Wednesday 23 January 2013

Curriculum Guide - Year 3

This is our blog for what to expect in Year 3:


Mathematics / Year 3 Achievement standard
By the end of Year 3, students recognise the connection between addition and subtraction and solve problems using efficient strategies for multiplication. 
They model and represent unit fractions. 
They represent money values in various ways. Students identify symmetry in the environment. 
They match positions on maps with given information. 
Students recognise angles in real situations. 
They interpret and compare data displays.
Students count to and from 10 000. 
They classify numbers as either odd or even. 
They recall addition and multiplication facts for single digit numbers. Students correctly count out change from financial transactions.
They continue number patterns involving addition and subtraction. Students use metric units for length, mass and capacity. 
They tell time to the nearest minute. 
Students make models of three-dimensional objects. Students conduct chance experiments and list possible outcomes. 
They carry out simple data investigations for categorical variables.

Supporting Products
  • Gillian Miles Cool Times table exercises – for years 2-5, grouped by the number of the times table, e.g. exercises for 2’s, 3’s etc .A nice thick book that will last!  $9.95
  • Gillian Miles times tables poster – wipe clean with exercises on the reverse - $9.95- also available in placemats
  • Math gear fast facts – a fun way to check maths – available in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division- this small wheel shaped book allows the child to turn the wheel to match up numbers and see the answer to simple maths problems - $12.95
  • Gillian Miles tell the time poster - $9.95 – wipe clean poster which helps with numerical and analogue time, as well as 24 hour clock
  • Doowell tell the time chart – learn time digitally, with words, or numbers – also gives activities structure to help children understand what happens when e.g. bedtime! $34.95
  • Number Ninja’s – Board Game - $44.95 age 7 plus.  30 mins, 2-4 players.  2 different levels of play to help your children actually enjoy maths. Related to things that happen in their world that they’ll understand – very up to date! Read an independent review here…….http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2010/11/number-ninjas/



English

Receptive modes (listening, reading and viewing)


By the end of Year 3, students understand how content can be organised using different text structures depending on the purpose of the text. 
They understand how language features, images and vocabulary choices are used for different effects.
They read texts that contain varied sentence structures, a range of punctuation conventions, and images that provide additional information.
They identify literal and implied meaning connecting ideas in different parts of a text. 
They select information, ideas and events in texts that relate to their own lives and to other texts. 
They listen to others’ views and respond appropriately.

Productive modes (speaking, writing and creating)


Students understand how language features are used to link and sequence ideas. 
They understand how language can be used to express feelings and opinions on topics. 
Their texts include writing and images to express and develop in some detail experiences, events, information, ideas and characters.
Students create a range of texts for familiar and unfamiliar audiences. 
They contribute actively to class and group discussions, asking questions, providing useful feedback and making presentations. 
They demonstrate understanding of grammar and choose vocabulary and punctuation appropriate to the purpose and context of their writing. 
They use knowledge of sounds and high frequency words to spell words accurately, checking their work for meaning. 
They write using joined letters that are accurately formed and consistent in size.

Supporting products available
  • Usborne Tricky words to spell - $13.95 – age 7 plus – wide selection of wipe clean cards that helps the child look, cover, write check, then start over. Great for building vocabulary too!
  • Doowell Magnetic words – 7 plus – 114 words with a wipe clean board – great for vocabulary and spelling $17.95
  • Usborne Improve your spelling ($12.95), and Improve your punctuation  ($15.95) – ages 7-14 – fantastic resource for building knowledge with your child – great for consolidating and then extending their knowledge
  • That’s my story - $14.95 – card game. Excellent new product designed by Brisbane mum. Cards show pictorially or with words suggested beginnings, middles and ends to stories and your child develops a story around those cards. Great for learning how to structure stories – relevant for ages up to grade 4.
  • Engaging books. Finding it hard to interest your child in reading? Here are some of our top sellers from last year:
Girls – The Accidental Princess, The Secret Garden, The Wishing Chair, Usborne’s edition of Little Women, The Secret Mermaid series by Sue Mongredien, EJ 12 Secret Agent

Boys – Roald Dahl’s The Twits, James and the Giant Peach; Boy vs. Beast, Horrible Histories (check out the TV series!)



Science / Year 3 Achievement standard

By the end of Year 3, students use their understanding of the movement of the Earth, materials and the behaviour of heat to suggest explanations for everyday observations they describe features common to living things. 
They describe how they can use science investigations to respond to questions and identify where people use science knowledge in their lives.
Students use their experiences to pose questions and predict the outcomes of investigations. 

They make formal measurements and follow procedures to collect and present observations in a way that helps to answer the investigation questions. 

