Geography Bulletin Vol 48, No 3 2016 5

Kindergarten love geography“Kindergarten are very keen geographers who cheer when Geography is on the daily timetable.  They love learning about the world, reading maps, learning about other cultures and referring to the globe when we talk about other countries or read stories”.

Rebecca Pierpoint Waverley Public School

Students created posters on the theme “ Take 3 for the Sea”

Professional LearningDuring Terms 2 and 3, staff at Waverley Public School undertook professional learning activities to assist them with programming the Geography Syllabus K– 6. These activities included attendance at workshops during the CoSiES (Community of Schools in the Eastern Suburbs) Conference in Term 2 and a full day on programming essentials with Geography Education Consultant, Lorraine Chaffer for Term 3 Staff Development Day. Collaboration between classroom teachers and school leaders at these events resulted in the sharing of ideas and resources between schools and the development of an air of confidence and excitement about teaching Geography as a stand alone subject for the first time. With an understanding of geographical inquiry skills and tools, including fieldwork and simple spatial technologies Waverley Public School had its first Geography teaching programs ready for implementation in Semester 2.

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN OUR SCHOOL?

6 Geography Bulletin Vol 48, No 3 2016

Geography lessons The kindergarten students at Waverley Public School have been participating in Geography lessons based around place and the importance of places. Student activities have included:

• Creating pictorial maps of our classroom and the local area

• Exploring the area around the school via Google Earth, maps and fieldwork

• Walking around the school’s locality to identify the natural and human features of the environment including places they could see further away such as Centrepoint Tower and planes arriving at and leaving Sydney airport. Where possible places were named correctly.

Fieldwork and post fieldwork activities undertaken by students included:

• Observing features of places

• Field sketching on a template attached firmly to a clipboard

“Kindergarten has been learning about Aboriginal life and culture including how Aboriginal people recorded information such as in the form of rock art and rock engravings. We discussed what rock art could be around our local area. As we are a school that is very close of the ocean, we decided to draw fish and other sea creatures that were a major source of food for the local Aboriginal people.”

A nice day for kindergartens first fieldwork activity

First map: The classroom

Students represented objects in the classroom on a map. Yes this room has a tent. Note: It is difficult for for young students

to create bird’s eye view maps

• Discussing the Aboriginal heritage of the area and what the land might have looked like many years ago

• Identifying North, East, South and West using compasses

• Talking about the importance of the places they visited and sketched and answering questions about why we should care about them.

• Creating “Take 3 for the Sea” posters

Aboriginal history and culture was integrated through fieldwork and art / mapping based activities.

Kindergarten love geography

First fieldwork activities: Field sketching

Armed with clipboards and a pencil kindergarten investigate their world

Geography Bulletin Vol 48, No 3 2016 7

Kindergarten love geography

Note from the editorRebecca has agreed to share the trial teaching program developed for the kindergarten unit “People live in places”. Now that the unit has finished I am hoping Rebecca will be able to update us on revisions the kindergarten teachers will make in light of their experience teaching Geography in term 3

Thank you Rebecca for sharing your experiences with GTA NSW bulletin readers. It is exciting to see Geography engaging young students with the real world through fieldwork and inquiry and to see them using geographical tools to represent the places they have investigated and issues such as ocean pollution.

Lorraine Chaffer

First fied sketch: Places observed during fieldwork

You have to love the little additions – such as bees

Pictorial map of places observed during fieldwork

Students added drawings of places observed from their eastern suburbs school onto a labelled base map

Mapping and art using Aboriginal drawings

8 Geography Bulletin Vol 48, No 3 2016

Uni

t des

crip

tion

Stud

ents

exp

lore

the

plac

es th

ey li

ve in

and

be

long

to. T

hey

deve

lop

an u

nder

stan

ding

of

wha

t mak

es a

pla

ce s

peci

al a

nd h

ow th

is

may

diff

er fo

r diff

eren

t peo

ple.

