New Australian Curriculum units for the Primary Library

Over Easter, I’ve been updating some of my old VELS units for the Australian Curriculum.

There’s one for Years 1 & 2 called Stories Around the World (and I’ve started another one called Habitat which I’m currently teaching.  I’m aiming to upload that at the end of Term 2 if the workload involved in the School Review  isn’t too horrible. (In my dreams!)

There are now three completed Prep Units: Fables; Wild Animals, and Beatrix Potter.

I’m working on a trial unit called Explorers for Year 4, and an ANZAC unit called Animals at War for Year 3 – though I really don’t know whether these are going to be practical in composite classes.

New curriculum planning templates for Australian Curriculum History and Science

It’s taken a good bit of the summer holidays, but I have finally finished designing some new curriculum planning templates for primary school AC History and Science.  There are four for each subject i.e. for the Foundation (Prep) year; for Years 1 & 2; for Years 3 & 4; and for Years 5 & 6.

Click here to find them.

Children’s Books and How To Choose Them #2

A while ago I posted here about a marvellous resource for parents and teachers- a whole series of posts about Children’s Books and How To Choose Them by blogger Aaron Mead in the USA.

Today I received an email from Aaron about an eBook that he has just publisherd it’s called  How to Choose Children’s Books: Practical Tips and Philosophical Reflections on Picking Books for Kids.

Aaron has been working on it for the past year or so but – in a very generous gesture – he is giving it away free as a resource for parents, teachers, and anyone else that might find it useful.

To find out more, follow this link where there are links to the download page on that post.

Please – if you download a copy and you find it useful, make sure you that you leave some feedback as a comment on Aaron’s blog.

CBCA Book of the Year activity sheets #3

Uploaded today on the CBCA  Book of  the Year shortlist page is another activity sheet:

• Family Forest Y-chart

More to come as I make them…

CBCA Book of the Year activity sheets #2

Uploaded today on the CBCA  Book of  the Year shortlist page are some more activity sheets:

My Uncle’s Donkey by Tohby Riddle

• A C& S thinking tool activity sheet (suitable Y1-4)
• An A4 poster of the Portland Vase with basic background info
• a link to a cloze activity

More to come as I make them…

CBCA Book of the Year activity sheets

Uploaded today on the CBCA  Book of  the Year shortlist page are some nice little activity sheets:

• for Noni the Pony I made a T-chart and a Y-chart
• for It’s Bedtime William, I made a Venn diagram contrasting Real and Pretend

More to come as I make them…

 

Australian Curriculum: recommended books update

Jo Sherrin from the NT has contributed a terrific list of recommended books which I have added to the Australian Curriculum Recommended Books page for you to download.   Please visit the page by clicking here.

Thanks, Jo!

Australian Curriculum Literature template (Foundation Year)

I’ve just uploaded my latest template – this one is for the Foundation year i.e. Prep and it’s a literature unit. See Goodies to Share in the menu above.

Australian Curriculum Units (update)

If you have already downloaded the existing Year 1 & 2 Info Lit template, (see the Goodies to Share page) you will need to download Version 2.  I had forgotten to make a section for Aboriginal Perspectives Across the Curriculum.

I am now well into planning a nice little Australian Curriculum unit for Years 1 & 2, called Scary Creatures.  It has a Science focus i.e. what body parts do scary creatures use to attack or to defend themselves.  (That’s what reminded me to add the Aboriginal Perspectives section, because I’m using Shake a Leg by Boori Monty Pryer and Jan Ormerod to show how Aboriginal Communities used dance to teach their children to stay away from dangerous creatures).

I’m tweaking the planned sequence of activities as I teach each lesson and hope to have it available for download here before too long.

At the same time, I’m reviewing the units I taught in term 1 and (where I can) converting them into an Australian Curriculum unit.  They’ll be available before long too.

What are other teachers doing?  Is anyone else playing around with the new curriculum??

Australian Curriculum units – progress at last!

Ok, it’s time to stop being a perfectionist!  I have finally got a template (more or less) the way I want it.  Go to Goodies to Share in the menu – and PLEASE! give me some feedback in Comments about what you like and what you would like improved.