Students suggest possible reasons for their findings. 

They describe how safety and fairness were considered in their investigations. 

They use diagrams and other representations to communicate their ideas.

History / Year 3 Achievement standard

By the end of Year 3, students explain how communities changed in the past. They describe the experiences of an individual or group. 
They identify events and aspects of the past that have significance in the present.
Students sequence events and people (their lifetime) in chronological order, with reference to key dates. 
They pose questions about the past and locate information from sources (written, physical, visual, oral) to answer these questions. 
Students develop texts, including narratives, using terms denoting time.

Supporting products available
  • Usborne Quiz Cards – general knowledge/history. Each card of the 80 cards is vibrantly illustrated, and features questions ranging from Velociraptors to Vikings, and atoms to outer space. $19.95

Curriculum Guide - Year 2


This is our third blog on the curriculum and is for Year 2.

N.B. All details on the curriculum are taken from www.australiancurriculum.edu.au

Mathematics 


By the end of Year 2, students recognise increasing and decreasing number sequences involving 2s, 3s and 5s. 
They represent multiplication and division by grouping into sets. 
They associate collections of Australian coins with their value. 
Students identify the missing element in a number sequence. 
Students recognise the features of three-dimensional objects. 
They interpret simple maps of familiar locations. They explain the effects of one-step transformations. Students make sense of collected information.
Students count to and from 1000. 
They perform simple addition and subtraction calculations using a range of strategies. 
They divide collections and shapes into halves, quarters and eighths. Students order shapes and objects using informal units.
They tell time to the quarter hour and use a calendar to identify the date and the months included in seasons. They draw two- dimensional shapes. 
They describe outcomes for everyday events. Students collect data from relevant questions to create lists, tables and picture graphs.

Supporting products available: 


  • Gillian Miles Cool Maths exercises – as a maths teacher herself, these guides are simple and effective – this will last through to grade 3, or great for an advanced year 2 $5.95
  • Gillian Miles Cool Times table exercises – for years 2-5, grouped by the number of the times table, e.g exercises for 2’s, 3’s etc .A nice thick book that will last!  $9.95
  • Math Gear fast facts – a fun way to check maths – available in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division- this small wheel shaped book allows the child to turn the wheel to match up numbers and see the answer to simple maths problems - $12.95
  • Fun factory multiplication board – a visual way to learn times tables through an abacus-like structure – good for children who prefer to learn with tangibles/visuals - $19.95
  • Gillian Miles tell the time poster - $9.95 – wipe clean poster which helps with numerical and digital time, as well as 24 hour clock
  • Doowell tell the time chart – learn time digitally, with words, or numbers – also gives activities structure to help children understand what happens when e.g. bedtime! $34.95
  • Dicecapades Board game $39.95 – Trivia, Drawing, word and number play make this a great all round product with lots and lots of dice! Not just a game of luck, but also about the smarts of the player. Good family fun…and you learn something!



English 


Receptive modes (listening, reading and viewing)


By the end of Year 2, students understand how similar texts share characteristics by identifying text structures and language features used to describe characters, settings and events.
They read texts that contain varied sentence structures, some unfamiliar vocabulary, a significant number of high frequency sight words and images that provide additional information. 
They monitor meaning and self-correct using context, prior knowledge, punctuation, language and phonic knowledge.
They identify literal and implied meaning, main ideas and supporting detail. Students make connections between texts by comparing content. 
They listen for particular purposes. They listen for and manipulate sound combinations and rhythmic sound patterns.

Productive modes (speaking, writing and creating)


When discussing their ideas and experiences, students use everyday language features and topic-specific vocabulary. 
They explain their preferences for aspects of texts using other texts as comparisons. 
They create texts that show how images support the meaning of the text.
Students create texts, drawing on their own experiences, their imagination and information they have learned. 
They use a variety of strategies to engage in group and class discussions and make presentations. 
They accurately spell familiar words and attempt to spell less familiar words and use punctuation accurately. 
They legibly write unjoined upper- and lower-case letters.
Supporting Products available
  • Usborne Young Reading Series 2 - great diverse range of stories from Robin Hood to Heidi, with notes for parents to help support and encourage your child – $12.95
  • Usborne Tricky words to spell - $13.95 – age 7 plus – wide selection of wipe clean cards that helps the child look, cover, write check, then start over. Great for building vocabulary too!
  • That’s my story - $14.95 – card game. Excellent new product designed by Brisbane mum. Cards show pictorially or with words suggested beginnings, middles and ends to stories and your child develops a story around those cards. Great for learning how to structure stories – relevant for ages up to grade 4.