Stu

dent

s le

arn

abou

t the

impo

rtan

ce o

f loo

king

aft

er p

lace

s. St

uden

ts e

xplo

re h

ow th

e lo

cati

on o

f pla

ces

can

be re

pres

ente

d.

Key

inqu

iry

ques

tion

s

• W

hat a

re p

lace

s lik

e?

• H

ow c

an w

e lo

ok a

fter

the

plac

es w

e liv

e in

?

• W

hat m

akes

a p

lace

spe

cial

?

Cont

ent F

ocus

• Ex

plor

e th

e pl

aces

they

live

in a

nd b

elon

g to

• D

evel

op a

n un

ders

tand

ing

of w

hat m

akes

a p

lace

sp

ecia

l and

how

this

may

diff

er fo

r diff

eren

t peo

ple

• Le

arn

abou

t the

impo

rtan

ce o

f loo

king

aft

er p

lace

s

• Ex

plor

e ho

w th

e lo

catio

n of

pla

ces

can

be re

pres

ente

d

Out

com

esG

eogr

aphi

cal c

once

pts

Geo

grap

hica

l inq

uiry

ski

llsG

eogr

aphi

cal t

ools

GEe

-1:

iden

tifies

pla

ces

and

deve

lops

an

unde

rsta

ndin

g of

th

e im

port

ance

of

plac

es to

peo

ple

GEe

-2:

com

mun

icat

es

geog

raph

ical

in

form

atio

n an

d us

es g

eogr

aphi

cal

tool

s

Plac

e: th

e si

gnifi

canc

e of

pl

aces

and

wha

t the

y ar

e lik

e

Spac

e: th

e si

gnifi

canc

e of

loca

tion

and

spat

ial

dist

ribut

ion,

and

way

s peo

ple

orga

nise

and

man

age

the

spac

es th

at w

e liv

e in

Envi

ronm

ent:

the

sign

ifica

nce

of th

e en

viro

nmen

t in

hum

an

life,

and

the

impo

rtan

t in

terr

elat

ions

hips

be

twee

n hu

man

s and

the

envi

ronm

ent

The

follo

win

g ge

ogra

phic

al s

kills

hav

e be

en

inte

grat

ed in

to th

e un

it:

Acq

uiri

ng g

eogr

aphi

cal i

nfor

mat

ion

• Po

se q

uest

ions

and

mak

e ob

serv

atio

ns

(AC

HG

S001

)

• re

cord

geo

grap

hica

l dat

a an

d in

form

atio

n (A

CH

GS0

02)

Proc

essi

ng g

eogr

aphi

cal i

nfor

mat

ion

• Re

pres

ent d

ata

usin

g ch

arts

or g

raph

s (A

CH

GS0

03)

• D

raw

con

clus

ions

bas

ed o

n di

scus

sion

s of

ob

serv

atio

ns (A

CH

GS0

04)

Com

mun

icat

ing

geog

raph

ical

info

rmat

ion

• Pr

esen

t inf

orm

atio

n (A

CH

GS0

05)

• Re

flect

on

thei

r lea

rnin

g (A

CH

GS0

06)

The

follo

win

g ge

ogra

phic

al to

ols

have

bee

n in

tegr

ated

in

to th

e un

it:

Map

s –

M•

Pict

oria

l map

s, on

line

map

s

Fiel

dwor

k –

F •

Obs

ervi

ng a

nd re

cord

ing

data

Gra

phs

and

stat

isti

cs –

GS

• Ta

lly c

hart

s, pi

ctog

raph

s

Spat

ial t

echn

olog

ies

– ST

• Vi

rtua

l map

s

Visu

al re

pres

enta

tion

s –

VR

• Ph

otog

raph

s, ill

ustr

atio

ns, s

tory

boo

ks, m

ultim

edia

Uni

t of w

ork

– Pe

ople

Liv

ing

in P

lace

sGEOGRAPHY – ES1 PEOPLE LIVE IN PLACES

Geography Bulletin Vol 48, No 3 2016 9

Wee

kCo

nten

tLe

sson

Reso

urce

sRe

g

Wee

k 1,

2,3

Impo

rtan

t Pla

ces:

