This fortnight in Auslan, Grade Preps will be learning the topics Sea Animals and Days of the Week. Grades 1-6 students will learn about Camping and Birds. When Grade Preps are learning about Sea Animals, the signs taught will be:

seahorse
turtle
water
shark
sea
crab
whale
dolphin
octopus
seal
jellyfish
starfish.

Grade Preps will participate in a whole class circle or in small groups. One student will mime a Sea Animal and the other students must guess by signing the animal. Students will continue the game with the focus being on no voices used. Grade Preps will also practise the ‘Under the Sea’ poem.

When learning about Days of the Week, Grade Preps will learn to sign the words:

week
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Year
month (all months of the year).

Grade Preps will engage in an activity where the teacher will start by fingerspelling or signing a day and students who can identify the day will say the answer and will have their turn to fingerspell a day if they are correct. Grade Preps will also practise the ‘Days of the Week’ song.

Grades 1-6 will learn about Camping and the words they will learn to sign are:

camping
tent
sleeping bag
torch
campfire
wood
backpack
stars
toilet paper
fishing
hiking.

Grade 1-2 students will use Constructed Action/mime to create camping scenes in small groups. This will include discussing possible scenes for a Camping scene/story using Auslan.Grade 3-4 students will do a similar activity involving constructed action and will be given different scenes to create a story in groups of five. Grade 5-6 students will create a camping story by initially working in groups and then working as a whole class and communicating their story with Auslan.

When learning about Birds, Grade 1-6 students will focus on learning to sign the following words:

bird
cockatoo
kookaburra
owl
parrot
swan
rainbow lorikeet
eagle
binoculars.

Grade 1-6 students will work in groups to play a concentration game. The person who matches the most cards and signs the bird words wins the game. Grade 3-4 students will tune into the lesson by a student fingerspelling a name of a bird and other students will guess by doing the actual bird sign. Students will continue the learning activity by breaking into small groups and discussing in Auslan, using the sentence starters “I see (type of bird)” and “where …..(sign or fingerspell)”. Grade 5-6 students will do a similar activity but will extend their learning by having to describe birds and where they have seen them at home by signing or fingerspelling the words. l

As our students build their repertoire of words, engage in conversations and enjoy practising signs together as learnt by our students! Please scan the QR Code below which will provide you with YouTube videos to assist in practising together at home.

Keep updated on learning Auslan each fortnight in our Partners in Learning Newsletter!

Jess Pfister

Community