+ View Google Earth and look at maps of the local area. Students complete personal maps of an area of their community with which they are familiar, where they spend most of their time, or which gives meaning to their lives, eg their home, a sports oval, the local park, a religious/spiritual site, a favourite shop etc. On the map, they could record what they do there and how they get there. Have students share their maps and discuss the significant people who share this familiar area with them. + Provide opportunities for students to observe their community, eg ask students to observe what they see and then ask questions such as: What buildings are there? What happens in them? How old are they? Which buildings do people live in? Which buildings do people work in? What people can they see? What are they doing? Where do people meet? What happens there? What signs and symbols can you see? Ask them to list their observations and complete retrieval charts. + Photograph places and aspects of community life, including people, buildings, streets, parks/open spaces, other special places. Create a class PowerPoint presentation using photos taken around the local community. Ask students to write about each venue. + Discuss the places that people need to live, work and enjoy life in their community. Students are to group the places and buildings depending on the needs and wants of people. List their suggestions, eg places that keep us healthy, help get us food, places we use for leisure, for transport, for education, for law enforcement, places of religious or spiritual significance, places for communication. + Provide map outlines of the local community and ask student groups to locate the places in their community that provide for their needs and wants.

+ Have students list and categorise the events that have occurred this year and those which will be occurring. Display this information as a mind map. + As each event occurs, the students should consider how and why their family celebrates the event, how their school celebrates it and how other cultures in the local and wider community, including other countries, celebrate it (eg Blessing of the Fleet, Chinese New Year, Halloween). Consider events that have national significance for Australians but are not celebrated/ commemorated in other countries (eg Australia Day, Anzac Day). Provide opportunities to discuss why a significant event is celebrated, and the value of events, their traditions and customs to community life. Discuss how taking place in celebrations makes an individual feel like they belong to a family or group. + Students, in small groups, use a variety of resources to examine the origins, significance and background of these dedicated and nationally remembered days or weeks. Provide a workstation for each event and: - organise web sites into bookmarked folders - provide relevant downloaded and printed materials + Students in each group read one of the resources provided at each workstation. Students add their responses (point form) to an A3 recording sheet that remains at each workstation. Groups move from one workstation to the next, spending about 20–30 minutes at each workstation. Each new group adds additional findings to the recording sheet on an ongoing basis until all groups have made a contribution.

+ Ask students to draw a typical Australian. Then, ask students: What do they look like? What sort of clothes do they wear? What sort of work do they do? Are they male or female? How old are they? Do they live in the city or country? Do they play sport? What do they eat and drink? What religion are they? What language do they speak? What sort of values and attitudes do they have? + Do we stereotype a ‘typical’ Australian? Discuss. For each aspect of a typical Australian take a quick show of hands on who agrees. Analyse and discuss results of the tally. Compare to class and local community. Is the stereotype of a typical Australian very accurate? What sort of problems do stereotypes create for individuals and for the community? + View some video clips such as Children's festival Australia 10th Anniversary Part 1 and Part 2. And a video project about cultural diversity. + Consider: about one fifth of Australia’s population was born overseas; just over 20% of Australians speak a language other than, or in addition to English, 68% of the population nominates as Christian, Buddhists account for 1.9% and Muslims 1.5% + Develop an infograph based on the data collected from the class that shows the characteristics of Australians and typical of the diversity today (using http://piktochart.com/ or https://infogr.am/)

+ Students listen to and read examples of Australian ballads, songs and poetry. Examples may include ‘Road to Gundagia’, ‘The man from Snowy River’, ‘Wild Colonial Boy’, ‘Great Southern Land’, ‘My Island Home’ and ‘Down Under’. + Identify any key words and any unfamiliar language that describes the characters, setting and time in which the ballad was written. Discussion questions may include: - to what extent do these ballads represent Australia? - is it an accurate portrayal of Australia today? - how has the identity of Australia changed since this song/ballad/poem was written? Why? + Identify the colloquial words and sayings expressed in these songs and ballads. Discuss the effects of the colloquial language. + Organise students into 2 groups to look at ‘I am Australian’ and Common Ground. + Students read and discuss the meaning of the song and how it is representative of an Australian Identity. + Read and discuss the meaning of the words to Advance Australia Fair. The website Australian National Anthem provides background info and downloads.

+ Investigate the differences between what has been discovered about the local community and a community in another country. + Refer to Bloom’s Matrix for country of study – choose between 2-3 activities per intelligence, focusing on a different learning objective from Bloom’s Taxonomy.

+ Students will be completing culminating project based learning tasks through literacy activities that will provide opportunities for students to consolidate what they have learned in a meaningful way.

R e m e m b e r i n g U n d e r s t a n d i n g A p p l y i n g A n a l y s i n g e v a l u a t i n g c r e a t i n g

V e r b a l I enjoy reading,

writing & speaking

Brainstorm what

students know about the country they will

be studying

Discuss what the

climate of the country is like in relation to its position to the

equator

Use atlases &

brochures to locate the country on a

world map

Compare and list any

changes in the country from past to

present

List any differences between the country

and Australia

Create a Popplet of the changes to show

cultural and geographical aspects

M a t h e m a t i c a l I enjoy working with numbers &

science

Order commonly used chance words about your country on an

interval from 0 (possible) to 1

(certain).

Describe events

from your country that are impossible and events that are

certain

Roll the dice. Find out what the probability

is of rolling your country.

Using the weather forecast for your

country, compare the chance of rain with the actual amount

List the differences between the two

(chance and actual)

Create a quiz about your country using the ChoiceBoard –

Creator app

V i s u a l / S p a t i a l I enjoy painting,

drawing & visualising

What objects represent your

country?

Students bring in artefacts

Students draw and paint the artefacts

What materials were used to create these

artefacts?

What were the uses of the artefacts?

How could we create them today?

K i n a e s t h e t i c I enjoy doing

hands-on activities, sports & dance

Name a traditional folk dance

Describe a sport from the country

Learn the steps to a traditional dance or learn the rules of a

traditional sport

How are their dance costumes different?

How easy/difficult are the games to

play?

Create new movements to the

music

M u s i c a l

I enjoy making & listening to music

Read and learn poems and songs

Complete/make a quiz of songs and

lyrics

Perform a poem or song for the class/stage

Change the lyrics to the song to match

the music

What is the meaning of the song/poem?

Use iMovie to create a video clip for the

performance

I n t e r p e r s o n a l I enjoy working

with others

List sources and

assist students to gather resources and

information

Use task cards to gather information

What would you like to see if you visited

that country?

Discuss what content would need to be

included in a travel brochure

Students work with a partner to mark a travel brochure against a rubric

Students create a travel brochure to

present to the class

I n t r a p e r s o n a l

I enjoy working by myself

List the places you have visited

Compose answers with someone else

Present a minute speech about your

favourite place

Place your favourite place on a map

What are the differences between

that place and Sydney?

Create a poster of your favourite place