– in

vest

igat

e th

e im

port

ance

of p

lace

s th

ey li

ve in

and

bel

ong

to

– id

entifi

catio

n of

pla

ces

they

live

in

and

belo

ng to

– d

iscu

ssio

n of

why

pla

ces

are

spec

ial

and

how

peo

ple

care

for t

hem

– e

xpla

natio

n of

why

peo

ple

need

to

take

car

e of

pla

ces

Loca

ting

Pla

ces:

– in

vest

igat

e ho

w th

e lo

catio

n of

pl

aces

can

be

repr

esen

ted

– lo

catio

n of

fam

iliar

and

loca

l pla

ces

on m

aps

– d

escr

iptio

n of

the

loca

tion

of p

lace

s

Abo

rigi

nal a

nd T

orre

s St

rait

Is

land

er p

lace

s:

– in

vest

igat

e th

e co

untr

ies

/ Pl

aces

im

port

ant t

o A

borig

inal

or T

orre

s St

rait

Isla

nder

Peo

ples

– id

entifi

catio

n of

an

Abo

rigin

al o

r To

rres

Str

ait I

slan

der s

ite, C

ount

ry o

r Pl

ace

– d

iscu

ssio

n of

why

the

site

, Cou

ntry

or

Pla

ce is

impo

rtan

t

Inqu

iry

1 –

Wha

t are

pla

ces

like?

• St

uden

ts d

evel

op a

pic

toria

l map

of t

he c

lass

room

to re

pres

ent f

urni

ture

and

ob

ject

s in

the

room

– d

irect

ed d

raw

ing.

• U

sing

a s

timul

us s

uch

as M

y Fa

rm b

y A

lison

Les

ter,

stud

ents

iden

tify

a sp

ecia

l pl

ace

and

why

it is

impo

rtan

t to

peop

le b

y po

sing

and

resp

ondi

ng to

que

stio

ns:

– W

hy is

the

farm

spe

cial

?

– H

ow d

id p

eopl

e ta

ke c

are

of th

e fa

rm?

– W

hy d

id p

eopl

e ne

ed to

take

car

e of

the

farm

?

• St

uden

ts re

flect

on

thei

r ow

n sp

ecia

l pla

ce a

nd p

rese

nt in

form

atio

n ab

out:

– W

here

they

live

and

the

fam

ily m

embe

rs w

ho li

ve w

ith th

em

– S

peci

al b

elon

ging

s at

hom

e eg

toys

, bed

room

, pet

etc

– H

ow th

ey a

nd o

ther

peo

ple

take

car

e of

this

plac

e eg

cle

anin

g, g

arde

ning

, pai

ntin

g et

c.

• St

uden

ts d

iscu

ss w

hat m

akes

thei

r pla

ce s

peci

al. T

hey

grou

p re

ason

s in

to

cate

gorie

s an

d pr

esen

t the

info

rmat

ion

in a

cha

rt.

• Fi

eldw

ork

– W

alk

arou

nd th

e lo

cal c

omm

unity

(bac

k of

WPS

):

– L

ocat

e th

e ci

ty (C

entr

epoi

nt T

ower

), Sy

dney

airp

ort,

Que

ens

Park

/ C

ente

nnia

l Pa

rk. S

tude

nts

reco

rd th

ese

loca

tions

by

draw

ing

the

land

mar

ks.

– D

iscu

ss th

e im

port

ance

/ s

igni

fican

ce o

f the

se la

ndm

arks

– O

bser

ve a

nd id

entif

y th

e na

tura

l and

hum

an fe

atur

es o

f the

are

a. “W

hy is

it

spec

ial?

” “W

hy s

houl

d w

e ca

re?”

– E

xpla

in th

is a

rea

is G

adig

al L

and

– ta

lk a

bout

wha

t it w

ould

hav

e lo

oked

like

, an

d ho

w th

e A

borig

inal

peo

ple

used

it b

efor

e co

loni

satio

n. “

Why

is it

spe

cial

?”

