Primary Research Project

Primary Research ProjectGrade 6 recently participated in the Primary Research Project.The Project consists of 40 multiple choice questions covering a range of topics in the Australian Curriculum English, Maths, History and Geography. Students are encouraged to use a range of resources including dictionaries, atlases, reading graphs and articles within the Project and a wide range of online searches are required. Many questions have multiple steps to prove the correct answer. The Project runs for two weeks and students have a maximum of four hours to complete. The cost was $6 p/student, students are registered and all answers are submitted online. Students receive a graded certificate on completion of the Primary Research Project.

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IPSHA TL Umbrella Group presentation, March 2014

The following presentation ‘Australian Curriculum Resources and Literature and the Australian Curriculum’ was presented at the IPSHA Teacher Librarian Umbrella Group, 13th March 2014, at Danebank Anglican School for Girls.

Please note that a couple of pages have been removed, the format has slightly changed and there is a double up of words on some slides.

The Literature and the Australian Curriculum presentation was based on some of the Posts related in the Teaching and Learning category within the School Library Owl blog.

A summary of the AC resources is available below. Continue reading →

Verbal and visual elements and imagery in literature

The night we Made the FlagDuring Grade 5’s unit on the Australian Gold Rush last year the book The Night we made the Flag by Carole Wilkinson allowed the students to explore and gather details of life in the gold fields. Working in small groups the  students gathered information from the book of both verbal and visual details, they extracted information about women, housing, food, clothing, entertainment, health, demographic right, crime, police, gold licences and immigration. The findings were organised onto a worksheet.
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Relationship between literary elements and verbal/visual details in picturebooks

A Literature Companion for Teachers by Lorraine McDonald released in 2013 by PETAA  has been one of the best teacher resource books providing practical  insights and ready to use ideas linked to the Australian The Red BridgeCurriculum English. Part 1 of Chapter 12 ‘Reading and viewing picture books’ provided a clear explanation and functional ideas that were easily incorporated into two lessons for Grade 3. The book The Red Bridge by Kylie Dunstan allowed for perfect exploration and fitted well into the Grade unit on China. Continue reading →

Exploring Characterisation

At the end of 2013, Grade 3 students were introduced to strategies to help gain an understanding of ‘how authors Charactersmake stories exciting, how writing is moving and absorbing and holds a readers’ interest’ (ACELT1605). In order to do this in a series of 3 to 4 lessons the focus was on ‘close looking’ at techniques in character development in a sample piece of writing and then for students to explore these techniques from a book of their choice. Continue reading →