TIGHES HILL PUBLIC SCHOOL ENGLISH PROGRAM
Topic: Natural and Built environments/Local
Stage: Early stage 1/Stage 1
environments
Central Concept:
Information, design, positioning
Devices:
Questioning, discussions, interactions, rhythm, rephrasing, pictures,
planning, diagrams, sounds, grammatical conventions, rereading for
meaning, hearing and recording sounds, student dictionary, capital letter,
full stops.
Learning Across the Curriculum:
Duration: Term 1 weeks 6-11
Key Concepts:
Imagery, visual literacy, cohesive links
Purpose:

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and
cultures

Ethical understanding

Personal and social capability

Asia and Australia's engagement with Asia

Information and communication technology
capability

Civics and citizenship

Sustainability

Intercultural understanding

Difference and diversity

Critical and creative thinking

Numeracy

Work and enterprise
Outcomes:
English K-10
›
ENe-1A communicates with peers and known adults in informal and guided activities demonstrating emerging skills of group interaction
›
ENe-2A composes simple texts to convey an idea or message
›
ENe-3A produces most lower case and upper case letters and uses digital technologies to construct texts
›
ENe-4A demonstrates developing skills and strategies to read, view and comprehend short, predictable texts on familiar topics in different media and technologies
›
ENe-6B recognises that there are different kinds of spoken texts with specific language features and shows an emerging awareness of some purposes for spoken language
›
ENe-7B recognises some different purposes for writing and that own texts differ in various ways
›
ENe-9B demonstrates developing skills and knowledge in grammar, punctuation and vocabulary when responding to and composing texts
›
ENe-10C thinks imaginatively and creatively about familiar topics, simple ideas and the basic features of texts when responding to and composing texts
›
ENe-11D responds to and composes simple texts about familiar aspects of the world and their own experiences
›
ENe-12E demonstrates awareness of how to reflect on aspects of their own and others’ learning
›
EN1-1A communicates with a range of people in informal and guided activities demonstrating interaction skills and considers how own communication is adjusted in different
situations
›
EN1-2A plans, composes and reviews a small range of simple texts for a variety of purposes on familiar topics for known readers and viewers
›
EN1-3A composes texts using letters of consistent size and slope and uses digital technologies
›
EN1-4A draws on an increasing range of skills and strategies to fluently read, view and comprehend a range of texts on less familiar topics in different media and
technologies
›
EN1-6B recognises a range of purposes and audiences for spoken language and recognises organisational patterns and features of predictable spoken texts
›
EN1-7B identifies how language use in their own writing differs according to their purpose, audience and subject matter
›
EN1-9B uses basic grammatical features, punctuation conventions and vocabulary appropriate to the type of text when responding to and composing texts
›
EN1-10C thinks imaginatively and creatively about familiar topics, ideas and texts when responding to and composing texts
›
EN1-11D responds to and composes a range of texts about familiar aspects of the world and their own experiences
›
EN1-12E identifies and discusses aspects of their own and others’ learning
Science K-10
ST1-14BE
describes a range of places and spaces in the local environment and how their purposes influence their design
HSIE
ENES1
Gathers information about natural and built environments and communicates some of the ways in which they interact with, and can care for, these environments.
ENS1.5
Compares and contrasts natural and built features in their local area and the ways in which people interact with these features.
ENS1.6
Demonstrates an understanding of the relationship between environments and people.
Syllabus content
Early Stage 1 - Speaking and listening 1
 communicate appropriately and effectively within the classroom using agreed conventions, eg staying on topic, asking for and offering assistance
 attempt to match noun to pronoun in spoken text, eg 'My brother has a pet. He feeds his pet.'
 replicate the rhythms and sound patterns in stories, rhymes, songs and poems from a range of cultures (ACELT1579)
 use interaction skills including listening while others speak, using appropriate voice levels, articulation and body language, gestures and eye contact (ACELY1784)
 listen to and respond orally to texts and to the communication of others in informal and structured classroom situations (ACELY1646)
 deliver short oral presentations to peers (ACELY1647)
 express a point of view about texts read and/or viewed
 contribute appropriately to class discussions
 carry out instructions involving one step
 recite short, simple poems
Early Stage 1 - Speaking and listening 2
 compose texts to communicate feelings, needs, opinions and ideas
 use music and/or actions to enhance the enjoyment and understanding of rhymes, poems, chants and songs
Stage 1 - Speaking and listening 1
 listen for specific purposes and information, including instructions, and extend students' own and others' ideas in discussions (ACELY1666)
 identify, reproduce and experiment with rhythmic, sound and word patterns in poems, chants, rhymes and songs (ACELT1592)
 communicate with increasing confidence in a range of contexts
 engage in conversations and discussions, using active listening behaviours, showing interest, and contributing ideas, information and questions (ACELY1656)
 describe in detail familiar places and things
 formulate open and closed questions appropriate to the context
 use interaction skills including initiating topics, making positive statements and voicing disagreement in an appropriate manner, speaking clearly and varying tone,
volume and pace appropriately (ACELY1788, ACELY1789)
Stage 1 - Speaking and listening 2

