The Goldrush Era - grade 5 focus

This unit is firmly based on the curriculum for the grade 5 students, and as a result all grade 5 students are expected to do a talk to the picture presentation for 1-2 minutes, plus one activity. Each picture has been scanned and will be on the Smart Board (which is incidentally now safely attached to the wall and highly unlikely to fall on their teacher again) displayed in full as they deliver their speech. I sat down which each individual grade 5 student and thoroughly discussed the job and the expectations. Students chose the accompanying activity. They each have a small aspect of life on the goldfields in Australia to talk about. The presentations are sequenced from a famous historian, Peter Taylor's, book. They are working from a secondary document but can introduce a primary document if they wish. The picture scans are logically organised and allow for the selected audience to come away with a basic understanding of this aspect of Australian history. Presenters can use cue cards to aid them with their delivery and can cut their own palm cards or I will supply them with some. (paint selection cards from Mitre 10). It is not a matter of reading out the information they were given. It is more about looking closely at the accompanying picture and locating the key information (on which we have had five lessons this year)... and presenting their ideas expressively and clearly to the grade 5 and 6 students. Each student will receive an assessment from me, and from randomly selected grade 6 students. 

The grade 5 students will be assessed on:

1. content (are the main ideas from the text represented in some manner?)
2. clarity - logical sequencing, audibility
3. confidence - body stance, eye contact with the audience
4. originality (Did they research and bring any new information to the presentation?)

Now grade 6 students need not be so relaxed ...because soon it will be their turn to present on some aspect of Federation. Therefore, I would like them to have a healthy dose of  empathy for their classmates and an understanding of how these kinds of presentations need them to be a captive audience and very respectful of the presenters.

Here is the peer assessment form:

Grade 5 Australian History Presentation Talk to the Picture Assessment

I felt that I

gained very little from this presentation

gained a bit of an insight into the topic from this presentation

gained a lot of insight into the  topic from this presentation

The presentation

made little sense ( I found it hard to follow) and/or I couldn’t I quite hear most of it

seemed logical and clear to me and I could hear it clearly

was very logical and exceedingly clear and expressive

The presenter seemed

to be lacking a little in confidence

reasonably confident

very confident

The presentation

was okay but a bit boring

had me mostly interested and had something extra

had me really involved and really entertained

Model of a windlass by GK

Model of a windlass by GK

Sweden and the Olympic Games at B.B.P.S

The students did a great job today in assembly representing Sweden at the whole school assembly. The Swedish tunnel ball was a lot of fun and many people in the audience were left asking the question., "Did tunnel ball originate in Sweden?" So funny! The kids looked the part though  with the song from ABBA, The Winner Takes it All pumping away in the background as they did their demonstration sport. and Mr Burrows let our class leave first at the end!  There are four photos up in our little classroom on the display board along with some other recent ones of Crazy Hair Day. A great day, well done everyone.

Go Sweden!

Yellow and blue admiral hats

Good job with the sign VL and OW

Practising hard the day before

Good leg spacing and great footwork from this team

The Great Historical Showbags

Students will choose a person who has been linked to significant events in Australian history and will explore this person through a showbag. The showbag must inform and entertain an upper primary group. Another 5/6 class will come into the room and partake in the great showbag alley sharing at the end of August or after the holidays (depending on how it all goes and how busy we get). The grade 5 students will be focusing on Australia at the time of early invasion and the 100 year period after this, whereas the grade 6 students will be focusing on personalities to do with the development of Australia as a nation particularly after 1900. They need to focus on their person's  achievements,  how  they have been represented in history (via primary and secondary documents), how we judge the achievements of "great people" and to what extent historical events have been influenced by individuals. Some of the individuals under the microscope so to speak at the moment include Edmund Barton, Henry Parkes,   Mary  MacKillop, Eddie Mabo, Vida Goldstein, Tuganini, Sir Douglas Mawson, Ned Kelly. Tomorrow we will discuss what could make up the contents of a showbag.  Imagine the bag below entitled: All You Need to Know About Ned But Were Afraid to Ask or Walking on Thin  Ice,  or Vida was la Vida!  The possibilities for the Great Historical Show Bag Expo are endless!

