Learning and Teaching
Integrated Learning!
This is a very true story from last week, and one which I am still beaming about! It also serves as a perfect introduction to todays topic, Integrated Lessons at St Anthony's.
Last week our entire school travelled to Melbourne Zoo which was a fantastic day!
As you know though, sometimes you come across the odd enclosure where there are no animals to be seen. Perhaps they are hiding away having a snooze, or off with their keepers getting some care. In this case we came across a snow leopard enclosure which was bare. We paused as a group, and we decided to have a quick chat with the students.
'What do you think needs to happen at a Zoo like this, before an animal arrives to come and live here?" was a question I asked the Year 3/4s.
I expected mostly responses about animal related things, making sure the animal had proper food, places to rest etc, and the students certainly did a great job with this. However, I also got another response which I absolutely loved;
"They would need to measure everything to make sure the animal would fit, and the space is big enough."
As a class, we had just started our Mathematics unit on Measurement, so you can understand my enthusiasm at this answer!
Let's unpack Integrated Learning, and what makes it so interesting and accessible at St Anthony's!
Termly Topics
Each term our entire school works through what we term our integrated topic, with each class using the same one. These topics cover Sciences, History, Geography, Design and Technologies and more!
This term our integrated topic is Biological Sciences, or the science of living organisms. Hence the Zoo excursion! However as you would expect, each of our classes unpacks this topic at an age appropriate level, looking at slightly different parts.
Please find some excerpts from the Victorian Curriculum below, which help explain some of the topics our classes are covering this term, and walked into the Melbourne Zoo to discuss and unpack together!
You can see by these slides that the topics are similar, but as students grow they get more complex and rich to match their learning level. You can also see how much interesting content there is to cover this term from Prep to Year Six!
How we integrate!
We understand that Literacy and Mathematics will always be cornerstones of of Curriculum, and as such need appropriate time in each school day.
However the beauty of Integrated learning is how we can still do this while unpacking the interesting topics that our students love. You will find each term that Literacy and Mathematics lessons strive to incorporate elements of our Integrated Learning.
This might mean this term for example that during reading sessions our students are diving into books and texts dedicated to sharing information about quirky animals and living things.
The writing focus may be on Information Reports, where students are practicing their spelling and grammar skills while thinking about the ways in which living things work.
As one of the students at the zoo mentioned, there can also be fantastic links to our maths learning! Students might be reflecting on measurement as a way to represent zoo enclosures, or using the height of massive animals to compare measurements to the size of things in their classroom!
This integration ensures that all of our classroom topics work well with each other, and the skills practiced across a school day benefit the different areas of the curriculum.
Our topic in Term Three will be The Arts: Dance, Drama and Music. We know this fits in well with our whole school production, but now you know how well it will also fit in to all of the Reading, Writing and Maths we complete for the term too!
Take care!
Tim O'Mahoney
Curriculum Leader