Science
By the end of Year 2, students describe changes to objects, materials and living things. 
They identify that certain materials and resources have different uses and describe examples of where science is used in people’s daily lives.
Students pose questions about their experiences and predict outcomes of investigations. 
They use informal measurements to make and compare observations. 
They follow instructions to record and represent their observations and communicate their ideas to others.
History

By the end of Year 2, students analyse aspects of daily life to identify how some have changed over recent time while others have remained the same. 
They describe a person, site or event of significance in the local community.
Students sequence events in order, using a range of terms related to time. 
They pose questions about the past and use sources provided (physical, visual, oral) to answer these questions. 
They compare objects from the past and present. Students develop a narrative about the past using a range of texts.


Curriculum Guide - Year 1


In this second blog on the curriculum, we look at what they will be doing in Year 1.


English 

Receptive modes (listening, reading and viewing)


By the end of Year 1, students understand the different purposes of texts. 

They make connections to personal experience when explaining characters and main events in short texts. 

They identify the language features, images and vocabulary used to describe characters and events.

Students read aloud, with developing fluency and intonation, short texts with some unfamiliar vocabulary, simple and compound sentences and supportive images.

When reading, they use knowledge of sounds and letters, high frequency words, sentence boundary punctuation and directionality to make meaning. 

They recall key ideas and recognise literal and implied meaning in texts.

They listen to others when taking part in conversations, using appropriate language features. 

They listen for and reproduce letter patterns and letter clusters.

Productive modes (speaking, writing and creating)


Students understand how characters in texts are developed and give reasons for personal preferences( I like it because…)

They create texts that show understanding of the connection between writing, speech and images.
They create short texts for a small range of purposes. 

They interact in pair, group and class discussions, taking turns when responding. 

They make short presentations of a few connected sentences on familiar and learned topics. 

When writing, students provide details about ideas or events. 

They accurately spell words with regular spelling patterns and use capital letters and full stops. 

They correctly form all upper- and lower-case letters.
Supporting products available

  • Gillian Miles posters – Word families 500 words, blends, consonants and vowels – wipe clean posters which facilitate spelling and reading, including groups of word families. Designed by Gillian, who is a teacher herself! $9.95
  • Usborne very first reading books – each book comes complete with word puzzles (e.g. rhyming games) at the end, to consolidate learning – great themes e.g Run Rabbit Run, $12.95
  • Letterland early readers – using phonics and characters this top tier brand is well known as an industry leader – 5 books $49.95
  • A bee C match game – iParenting Media award winner - $29.95 – a letter matching game for all ages – you don’t have to know how to spell – match letters to letters and collect cards to win – great family game for age 5 plus
  • M is for Mouse – card game - $21.95 – link letters to objects and make a match to win- 2 to 5 players age 6 plus
  • Trading Faces – card game re Emotional Intelligence – guess the emotions on the cards, and score points to win.$21.95
Mathematics

By the end of Year 1, students describe number sequences resulting from skip counting by 2s, 5s and 10s. 

They identify representations of one half. 

They recognise Australian coins according to their value. 

Students explain time durations. They describe two-dimensional shapes and three-dimensional objects. Students describe data displays.
Students count to and from 100 and locate numbers on a number line. 

They carry out simple additions and subtractions using counting strategies. They partition numbers using place value. 

They continue simple patterns involving numbers and objects. Students order objects based on lengths and capacities using informal units. 

They tell time to the half hour. 

They use the language of direction to move from place to place. Students classify outcomes of simple familiar events. 

They collect data by asking questions and draw simple data displays.
Supporting Products available

  • New Dimension  Magnetic Money chart – a wipe clean chart with magnetic  notes and coins to build sight knowledge and addition/subtraction knowledge $24.95
  • Gillian Miles 1-100 poster – wipe clean poster with addition and subtraction strategies on the reverse $9.95
  • Number chase card game - $21.95 – Numerical  loci and reasoning game – learn through questioning – is it odd, is it even, is it small – to find the number – age 6 plus, 2 to 5 players
  • Melissa and Dog Abacus – the old fashioned way of grouping in 10’s – good visual aid for children who prefer visual learning - $26.95
History

By the end of Year 1, students explain how some aspects of daily life have changed over recent time while others have remained the same. 

They describe personal and family events that have significance.
Students sequence events in order, using everyday terms about the passing of time. 

They pose questions about the past and examine sources (physical and visual) to suggest answers to these questions. 

Students relate stories about life in the past, using a range of texts.
Supporting Products available

  • Time after time card game – sequence the cards in the right time order to win, before the mice scramble them up! – Age 6 plus, 2 to 4 players - $21.95
  • Usborne First Encyclopedia of History - $24.95 – introduction to phases in the world’s history through various countries and kingdoms
Science

By the end of Year 1, students describe objects and events that they encounter in their everyday lives, and the effects of interacting with materials and objects. 