“Why

sho

uld

we

care

?”

– U

sing

a c

ompa

ss id

entif

y N

orth

, Eas

t, So

uth,

Wes

t.

– P

hoto

grap

h th

e ar

ea u

sing

the

iPad

– A

t the

con

clus

ion

of fi

eldw

ork,

loca

te th

is a

rea/

spec

ial p

lace

usi

ng G

oogl

e Ea

rth

and

on a

loca

l map

.

HSI

E bo

ok, p

aper

, pe

ncils

My

Farm

by

Alis

on

Lest

erht

tp://

alis

onle

ster

.co

m/

Post

-it n

otes

, ca

rdbo

ard,

pen

cils

Clip

boar

ds, p

enci

ls,

pape

r, co

mpa

sses

, iP

ads,

wor

kshe

et

with

box

es to

dra

w

the

land

mar

ks

GEOGRAPHY – ES1 PEOPLE LIVE IN PLACES

10 Geography Bulletin Vol 48, No 3 2016

Wee

k 4,

5, 6

Impo

rtan

t Pla

ces:

– in

vest

igat

e th

e im

port

ance

of

plac

es th

ey li

ve in

and

bel

ong

to

– id

entifi

catio

n of

pla

ces

they

live

in

and

belo

ng to

– d

iscu

ssio

n of

why

pla

ces

are

spec

ial a

nd h

ow p

eopl

e ca

re fo

r th

em

– e

xpla

natio

n of

why

peo

ple

need

to

take

car

e of

pla

ces

Loca

ting

Pla

ces:

– in

vest

igat

e ho

w th

e lo

catio

n of

pl

aces

can

be

repr

esen

ted

– lo

catio

n of

fam

iliar

and

loca

l pl

aces

on

map

s

– d

escr

iptio

n of

the

loca

tion

of

plac

es

Inqu

iry

2 - H

ow c

an w

e lo

ok a

fter

the

plac

es w

e liv

e in

?

• D

iscu

ssio

n ab

out l

itter

*H

ave

phot

os d

ispl

ayed

of p

lace

s th

at a

re li

tter

ed:

– W

ho d

o w

e ne

ed to

put

litt

er in

the

bin?

– W

hat i

s th

e im

pact

of l

itter

on

the

envi

ronm

ent?

– H

ow d

oes

it m

ake

you

feel

?

– H

ow c

an w

e re

duce

litt

er in

our

env

ironm

ent?

– W

hy s

houl

d w

e ca

re?

– D

iscu

ss C

lean

Up

Aus

tral

ia D

ay, R

educ

e/Re

use/

Recy

cle,

Tak

e 3

• Ta

ke 3

:

– E

xplo

re th

e Ta

ke 3

web

site

htt

p://

ww

w.ta

ke3.

org.

au

– D

iscu

ss th

e gr

eat i

dea

of ta

king

3 p

iece

s of

litt

er fr

om th

e oc

ean,

lake

or a

ny

wat

erw

ay. W

hy is

it im

port

ant t

o st

op li

tter

ent

erin

g th

e w

ater

way

s?

– S

how

imag

es/v

ideo

of t

he G

reat

Pac

ific

Gar

bage

Pat

ch

– W

hy s

houl

d w

e ca

re?

– C

reat

e a

post

er to

pro

mot

e ‘T

ake

3’

• Fi

eldw

ork

– Li

tter

dat

a:

– P

lot l

itter

on

a m

ap o

f the

pla

ygro

und

– S

ort l

itter

, pla

ce li

tter

on

the

grou

nd to

cre

ate

a 3D

pic

togr

aph

– D

iscu

ss th

e lo

catio

n of

litt

er in

rela

tion

to u

ses

of p

lace

s to

dev

elop

un

ders

tand

ings

of c

ause

and

effe

ct.