listen to, recite and perform poems, chants, rhymes and songs, imitating and inventing sound patterns including alliteration and rhyme (ACELT1585)
Early Stage 1 - Writing and representing 1
 drawing on their experience of language and texts, begin to understand that writing and representing can be used to convey an idea or message
 know that spoken sounds and words can be written down using letters of the alphabet and how to write some high-frequency sight words and known words (ACELA1758)
 create short texts to explore, record and report ideas and events using familiar words and beginning writing knowledge (ACELY1651)
 identify and use words around the classroom and in books during writing
 compose texts using some sight words and known words
 experiment with basic visual, multimodal and digital processes to represent some simple ideas expressed in texts and to convey experiences
Early Stage 1 - Writing and representing 2
 discuss the possible audiences of imaginative and informative texts
 compose texts for known audience, eg self, class, other classes, parents
 compose texts using drawings and other visual media to create meaning
Stage 1 - Writing and representing 1
 understand how planning, composing and reviewing contribute to effective imaginative, informative and persuasive texts
 create short imaginative, informative and persuasive texts using growing knowledge of text structures and language features for familiar and some less familiar
audiences, selecting print and multimodal elements appropriate to the audience and purpose (ACELY1661, ACELY1671)
 understand the process of planning, drafting and publishing imaginative, informative and persuasive texts
 plan, compose and review simple imaginative, informative and persuasive texts on familiar topics
 compose texts supported by visual information (eg diagrams and maps) on familiar topics
 use effective strategies to plan ideas for writing, eg making notes, drawing, using diagrams, planning a sequence of events or information
Stage 1 - Writing and representing 2
 identify the audience of imaginative, informative and persuasive texts (ACELY1668)
 discuss some of the different purposes for written and visual texts
 understand the use of vocabulary about familiar and new topics and experiment with and begin to make conscious choices of vocabulary to suit audience and purpose
(ACELA1470)
Early Stage 1 - Handwriting and using digital technologies
 understand foundation movements that underpin NSW Foundation Style
 use foundation movements as a basis for the introduction of formal letters when composing simple imaginative and other texts for enjoyment or to convey an idea or
experience
 use simple functions of keyboard and mouse, including typing letters, scrolling, selecting icons and dropdown menus
 experiment using digital technologies, eg produce own name, commonly used words and simple sentences
 construct texts using software including word processing programs (ACELY1654)
Stage 1 - Handwriting and using digital technologies
 develop clear and consistent writing using NSW Foundation Style as appropriate
 understand that the position and size of letters supports consistent handwriting
 construct texts featuring print, visual and audio elements using software, including word processing programs (ACELY1664, ACELY1674)
Early Stage 1 - Reading and viewing 1
 understand direction of print, return sweeps and spaces between words
 identify a sentence in imaginative and informative texts and understand its meaning
 recognise grammatical patterns when reading to assist in making meaning, eg locating words that tell who, what, when or where in texts
 join in rhymes and chants
 recognise high-frequency words, including own name
 use phonological strategies when reading, including letter–sound relationships
 use comprehension strategies to understand and discuss texts listened to, viewed or read independently (ACELY1650)
 predict meaning using elements of texts prior to reading
 make connections between a text and own life
Stage 1 - Reading and viewing 1
 discuss different texts on a similar topic, identifying similarities and differences between the texts (ACELY1665)
 recognise grammatical patterns to enhance comprehension, eg action verbs, words or groups of words that tell who, what, when, where and how
 identify the parts of a simple sentence that represent 'What's happening?', 'Who or what is involved?' and the surrounding circumstances (ACELA1451)
 read supportive texts using developing phrasing, fluency, contextual, semantic, grammatical and phonic knowledge and emerging text processing strategies, for
example prediction, monitoring meaning and rereading (ACELY1659)
 use comprehension strategies to build literal and inferred meaning and begin to analyse texts by drawing on growing knowledge of context, language and visual features
and print and multimodal text structures (ACELY1660, ACELY1670)