John Flynn by OF

Showbag by LS and BS

Vida Goldstein showbag by VL

Weary Dunlop by AD

Peter Lalor bag by AW

Students have all been given at least one piece of background information on their person.We have also watched two interesting DVDs, one on Sir Douglas Mawson, and one on Eddie Mabo, and also some clips from the ground-breaking documentary series called  First Australians, which clearly gives the viewpoint of the aboriginal people on what the landing of the First Fleet meant to their way of life and existence. I also read the book called the First Fleet written by Alan Boardman and illustrated by Roland Harvey. Students have also been busy decoding graphs showing the make up of, numbers and destinations of convicts in Australia.

We brain stormed possible avenues of exploring their histotical figure as a class. Most students have begun the process with the production of a timeline in order to get an overview of their person:

timeline

Excerpt from OF's timeline on Sir Douglas Mawson

Extract from Mawson timeline by OF

Extract from Ned Kelly timeline by TR




Excerpt from MH's Timeline on

Timeline and preplanning by OF

Here are some extracts from the very stunning timeline by EC on Edith Cowan:

Peter Lalor Timeline by AW

diary enty about a typical day in their life

a jigsaw, drawing complete with a description (the boxes students know how to make from a previous maths lesson)

Truganini by NS

Suffragette hat worn by Vida Goldstein by VL

Well done AS: first cab of the rank so to speak

A very dashing Captain Arthur Phillip by GE

an informative bookmark (students were shown some examples)

Bookmark by TR

Bookmark by JS

                                   

By VL

 We discussed generalisations and the fact that no person is entirely good or bad.

a PowerPoint of PhotoStory or an animation (if they are feeling ambitious)

Then and Now showing how every day things have changed since the time their Australian figure lived

By AW

postcard

a placemat - with headings Resilience, Perseverence, Getting Along, Organisation and Confidence

We all did a practice one on Sir Henry Parkes in groups of 3 or 4 today, as a example of how to do the task. (Friday 24th August) Students had to do some research and list things he did which exemplified these qualities  under the respective  headings.  

William Wentworth by MH

Truganini by NS

Henry Lawson by GK

John Flynn and the Keys to Success by OF

The face of...an inkwork with words and symbols depicting the life and times of their significant historical figure

The face of Eddie Mabo by KB

Weary Dunlop by AD

Truganini

Add caption

Mary Mackillop 

The face of Peter Lalor by AW

A brilliant representation of Vida Goldstein by VL

Plasticine model showing detail of the dress code of the day (Plasticine available, preliminary sketch and notes are essential before beginning the model)

Sir Donald Bradman by BS and LS

Sir Henry Parkes by AK

Edmund Barton by TM

Edmund Barton by TM

Captain Arthur Phillip by GL

Vida Goldstein by VL

Sir Donald Bradman...revamped, apparently the original was too skinny

Ned Kelly by TR

Sir Donald Mawson by OF

John Flynn by OFW

Mary Mackillop

Weary Dunlop

Eddie Mabo

caricature

cartoon  strip or a graphic noivel about a significant event in their person's life.

wordfind/crossword (Programs available online for these)

Eddie Mabo Wordfind by KB

William Wentworth Wordfind by MH

newspaper article:

by JS

advertisement advertising their character for sale stating their good points or
advertising their cause

William Wentworth by MH

Advertising Vida Goldstein by VL

This was a great idea by AW

information poster (cartridge avialable in the classroom)

Poster by LS and BS

By JS

Parallel charts showing life then versus now

a menu

Students can negatiate other activities such as diaoramas for example.

Today (August 29th) we watched Ned Kelly Uncovered and I think the students found it really brought history to life. We discussed how Kelly can be seen as both a hero and a villain and we discussed the fact that not everybody's interpretation of history is the same, even the views of eminent historians can differ quite markedly. Many of our significant Australians currently under the microscope are complex people with varied characteristics who cannot be simply viewed as good or bad. One of the students is currently working on a Ned Kelly Plasticine model and another students helped him design the armour Kelly wore  using the DVD as inspiration.

Sketch up of Kelly armour by BS

UPDATE: last week of term: well done to VL, OFW, GL, AW and TM for their presentation in the end of term assembly, reporting on the showbag progress.