– B

rain

stor

m im

pact

s of

litt

er e

g ae

sthe

tics,

bird

s fe

ed, w

ashe

s in

to d

rain

s.

– D

iscu

ss c

onne

ctio

n be

twee

n th

e ro

les

of m

ultip

le p

artic

ipan

ts in

the

mai

nten

ance

of t

he a

rea.

– W

hy s

houl

d w

e ca

re?

Phot

ogra

phs

of

litte

red

plac

es (l

ocal

an

d gl

obal

)

Aus

tral

ia D

ay, R

RR,

Take

3 im

ages

/pos

ters

Take

3 w

ebsi

te,

map

of

the

Paci

fic s

how

ing

wat

er c

urre

nts,

Card

boar

d, p

enci

ls,

glue

, cra

ft

Map

of t

he

play

grou

nd, p

enci

ls,

clip

boar

ds, c

halk

to

draw

a p

icto

grap

h ou

tsid

e, im

ages

of

impa

cts

of li

tter

, iPa

d to

pho

togr

aph

GEOGRAPHY – ES1 PEOPLE LIVE IN PLACES

Geography Bulletin Vol 48, No 3 2016 11

Wee

k 7,

8,9

Impo

rtan

t Pla

ces:

– in

vest

igat

e th

e im

port

ance

of

plac

es th

ey li

ve in

and

bel

ong

to

– id

entifi

catio

n of

pla

ces

they

live

in

and

belo

ng to

– di

scus

sion

of w

hy p

lace

s ar

e sp

ecia

l an

d ho

w p

eopl

e ca

re fo

r the

m

– ex

plan

atio

n of

why

peo

ple

need

to

take

car

e of

pla

ces

Loca

ting

Plac

es:

– in

vest

igat

e ho

w th

e lo

catio

n of

pl

aces

can

be

repr

esen

ted

– lo

catio

n of

fam

iliar

and

loca

l pla

ces

on m

aps

– de

scrip

tion

of th

e lo

catio

n of

pl

aces

Abo

rigi

nal a

nd T

orre

s St

rait

Isla

nder

pla

ces:

– in

vest

igat

e th

e co

untr

ies

/ Pl

aces

im

port

ant t

o A

borig

inal

or T

orre

s St

rait

Isla

nder

Peo

ples

– Id

entifi

catio

n of

an

Abo

rigin

al o

r To

rres

Str

ait I

slan

der s

ite, C

ount

ry

or P

lace

– di

scus

sion

of w

hy th

e si

te, C

ount

ry

or P

lace

is im

port

ant

Inqu

iry

3 - W

hat m

akes

a p

lace

spe

cial

?

• A

borig

inal

and

Tor

res

Stra

it Is

land

er s

peci

al p

lace

is ‘c

ount

ry’. W

e ca

n id

entif

y th

ese

plac

es b

y lo

okin

g at

pai

ntin

gs, m

idde

ns a

nd ro

ck e

ngra

ving

s.:

– In

trod

uce

the

loca

l Abo

rigin

al g

roup

– th

ey li

ved

on th

e Co

ast –

dis

cuss

how

th

ey m

ay h

ave

used

the

reso

urce

s? W

hat t

ypes

of f

ood

wou

ld th

ey h

ave

eate

n (s

eafo

od).

– H

ave

a ‘v

irtua

l’ tou

r of A

borig

inal

site

s –

info

rmat

ion

at th

e cs

iro w

ebsi

te.

– H

ave

a gi

ant m

ap o

f the

eas

tern

sub

urbs

and

dra

w (p

icto

grap

h) w

here

the

Abo

rigin

al s

ites

are.

htt

p://

ww

w.a

tnf.c

siro

.au/

peop

le/R

ay.N

orris

/Syd

neyR

ockA

rt/

site

s/Ta

mar

ama/

inde

x.ht

m

• Fi

eldw

ork

– Bo

ndi t

o Br

onte

coa

stal

wal

k:

– Id

entif

y di

rect

ion

by u

sing

a c

ompa

ss.