They identify a range of habitats. 

They describe changes to things in their local environment and suggest how science helps people care for environments.
Students make predictions, and investigate everyday phenomena. 

They follow instructions to record and sort their observations and share their observations with others.

Curriculum Guide - Prep

Hi everyone, happy New Year,

As we’re all preparing for back to school, we’re thinking about what this year will hold curriculum-wise for our kids. So, we thought it might be useful to have an easy to read view of the curriculum in nutshell, with some suggestions for supporting products to help our kids through this year. This is organised by grade, but with some helpful tips at the end for all ages. We hope this is helpful – happy reading, and have a great year! 

N.B. All details on the curriculum are taken from www.australiancurriculum.edu.au

This first blog is for Prep/Foundation Year:

Mathematics 

By the end of the Foundation year, students make connections between number names, numerals and quantities up to 10. 

They compare objects using mass, length and capacity. Students connect events and the days of the week. 

They explain the order and duration of events. They use appropriate language to describe location.Students count to and from 1 to 20 and order small collections. 

They group objects based on common characteristics and sort shapes and objects. 
Students answer simple questions to collect information. 

Supporting products available: 


  • Gillian Miles wipe clean placemats counting 1 to 10, 1 to 30 - $4.99 
  • Gillian Miles wall posters counting 1 to 10, 1 to 20 – wipe clean posters with exercises on the back for practice 
  • Gillian Miles counting to 10 exercises – a great book to learn shapes, sizes and numbers through simple, fun exercises - $5.95
  • Orchard Games The Game of Ladybirds, $29.95. Often recommended by teachers, this is a simple game for 3-6 year olds where they roll the dice, match the spots and count the ladybirds hiding on the leaves. Fun learning for numbers 1-10. 
  • Events and days of the week – Doowell magnetic family calendar $24.95, Melissa and Doug wooden magnetic calendar $39.95 
  • Monkey Maths board game $26.95 age 4 plus. Through balancing banana’s this introduces basic maths concepts like number recognition, sorting, counting and basic addition 


English 

Receptive modes (listening, reading and viewing) 

By the end of the Foundation year, students use predicting and questioning strategies to make meaning from texts. 

They recall one or two events from texts with familiar topics. They understand that there are different types of texts and that these can have similar characteristics. 

They identify connections between texts and their personal experience. 

They read short, predictable texts with familiar vocabulary and supportive images, drawing on their developing knowledge of concepts about print and sound and letters. 

They identify the letters of the English alphabet and use the sounds represented by most letters. 

They listen to and use appropriate language features to respond to others in a familiar environment. 

They listen for rhyme, letter patterns and sounds in words. 

Productive modes (speaking, writing and creating) 

Students understand that their texts can reflect their own experiences. 

They identify and describe likes and dislikes about familiar texts, objects, characters and events. In informal group and whole class settings, students communicate clearly.

They retell events and experiences with peers and known adults(show and tell).

They identify and use rhyme, letter patterns and sounds in words. When writing, students use familiar words and phrases and images to convey ideas.

Their writing shows evidence of sound and letter knowledge, beginning writing behaviours and experimentation with capital letters and full stops. 

They correctly form known upper- and lower-case letters. 

Supporting products available: 


  • Melissa and Doug Alphabet stickers – over 1000 stickers - $9.95
  • Letterland first rhyming activity book($11), 
  • First Sticker dictionary ($19.95), 
  • Fun to find sticker book ($20) 
Letterland are very well known as being top in class for using phonics in their teaching of letters introducing characters as letters, e.g. Annie Apple, to great effect 
  • Usborne English Picture Dictionary - $24.95 – over 1,300 pictures, 1000 words defined, great from prep to year 2 - illustrates clearly how words are used. 
  • Infantino 20 words picture puzzles – age 3-6, learn to spell words from dog, to boots to lamb using simple puzzles $39.95.


Science 

By the end of the Foundation year, students describe the properties and behaviour of familiar objects. 

They suggest how the environment affects them and other living things. 

Students share observations of familiar objects and events. 

Supporting products available:

GeoMag magnetic building shapes – from $26.95. Great for building dexterity, and understanding attract and repel properties of magnets, but more importantly great construction fun! 

History / Foundation Year Achievement standard 

By the end of the Foundation year, students identify similarities and differences between families. They recognise how important family events are commemorated. Students sequence familiar events in order. They pose questions about their past. Students relate a story about their past using a range of texts.