 discuss the use of text connectives, eg sequencing ideas, indicating time
Early Stage 1 - Grammar, punctuation and vocabulary
 begin to understand that grammar, punctuation and vocabulary are needed to achieve the purpose of the text
 understand that punctuation is a feature of written text different from letters; recognise how capital letters are used for names, and that capital letters and full stops
signal the beginning and end of sentences (ACELA1432)
 identify features of sentence punctuation, eg question marks and exclamation marks, when reading and composing
Stage 1 - Grammar, punctuation and vocabulary
 begin to understand that choice of vocabulary adds to the effectiveness of text
 explore differences in words that represent people, places and things (nouns, including pronouns), happenings and states (verbs), qualities (adjectives) and details such
as when, where and how (adverbs) (ACELA1452)
Early Stage 1 - Thinking imaginatively and creatively
 respond to texts, identifying favourite stories, authors and illustrators (ACELT1577)
 discuss creative language features in imaginative texts that can enhance enjoyment, eg illustrations, repetition
 use imagination to represent aspects of an experience using written text, drawings and other visual media
 share feelings and thoughts about the events and characters in texts (ACELT1783)
 communicate the purposes of drawings and other visual media
Stage 1 - Thinking imaginatively and creatively
 recognise the way that different texts create different personal responses
 respond to a wide range of texts through discussing, writing and representing
 recreate texts imaginatively using drawing, writing, performance and digital forms of communication (ACELT1586)
 express a range of feelings in response to a text
Early Stage 1 - Expressing themselves
 share responses to aspects of a text that relate to their own life
 compare and connect own experiences to those depicted in stories
Stage 1 - Expressing themselves
 compose simple print, visual and digital texts that depict aspects of their own experience
 respond to a range of texts, eg short films, documentaries and digital texts, that include issues about their world, including home life and the wider community
Stage 1 - Built Environments
 observe ways people use a range of places and spaces in their local environment, eg areas within the schoolyard and the home
 explore a range of places and spaces in the local environment and describe their different purposes, eg a hospital or playground
 describe how the different purposes of places and spaces in the local environment influence their design, eg storage and cooling areas in a supermarket and enclosures
for pets and farm animals
 examine some familiar places and spaces in the local environment and suggest modifications to their design
HSIE
ENES1
• talks about the features and location of their home
• matches features in photographs, pictures, books and models to those seen in their environment
• names and talks about places and features in their home, school and immediate environment
• describes places that they view as special
• uses a variety of senses to gather information about their environment
• uses everyday vocabulary associated with understanding location, position and place, eg up, down, over, under, near, far
• identifies ways in which they use natural and built environments for their own activities
• contributes to class discussions about ways of caring for natural things
ENS1.5
• examines the differences between natural and built features and places
• identifies similarities and differences between natural features and places in their local area and those in other areas
• uses a range of geographical terms to describe location and features (eg east, west, mountain, valley, hill, city) and terms for geographical tools (eg maps, globes, atlas)
• uses geographical tools to locate and investigate places, eg maps, globes, atlases
• constructs pictorial maps and uses these maps to locate real features
• recognises Aboriginal peoples’ special relationship with the land.
ENS1.6
• identifies ways in which people depend on the environment
• evaluates results of human change on environments relevant to them
• describes interactions with the environment that can affect their life or the lives of others, eg moving from the country to the city, engaging in sport and leisure, dressing
appropriately, building and modifying housing, planning and constructing roads
• recognises that Aboriginal people have interacted positively with the environment for a long time
• recognises that people from other cultures have differing relationships with the environment
Teaching & Learning Activities
Introduction (S&L, TC)
As a class make a definition for what is an environment. What is a natural environment, built
environment and what is our local environment?
Definition:
1. Environment: the surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal, or plant lives or operates.