– E

xplo

re A

borig

inal

rock

eng

ravi

ngs

– w

hat d

o yo

u th

ink

they

repr

esen

t? W

hat

does

it te

ll us

abo

ut th

e ar

ea?

– S

hare

the

loca

l dre

amin

g st

ory

that

goe

s w

ith th

e ro

ck e

ngra

ving

s (t

he w

hale

an

d th

e st

ar fi

sh)

– D

iscu

ss th

e si

mila

ritie

s in

the

stor

y an

d w

hat h

appe

ns in

this

are

a (w

hale

s m

igra

ting,

sta

r fish

in th

e ro

ck p

ools

)

– W

hy is

this

are

a sp

ecia

l for

Abo

rigin

al p

eopl

e? C

lose

to fo

od, s

ea, s

helte

r

– Id

entif

y th

e lo

cal A

borig

inal

lang

uage

gro

up.

– C

ompl

ete

the

‘obs

ervi

ng a

nd c

olle

ctin

g da

ta’ w

orks

heet

. Usi

ng s

ense

s to

reco

rd

info

rmat

ion

abou

t the

are

a.

• O

nce

back

at s

choo

l:

– L

ocat

e th

e co

asta

l wal

k on

a m

ap o

f Aus

tral

ia, o

n go

ogle

ear

th a

nd a

loca

l map

. W

hat d

o yo

u no

tice

abou

t the

veg

etat

ion?

– C

ompa

re a

n ol

d m

ap a

nd re

cent

map

– w

hat h

as c

hang

ed? W

hy d

o yo

u th

ink

this

hap

pene

d?

– D

raw

a ‘n

ow’ a

nd ‘t

hen’

cha

rt a

nd id

entif

y ch

ange

s.

– G

o to

htt

p://

ww

w.w

ildab

outw

hale

s.com

.au/

wha

le-w

atch

ing

and

see

whe

re th

e la

test

wha

les

have

bee

n tr

acke

d. O

n a

map

of t

he e

ast c

oast

, dra

w a

pic

togr

aph

of w

here

wha

les

are

loca

ted.

– B

rain

stor

m w

hy th

e ro

ck e

ngra

ving

s ar

e an

impo

rtan

t pla

ce?

Imag

es o

f pai

ntin

gs,

mid

dens

, roc

k en

grav

ings

.

Gia

nt m

ap, p

enci

ls/

cray

ons

Phot

ogra

phs

of th

e ro

ck e

ngra

ving

s

Com

pass

Dre

amin

g st

ory

“The

Arr

ival

of t

he

Dar

awha

l”

Obs

ervi

ng a

nd

colle

ctin

g da

ta

wor

kshe

et,

clip

boar

ds, p

enci

ls,

com

pass

Map

s of

the

East

Co

ast o

f Aus

tral

ia,

old

map

s of

the

area

, go

ogle

ear

th, ‘n

ow’

and

‘then

’ cha

rt.

GEOGRAPHY – ES1 PEOPLE LIVE IN PLACES

12 Geography Bulletin Vol 48, No 3 2016

AGTA ANNOUNCES AN ESSENTIAL NEW GEOGRAPHY RESOURCE

Geography Skills Unlocked is an exciting new skills book for Australian secondary schools

KEY FEATURES: Contents aligned to the inquiry and skills-based

requirements of Australian Curriculum: Geography

An engaging, easy to navigate design

A student friendly approach with step-by-step explanations, descriptions and worked examples

A focus on emerging technologies used to gather, analyse and present geographical data

GeoSkills and GeoInquiry activities that scaffold student learning

A wealth of stimulus material including a diverse range of maps, graphs, aerial photographs, satellite images, diagrams and photographs

Examples drawn from each Australian state and territory with additional international material

Key terms explained in embedded glossary boxes

Geography Skills Unlocked is published by the Australian Geography Teachers Association and written by a team of experienced Geography teachers.

Geography Skills Unlocked will be published mid 2016 and will be available for purchase via the AGTA website: www.agta.asn.au/Products