Newsletter

Semester 2 Inquiry Units

As per our school’s Curriculum Plan and Policy, the core Curriculum Areas of Religious Education, English and Mathematics are complimented by the delivery of an integrated unit of work using an inquiry approach.  

 

Each year level’s integrated Inquiry Units will encompass the General Capabilities as well as several discipline-based curriculum areas from the Victorian Curriculum.  In Semester 2 these curriculum areas include Science (Biological and Earth Space Sciences), Health and Design Technologies.

 

This semester, our whole school Inquiry concept is: ADAPTATION

 

In order to plan engaging learning experiences and meaningful units of work, staff commenced the planning process last term.  The voice of students, parents and staff were considered prior to more in-depth planning of our Inquiry units.

 

Thank you to the parents who responded to our short survey about ADAPTATION.  

Some parent responses included:

 

I think ADAPTATION means…

  • Being able to deal and adjust to different situations/scenarios
  • Things don’t always go the way you want them to. You need to be able to accept and adjust to situations and this means you need to flexible in approaching a task or an issue.
  • Learning to change based on your surrounding for the best outcome for you
  • The ability that living things gave to change and evolve to adapt to a habitat for survival reasons

 

Other comments/wonderings/feedback?

  • I think this topic is a good starting point to explore and discuss emotional intelligence
  • Learning to adapt, and how change can be good for you and how you can make the best of what could be seen as bad is the most important lesson in life. It’s easy to talk about evolution, but immediate change is hard to deal with. Learnings need to not only be about others and the world, but also about the self and understanding that adaptation is not an immediate thing and everything takes time. Rome was not built in a day… yes… but Rome took centuries to build. Wars take years, and even when they’re over there’s years of rebuilding. Lessons take years, and growth is always happening. It’s important to see something that may be bad (and so easy to ruminate on the negative), but if you change your view and try and see positive then amazing things can happen.

“Student Voice” was collated by classroom teachers, specifically through class discussions about the concept of IMPACT and explicitly planned activities where students shared their prior knowledge of various topics that may be covered in our units.

 

Here is a snapshot of each level’s Inquiry units for Semester 2 2024:

Prep

Title: What is the impact?

Compelling Questions: 

  • WHAT IS THE IMPACT?
  • What is the impact of our actions?
  • What is the impact of change?
  • How can I make a positive impact?

Key Topics & Understandings:

  • Life Cycles - Growth and Change, Humans, Animals, Plants, Basic Needs for Survival
  • Stewardship - Caring for Others, Caring for God’s Creation, Earth’s resources, Sustainability
  • Health - Emotional Health, Physical Health, Safety
  • Social Interaction - Size of the Problem/Reaction, Adapting behaviours/emotions to fit certain scenarios.

Understandings:

  • Our actions have an impact, so sometimes we need to change our choices.

Year 1/2

Title: Surviving and Thriving

Compelling Questions: 

  • How do living things adapt? 
  • Why do living things adapt?

Key Topics & Understandings:

  • Living things - plants, animals, habitat, features, survival
  • Friendships - impact of actions, changing actions, forgiveness, responding to conflict
  • Environment - climate change, God’s creation, sustainability
  • Impact - relationships, community, Jesus’ forgiveness and compassion, growth mindset

Understandings:

  •  I can change my thinking and behaviours to show kindness and respect to others.
  • Living things have special features to help them survive,

Year 3/4

Title: Amazing Adaptations 

Compelling Questions: 

  • How do we adapt?

Key Topics & Understandings:

  • Living things - life cycles, features of animals and plants and their variations, environmental factors that affect life cycles
  • Earth - changes over time - natural processes and human activity, effects of weather, rotation
  • Technology - impact of design of solutions, improvements, food production
  • Health - strategies to manage physical, social and emotional change, emotional responses

Understandings:

  •  I can explain how plants and animals have special parts and life cycles that help them survive.
  • I can describe how the Earth changes over time because of nature and what people do.
  • I can reflect on how technology advancements affect our world and our health.

Year 5/6

Title: Survival Secrets: Exploring Adaptations in Nature and Beyond 

Compelling Questions: 

  • How do adaptations help living things and innovations thrive in different environments?

Key Topics & Understandings:

  • Living Things - adaptations for survival, influenced by physical environment
  • Environment - extreme weather/geological events
  • Inventions - space, sustainability 
  • Similarities and differences - Comparing and contrasting adaptations and innovations.

Understandings:

  • I understand how animals and plants change to survive in their homes.
  • I can see why these changes are important for their future and ours.
  • I can think of new ideas to help solve problems in our world.