2. Natural environment: The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring
naturally on Earth or some region thereof
Built environment: The term built environment refers to the human-made surroundings that provide
the setting for human activity, ranging in scale from buildings and parks or green space to
neighbourhoods and cities that can often include their supporting infrastructure, such as water
Differentiation/
registration
Resources
Definitions
Assessment
supply, or energy networks.
Natural and built environments (R&V, W, ET)
Watch the video: http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=121115 about natural and
built environments to help students identify what is a natural and built environment. Using a table
have students identify and draw things that are natural and built environments.
What exists in our local built environment? (S&L, W&R, G, H, TC, ET)
• Organise a mini excursion of the school and local neighbourhood (if not possible do through using
a series of pictures of the local environment). Include case studies of other neighbourhood
developments and built environments to find out about their features, facilities, buildings, spaces
To further extend
students they can
write as well as draw
what is natural and
built.
Lower level students
are to start with the
diagram and use this
to assist in building
their writing.
Workbooks, video on
smartboard
Students tables in
workbooks
Pictures, permission
slip for going for a
walk around the
local environment,
writing books
Students writing and
diagram
Class discussion –
group students in
differing abilities to
allow for all students
to be able to produce
ideas.
Poem, whiteboards,
computer for
podcast
Producing of ideas
and verse speaking
for S&L aspect.
and how they meet needs.
• Explore and discover some of the elements and features in students’ local built environment.
Include elements of the traffic environment and pedestrian facilities. The purpose of the excursion
is for students to gather information in order to identify the needs and wants of the community.
• Start with the school, and:
- identify the boundaries of the school nearest the four main compass points of north, south, east
and west
On return to school have students choose one part of the built environment to write a description
about where it is located, its purpose and include a diagram.
My Country (S&L, TC, R, W, ET)
Students learn to recite the verse of Dorothae McKellar Poem ‘My Country’
I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel sea,
Her beauty and her terrorThe wide brown land for me.
As a class discuss the poem and what it is talking about. Is it a natural or built environment that is
being talked about? How do we know?
Have students form ideas for a class poem about what they like about the environment they live in.
As a class discuss the ideas and how we can change these to make a rhyme/poem of our own. As a
class write the new verse.
Optional: have students perform as a podcast and place on the class blog.
Developing concepts of location and environment – the school (S&L)
• Find a safe spot in the playground to sit and observe a number of environmental features e.g. trees,
hill, creek, school buildings, boundary fences. Identify the compass points of north, south, east and
Paper, compass
directions, groupings
of students
Map and discussion
for aspect of S&L
Recording devices
(paper, whiteboard,
camera)
Published works
west and draw or indicate on the playground. Introduce location words e.g. ‘behind’, ‘in front’, ‘up’,
‘down’, ‘below’, ‘above’, ‘between’, ‘next to’.
• Play a game of I spy using location terminology. For example:
- I spy a large building to the right or east / west, what is it?
- I spy something tall and green to the north, what is it?
- I spy something in front of the flag pole, what is it?
• Move to a different location and locate north, south, east and west, using features of the environment
identified in the I spy activity. Review the meaning of the word ‘environment’ as a place or a space.
Identify the differences between natural and built features in the environment.
• Continue the I spy game using words to describe:
- whether the area is natural or made - I spy something made of brick, what is it?
- how the area is used - I spy something used for children to play on, what is it?
• Divide the class into small groups and assign each group a different area of the school. Ask students
to imagine they are a bird looking down on the area.
• Have each group draw a plan of their assigned area and label their section of the school.
• On a large sheet of paper construct a map of the school from the students’ drawings/plans. Keep this
map for reference in later lessons.
• Discuss the purpose and use of each of the areas represented on the map.
Our School (S&L, TC, ET, W&R, G, H)
Have students go on a walk to explore the school environment. On the walk discuss the things that
