 5).
Allow 10 minutes for students to improve their Practice Sheet and practise their presentation.
Students assess their own work and help others with self-assessment.
Student presentations to class and assessment: students use their practice sheet and the Explain Everything iPad app to to introduce their explorer and trace on a map of the world, their explorer’s route, departure, at least one landing place en route for supplies and destination in Australia.