are natural and built as part of this local environment. On return to class have students discuss the
different things that we saw. Have students record these and in groups have students place them
under the headings of natural and built things within the school environment.
Students are then to pick one natural and one built thing from the list. Students are to describe
where it is located within the school and then draw a diagram to support their description of where it
is located.
These can be shared and published using word and a paint program to draw the diagram.
Other schools (R&V, W&R, G, H, ET, TC, S&L)
Discuss what is in our local school environment. What things we have that is natural and built in the
school grounds and buildings. As a class discuss how do we think schools around Australia and
Pictures, book ,
whiteboard, work
books
Work sample of
writing and
diagrams.
Card for words
Groupings of
students, examples
of living and nonliving things.
Students definitions
and finding
contrasting labels
overseas will differ in their environment to ours.
Look at a series of pictures of schools in rural Australia and discuss the difference.
Review the pictures below and read the book around the world: at school by Oxfam and discuss the
pictures and the differences in environment and how they go to school.
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2013/09/schools_around_the_world.html
As a class complete a modelled activity of comparing one school we have seen to our school.
Students are then to individually brainstorm their own ideas to compare our school to another.
Students are to then use this planning to write about the differences in school environments. This
can be demonstrated with the use of diagrams.
Environmental diversity (R&V, S&L)
Diversity can be expressed through variables such as shady/sunny, wet/dry, noisy/quiet, windy/calm,
warm/cold, clean/dirty.
Investigate diversity in the environment. Diversity can be expressed through variables such as
shady/sunny, wet/dry, noisy/quiet, windy/calm, warm/cold, clean/dirty.
• Record language associated with different places – shady/sunny, old/new, little/big, wet/dry,
warm/cool, hot/cold. Identify places, from students’ experience, to match each description. Classify
places as natural or built.
• Look more closely at the natural environment and classify into living and non-living features. Relate
to places that students are familiar with in the local and wider community e.g. in our playground we
have trees and rocks; trees are living; rocks are non-living.
• Use the language of diversity to make sets of contrasting environmental labels or word cards. Use
the labels to order degrees of diversity e.g. icy, cold, cool, warm, hot; dry, moist, damp, wet.
• Organise students into pairs to read and explain one environmental label they have been given.
Students:
- identify a place to match the word or label, giving reasons for their selection and indicating if the
place has features that are living/non living.
- draw their favourite place and use labels to describe the type of environment
- write a statement to give reasons for the choice of this favourite place.
Respecting the environment (R&V, W&R, G, H, ET, TC, S&L)
Work sheet
Work sheet and
writing sample
Book My Land,
aboriginal language
map, work books
Student discussion
and writing sample
• Create a worksheet, poster or class display based on ‘How I help the environment’.
• Individually, or in small groups, or as a class, write a short statement and include some illustrations
on:
- I/we will help the environment at home by …
- I/we will help the environment at school by …
- I/we will help the environment in my street by …
- I/we will try to get other people to help the environment by …
Connection to place and country (S&L, R&V, W&R, G, H, TC, ET)
Connection link: furthering students’ understanding of Aboriginal people’s connection with the land
These activities are from Topic 6: Connection to Place and Country pp. 69–70 of Caring for Place caring for Country (DET). They are based on the poem My Land by Aunty Beryl Carmichael which
describes how she feels about her country.
• Identify the nouns or parts of the land that Aunty Beryl has described e.g. gumtrees, and the words
she used to describe them e.g. tall, swaying in the breeze
• Discuss the meaning of the poem. Ask:
- what does Aunty Beryl’s Land look like?
- how does Aunty Beryl feel about her Land?
- why does she feel this way?
• Develop students’ understanding of the physical, emotional and spiritual connections Aunty Beryl
has to her Land. Locate Ngyampa country on an Aboriginal language map.
• Refer to other books and read and discuss how some Aboriginal people have similar connections to
the land as Aunty Beryl. What words do the authors use to describe the connections they have to
their land?
• Students write a poem about their special place in the local area, using words to describe their
connection to this place.
Evaluation: