Medieval Studies SOSE Term 3 2010

Aim:

The purpose of this SOSE topic is to enable students to gain insight into the daily life of the Medieval society. Students will also gain a deep understanding of how the Medieval castle played an integral part in the daily lives of the various classes of Medieval people. This lesson will help the students gain a superficial understanding of Monarchy, Feudalism, and serfdom.

Spelling - word bank list of castle terms.

Here are some fun Medieval games.

The Knights Templar Quiz.

The Mr Donn Medieval site.

Medieval Games include:

Colf - medieval golf

Game Ball - medieval football

Kubb - medieval bowling

Hopscotch

Quoits

Horseshoes

Curling with balloons

Shut the Box - a dice game

Stool Ball was similar to our modern baseball.


Illustrated list of castles in Scotland.

Illustrated list of castles in England.

Overview of life in Medieval times.

Life in a Medieval Castle.

Siegecraft and Defence - Armour and Weapons

Challenge topics for Term 3:

1. Merlin
2. Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table
3. The role of the jester in castle life.
4. Medieval herbs and plants and thier uses.
5. Medieval games.
6. Illuminated script.
7. Weapons
8. Tournaments and jousting


Method: divide the class into 2 countries and hand out roles such as:

knight, jester, queen/king, prince/princess, bard, spy, captured prisoner, farmer, blacksmith, teacher of crafts.

Activities:

word bank
map with location of castle
role play
craft activities
research
design and construction of weapons and
illuminated script
dragon art
stained glass windows mosaic
food of the middle ages
legend of King Arthur
design a clan tartan
make stuffed scottie dogs in tartan
design weapons
design a shield
hold a tournament

Timeline for Middle Ages:

1066 - Battle of --------
1072 - King ------- invaded Scotland
1086 - The -------- Book was written
1215 - Signing of the ----- -----
1312 - Order of the Knights ------- is abolished
1337 - The ------- years war begins
1347 - The B---- D---- ravages Europe
1455 - The War of the -----

Writing Topics:

Education
Clothing
Bathing
Games
Music
Commerce
Festivals
Village Life
City Life
History
Famines
Food
Health
Literature
Chivalry

"Romeo and Juliet" - by William Shakespeare - use the balcony scene to show medieval language.

Activities:

List 4 things you learned about knights.
Describe how heating was accomplished in the Medieval halls.
Describe the kitchen usually found in Medieval castles.

Reflection:

Describe the research techniques you used to discover about Medieval castles.
Would you have liked to live back in the Medieval times? Explain.
Why do we no longer have structures like castles? Why are they no longer necessary?
Do you think castles will ever be needed in the future? Explain.

Send a castle postcard.

Tour a castle in Scotland or in England.

Design a Coat of Arms.

Handwriting Exercise:



Once upon a time there was a knight who rode
over the hills,
and killed a dragon,
and set fifteen women free
from an enchanter who kept the prisoners in a tower
and found a castle where they could live,
and rode on to the desert
where two kings were fighting a war that never ended
and waved a magic shield over the battle
so all the soldiers stopped fighting and said,
"What are we here for?"
And then the knight turned and rode back,
through the desert, past the tower, over the hills,
and when she got home
she took off her armour, patted the cat and made
herself a cup of tea.

By Anonymous

A plan for building a model of a castle.

Here is a concentration card game.

Here is an excellent Medieval quiz.

You can Create Your Own Dark Ages Character.

Look here for what is inside and around a castle.

Weekly war - tournament:

Activities:

- balloon and straw race - curling
- crab crawling backwards relay
- scissors, paper, rock - renamed as sword, manuscript, cannon ball.
- who can go longest without blinking
- Shut the Box dice game
- coded message from a bard - England Vs Scotland , or Medieval Whispers
- shot put - throw the sneaker/pencil case.
- toss the caber - use a metre ruler/Vortex
- bowling pin game

Assessment and Evaluation for Medieval Studies will include:

for Medieval Studies:

1. Spelling test of word bank words.
2. List 3 medieval sports and discuss their origins and the rules of each.
3. Name a castle built in your country and describe it in detail.
4. Write a paragraph describing everyday life in a medieval castle.
5. Choose three of the roles you played and write about each them, e.g. Jester, Bard, Knight.
6. List the challenges you participated in during the medieval studies unit.
7. Participation (teamwork and cooperation) in weekly tournament events.
8. Technology activities - were they completed successfully?
a) design and construct a castle
b) design and construct a drawbridge
9) Share art work - illuminated script, shield, medieval paintings.
10. Active participation in drama activities.
11. Completion of Dark Ages Character during computer lab time.
12. Retell of viewing - The Sword in the Stone.

A WRINKLE IN TIME

By Madeline L’Engle


"It was a dark and stormy night in a small village in the United States.
In her attic bedroom Margaret Murry, wrapped in an old patchwork quilt, sat on the foot of her bed and watched the trees tossing in the frenzied lashing of the wind. Behind the trees, clouds scudded frantically across the sky. Every few moments the moon ripped through them, creating wraith-like shadows that raced across the ground. The house shook."

Activities:

1. Write the word banks neatly into literature book.
2. Use the words in the Chapter 1 word bank in creative sentences.
3. Write a definition of the words in the Time word bank.
4. Draw a family tree of the Murry family.
5. Draw your own family tree.
6. Build a vehicle to travel in space.
7. Draw your own planet world.
8. Do a retell of the story from watching the viewing.
9. Read the book or have it read to you.
10. Watch the movie.
11. Make patchwork squares to make a class blanket.
12. Art activity: newspaper city on a horizon.
13. Using tinfoil and black card, construct a view of a galaxy.
14. Write a science fiction story.


Resources:

1. Libby Hathorn Good To Read 6
2. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle.
3. The movie. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0290382/


Assessment and Evaluation:
· Participation in all activities will be observed.
· Completed work will be constructively discussed and displayed.


Chapter 1 Word Bank

dark stormy small village watched tossing frenzied
lashing clouds scudding frantically moments wraith shadow night attic bedroom behind across ripped shook patchwork quilt wrapped few

Harry Potter Word Bank

philosopher
tabby
owl
tabby
muggle
imagine
imagination
cloak
stone
lightning
bolt
scar
serial
quidditch
jelly bean
motor bike
Hedwig
Hagrid
Hogwarts
train
sweet shop
portrait
incubator

Narrative Writing

ORIENTATION
Characters – Who are they? What are they like?
Setting – Where is the story? When does it take place?

PROBLEM
What goes wrong? What needs to be solved?

SERIES OF EVENTS
What are the important events?

RESOLUTION
How is the problem solved?
Have any of the characters changed?

Maths pages to make yourself

Year 4 Maths sheets to make - this comes in different levels.

Haiku with Gemma

Haiku is an old form of Japanese poetry. Many Haiku themes include nature, feelings or experiences and usually they use simple words and grammar. The most common form for Haiku is three short lines. The first line usually contains five (5) syllables, the second line seven (7) syllables, and the third line contains five (5) syllables.

Haiku doesn’t rhyme! A Haiku must “paint” a mental image in the reader's mind.

We learn how to write Haiku from Gemma.

Here is an example of her work:

Eyes softly searching
Eyes creating dialogue
Eyes that know your soul

Language Program Year 4 2010

English program Year 4 2010

RATIONALE:

Literacy is defined as the ability to read, use written information and to write appropriately, in a range of contexts with many different purposes and also the ability to communicate with a wide variety of audiences. Literacy is integrally related to learning in all areas of the curriculum and enables all individuals to develop world knowledge, understanding and deep thinking skills.

Reading and writing, when integrated with speaking, listening, viewing and critical thinking, constitute valued aspects of literacy in modern life. It is important that students develop the literacy skills needed in a world that is rapidly changing due to cultural diversity, mass communication, technical advancement and digital technology.

AIMS:

• To provide the opportunity for all children to develop their capacity and extend their ability in all three dimensions: reading, writing, oral language.
• To encourage students to explore the meaning of texts, including multimedia and to comprehend how meaning is conveyed.
• To develop the knowledge of how language is used along with related text structures and features.
• To enhance teacher skills to facilitate students’ learning related to acquiring the knowledge, skills and personal qualities of literacy.
• To use explicit teaching to enable students to become competent at reading, viewing and listening critically. This also applies to thinking, speaking and writing clearly and confidently.
• To empower students to apply their knowledge and skills in a variety of situations.
• To integrate the learning of literacy across all areas of the curriculum.

CONTENT:

The English program will cover the three dimensions:

- Reading
- Writing
- Oral Language (Speaking and Listening)

IMPLEMENTATION:

General
- English to be explicitly taught on a daily basis.
Programs will be sequential, developmental and matched to the needs of individual children.
- Intervention programs will be offered in consultation with the Special Needs Team. English as a Second Language (ESL) student will be provided with additional language assistance as deemed necessary.
- First Steps Writing inservice sessions will be attended
- Growth in multimedia means that students need to develop comprehension and research skills, such as discriminating and questioning, to effectively use these multiliteracies. The English program will be flexible, adaptive and creative in order to embrace new technologies..
- Consideration will be given to ensure that both girls and boys have relevant learning activities.
Reading
- Read Aloud, Shared or Modelled Reading, with an explicit teaching focus, will occur each day with the whole class.
- Students will be engaged in sustained, purposeful Independent Reading every day to build a love of reading, reading stamina and reading competence.
- The Smartboard program will complement the reading program by allowing students more access to such components as ebooks, research opportunities and appropriate software.
- Guided Reading sessions will be taken each day.
- Students will have a Classroom Library to which students have contributed ideas and take responsibility. From this library, students will select their weekly texts for Independent Reading.
- Selected students will articulate their new learning during Share Time, e.g. What have I learnt today to make me a better reader?
- Comprehension will be an integral component of all reading sessions as the gaining of meaning from a text provides the purpose of reading. The aim is to develop in students a higher level of understanding and the ability to think deeply/critically about their reading.
- The focus of teaching comprehension skills will be on building strategies to use on continuous text i.e. books.

Writing

• Students will learn to control language and apply the grammatical structures of English, by learning to spell and use punctuation effectively.
• Daily handwriting sessions will concentrate on letter formation, pen/pencil grip, size, speed and style of writing.
• One hour session of writing to be taken daily. Each structured session has a focus; a daily independent writing time; a publishing time; a share time. Teaching strategies will include shared, modelled, interactive, guided and independent writing.
• There will be a balanced approach to the text types (genres) to be taught.
• Students can compose writing in a variety of forms:

Recount
Information Report
Procedure
Explanation
Description
Narrative
Exposition
Discussion


Oral Language (Speaking and Listening)
- A rich oral language in discussions has a vital role in providing scaffolded learning experiences for students.
- Quality dialogue promotes greater student awareness of the world around them.
- Teaching will be explicit to ensure that the students understand what skills they are being taught when doing the task and what links they can make to prior knowledge.
- Effective oral language includes auditory and listening skills; correct pronunciation; adequate description; the ability to categorise; accurate grammar; developing sentence structure; ability to formulate questions; social skills of communication.
- Speakers and listeners co-construct meaning through their conversations, using verbal and non-verbal behaviour and both have active roles in this meaning-making process.
ASSESSMENT:

Assessment enables us to provide ongoing information about each child’s development in English using a variety of assessment tools, including self and peer assessment, to assess each child’s progress. Assessment will be in accordance with the school’s Assessment and Reporting policy.

EVALUATION OF PROGRAM:

The English Program will be reviewed and revised as needed. This will ensure that the above aims are being met. The Torrens Primary School Scope and Sequence will provide guidelines for auditing the effectiveness of the teaching of English.

Spelling program rationale and aims

RATIONALE:

Spelling is a thinking process and is an integral part of the writing program. It is developmental as with all language learning. Good spelling is a factor of effectively relaying meaning when writing.

AIMS:

- Develop an interest in words, explore words and learn how words are constructed.
- Encourage risk-taking and to attempt words that they need.
- Proof read, edit and correct own and partner’s work.
- Develop and reflect on their own spelling strategies.
- Teach spelling within the context of an inclusive, holistic curriculum so that it is relevant to their needs.
- Explore the links between word meanings in the context of writing.
- Encourage the use of resources to find the correct spelling.
- Help learners to become confident, competent writers.

Year 4 Spelling test

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(This test is from the Wedgewood Park Primary School site, in Victoria.)

Spelling Program Year 4

Spelling Program:

single sounds
2 letter words
3 letter words
rhyming words/ long words/ short words
segmenting words into syllables
sight words/ word banks/ class lists
consonant digraphs (ck, ch, sh, th, wh)
initial double consonants (bl, fl cl, pl, sl, br, dr, fr, cr, gr, pr, tr, sm, sn, st, sk, sp, sc, sw, tw)
double consonants (ll, tt, gg, ss, dd, zz, mm, nn, ff)
final double consonants (_nt, _ ft, _ st, _mp, _nd, _sp, _ng, _lm, _ct, _lk, _lt, _nk)
tri consonant blends (scr, str, spr, thr, shr, squ, spl)
grouping of words according to sound patterns/ visual patterns
high frequency words taken from children’s reading and writing and added to class lists
vowel digraphs (ee, oo, ay, oy)
word families (ar, all, qu, er, ir, ur, or)
long vowels (a-e, o-e, i-e, u-e, e-e)
syllabification -2 syllables…compound words
homophones (plain plane) and homonyms
antonyms / synonyms
Finding words within words
Word building games
Use mnemonics
Use dictionaries / alphabetical lists
Develop word banks on theme, topic, high frequency and interesting words
Proof reading strategies
Adding ed, ing
Plurals
Word sort- meaning / letter patterns / sound
Rules … silent e / plurals
Endings…tion….ious….ight
Begin to make spelling generalisations
Use double letters correctly
Use visual knowledge of common English letter sequences
Use knowledge of word meanings and derivations
Extended bank of known words
Suffix, prefix
More difficult homophones, homonyms, compound words
Have a go at specialised words…science
Willing to use a range of resources
Alliteration
Onomatopoeia words
Continue to model and teach mnemonics and proof reading strategies
Silent letters
Contractions
Words with unusual or irregular spellings
Consonant diagraphs (ph, gh, kn, gn)
Irregular diagraphs (aw, au, ei)
Word origins
Advance use of dictionaries and thesaurus
Word play…crosswords
Words with multiple meanings

Circle Time for class meetings

In our class we use circle time after SRC meetings, during discussions of the Fish Philosophy and when we have problems at school we need to address. We also use it for fun drama games such as the Key Game, when we are having a reward for working together cooperatively.

Working with Ground rules
(Adapted from Just Schools, Chapter 7, B. Hopkins)

The ground rules need constant review.
A simple sentence completion activity can be used repeatedly over several weeks to reinforce what each member of the group needs from each other. Examples of sentences to pass around:

I don’t feel respected when …
I do feel respected when …

I don’t feel safe when …
I do feel safe when …

I don’t feel valued when …
I do feel valued when …

The leader starts this activity, so they are taking the first risk, not asking anyone to do something they are not willing to do themselves, and modelling the nature of the contribution.

Working with Ground rules
(Adapted from Just Schools, Chapter 7, B. Hopkins)

Another circle time convention is that no one has to contribute, and so the right to pass is introduced early on. If a talking stick is being used it can simply be held for a short time and then handed on, or the word ‘pass’ can be said.
It is always a good idea to go round a second time because people who passed on the first round have had time to think and may now like to contribute.

Respecting the Guidelines
(Adapted from Just Schools, Chapter 7, B. Hopkins)
What happens if the guidelines are forgotten or ignored by someone? A restorative approach is for those affected to meet and hear from each other how the situation has impacted on them and for all sides to agree on an acceptable way forward.
Here are a few quick suggestions for dealing with problems as they occur:
1. Respond at once by expressing how the situation has affected you and what you need in order to move on and then by asking the other people involved what happened from their perspective and what they want to happen. This can often lead to a quick resolution with no bad feelings.
2. In the middle of a circle time lesson this approach can be widened out to the whole class to great effect because it demonstrates how thoughtless behaviour in a room is likely to have an effect on most people in the room. Try using a ‘go-round’ starting with yourself:
‘When someone talks loudly during the lesson I feel angry because …’
Then invite the entire circle to complete the same sentence. Be prepared for some to feel differently.
Now go around again and maybe start with what you would like to happen in general terms without making practical suggestions. See what comes from them, and in particular those whose behaviour has been causing you distress, this is a ‘no blame’ approach.
‘What I would like to happen is …’
This approach can help the whole class take responsibility for their behaviour and the smooth running of the lesson.

Respecting the Guidelines (cont.)
(Adapted from Just Schools, Chapter 7, B. Hopkins)

3. Failing this, arrange for a longer conversation with those involved after the lesson when tempers have cooled and people have had time to reflect. Be prepared to hear the reasons behind the behaviours and what the students needed that they were not getting.
The emphasis is on:
• What is the meaning behind the behaviour?
• Who has been affected by the behaviour?
• What was everyone feeling and thinking then and now?
• How can the harm caused be repaired?
• How can the matter be put right as far as possible to everyone’s satisfaction and so that people’s needs can be met?
• What can be done to avoid the same situation happening again?


A Circle Time Structure
(Adapted from Just Schools, Chapter 7, B. Hopkins)

A circle time session may include:
• A gathering – a go round in the circle when everyone makes a very small contribution, maybe completing a sentence suggested by the leader.
• A mixer – a game that ensures everyone mixes up and sits with people they do not usually work with
• Focus activity – a slightly longer theme based activity (listening skills? Negotiation skills? Planning? Private reflection and drawing? Citizenship issues?)
• A review of what has been learnt using a circle go-round or in pairs
• Another game – if time, preferably a cooperative one
• A closing – ‘One thing I have enjoyed this time …’

Computer Club

Computer Club is open at lunch times on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Topics taught include - according to appropriate student levels:

- Kidpix - mouse manipulation and a beginning animation program
- Kahootz - an advanced animation program
- Google Earth - mapping skills
- Google Maps - get directions skills and location and mapping skills
- Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 - PSE6 - manipulation of photos, applying filters, resizing, saving correctly for school and for web use, cropping, enhancing, working with layers, digital scrapbooking
- Internet safe use
- introduction to safe blogging practices
- typing skills
- research skills
- PowerPoint Presentations
- Publisher for class newsletters

Signpost Maths Year 4 Term 1

Click on the picture to make it bigger. The pink colour is taught to my own class, the black colour is taught to the streamed class.

Make your own map

Create a map of a "new" state in Australia.

- Draw an outline for it then decide on a name for the new state.
- Draw in the landforms (mountains, deserts etc.) and bodies of water (lakes, rivers, oceans).
- Creatively name them, e.g. Shark Bay.
- Design 10 different symbols to use in a key.
- Include the capital city.
- Remember to put in a compass!

Examples of landforms:

caves, volcanos, monolith rocks, gold, minerals, tree,grass, jungles, coal, canyons, mountians, fruit.

Examples of bodies of water:

gulf, swamp, dam, bay, reef, river, ocean, sea, cape, billabong, beach, strait, sound, lake, waterfall, bight, channel, marsh.

Extension activity:

- Draw your own treasure map.

Valuable writing tips

Can be found in the professional readings How To Write Yourself Sane.

Tips include the following models:

- Write to release pain or express joy.
- Set aside time to write.
- Resist the urge to be afraid of your feelings.
- Find focus in your writing.
- Decide what you will do with your writing.

Your poems, recipes, anecdotes, journal entries or stories can be self published into a hard bound book with blurb.com. I have made 16 so far. My best is a trip report with photos and journaling.

Year 4 writing - adjectives

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more scrumptious and delectable...

Your task today is use descriptive and creative adjectives to describe chocolate!

2010 Year 4 Writing

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2010 Year 4 Listening and Speaking

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Listening activities:

Listening is making sense of oral language. Teachers should engage students in listening with a purpose, and support and encourage them to do this. Many opportunities for teaching listening skills and strategies can be incorporated into daily classroom language experiences.

The following activities enhance students' listening skills and strategies (as well as supporting the other language strands): reading along, choral reading, tape recordings, and sing-alongs.

It is important to give students guidance and explicit instruction that develop active listening skills and strategies. Balance direct instruction, guided listening, and independent listening.


- Reading Aloud: Read aloud every day to students. It is an important means of teaching listening and a powerful means of developing and expanding students' language repertoire and vocabulary. It is also important for modeling reading strategies

- Establish a practice of reading to the class from a variety of fiction and nonfiction books at least once a day.

- Read interesting articles from newspapers, magazines, and resources relevant to studies in other subject areas. Students, as a follow-up, should summarize what they have heard, put events in order, dramatize the story, answer questions about who did what, or participate in other activities to support their learning.

- Read aloud a poem each day (i.e., poetry pauses) to help students develop an awareness of the language, rhythms, and imagery of poetry.

- Provide many opportunities for students to hear a range of oral texts including: announcements, apologies, awards, concerts, conversations, dialogues, directions, discussions, dramas, explanations, speeches, songs, illustrated talks, improvisations, instructions, interviews, introductions, invitations, jokes, meetings, monologues, newscasts, oral interpretations, proverbs, problem-solving groups, puns, radio plays, reader's theatre, rebuttals, riddles, rules, slogans, songs, speeches, storytelling, sports casts, talking circles, testimonials, tributes, voice mail messages, weather forecasts, and others.

- In Talking and Sharing Circles during SRC meeting time: Give students, in small groups or as a class, an opportunity to share and discuss their ideas, stories, puppet plays, and written work. In turn, they give their peers an opportunity to practise listening behaviours and to provide helpful feedback.

- Use Listening and Media Centres (DVD sets, Hairy MacLary): The Smartboard can be used in addition to reading aloud to students. It gives students opportunities to experience a text a number of times. Using a Smartboard, students can use DVDs to listen for enjoyment, to listen as they "read along" with the text.

- Use Listening Games: Listening games can help students focus their listening, concentrate, and learn a number of listening skills and strategies

Our class listening includes:

Before Listening

What is the speaker's purpose?
What is my purpose for listening?
Will I need to make notes?
Which strategies could I use?
Which one would work best?

During Listening

Is my strategy still working?
Am I putting information into categories?
Is the speaker giving me clues about the organization of the message?
Is the speaker giving me non-verbal cues such as gesture and facial expressions?
Is the speaker's voice giving me other cues?

After Listening

Do I have questions for the speaker?
Was any part of the message unclear?
Are my notes complete?
Did I make a good choice of strategies? Why or why not?

Speaking Activities:

- speeches, can include: Demonstrate a science experiment, magic trick, hobby,
sport, or favorite recipe.
- book reports
- debates
-

In evaluation speaking/communication skills, consider the capacity to learn and understand new ideas and ways of working quickly by:

- expressing ideas succinctly

- ustifying, qualifying and explaining what they say

- using language in ways that reflect an appreciation of the knowledge and interests of specific audiences;

- ability to take on demanding tasks – researching, comparing and synthesising information from a range of different sources, including ICT;

- ability to argue and reason.

In Year 4:

2010 Year 4 Reading and Viewing

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Grammar 2010 Year 4

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Maths extension work

Can be found on my Maths extension work site.

Challenge

Topics for 2010 include the following:

Spirit Bear
The Dead Sea
Dragons
Owls

Physical Fitness Skills

Groupings for student work

Maths groups are streamed across Year 4, between the three classes according to individual student needs.

Reading groups are formed to address the shift in emphasis from learning to read in the lower primary school, to reading to learn in the upper primary years, coupled with the need for an increased reading load across content areas.

Children work individually, in pairs or in cooperative groups.

Class Enrichment Activities and Special Needs

"There is nothing more unequal than the equal treatment of unequal people."

We will focus on cross-curricular enrichment activities that can work with an extended-day program. Children's creativity will be enhanced with a wide variety of crafts, puzzles, games, and outdoor activities that will help extend many classroom topics. We build skills in critical thinking, listening, memory, visualization, and concentration through singing, hands-on science experiments, physical education games, word puzzles, art projects, challenges, Science experiments and more.

Further activities:

- Class scrabble games
- Class chess games and class puzzles, for appropriate levels of interest
- Digital scrapbooking for those who work at an advanced level at Adobe Photoshop elements 6.
- Class research challenges on topics of relevance/interest to the students.

Special needs programs will be set in place in the following ways:

- Student assessment for special needs with Special Needs team with ILPs written where necessary.
- Streamed Mathematics.
- Working to appropriate level in classroom and homework tasks.

Timetables 2010

All purpose court:



Computer Lab:



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Professional Pathways 2010

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Class Timetable 2010

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To write a Science procedure

1. Heading
2. Equipment
3. Procedure
4. Prediction
5. Conclusion
6. Word bank
7. Diagram

We work on a double page spread with the diagram on the blank page of the botany book.
The Science experiment website is called My Science Program.

Class Meetings

Teach Children the Language of Encouragement

List the following ideas on a large piece of paper in language appropriate for the grade level being taught.

Encouragement is positive.
Encouragement is noticing improvement.
Encouragement is noticing when someone is trying hard.
Encouragement is noticing when someone is good at something.
Encouragements can begin with "I notice...", "I think...", "I like how..."

Class Meetings foster the following in students:

- they build leadership, problem-solving and decision-making skills in the classroom.

Our goal is to improve self-concept, encourage open discussion and to improve cooperation among students.

Important meeting notes:

- Everyone gets a chance to be the leader for at least one meeting during the year.
- Meetings are included in our weekly plans and are not "bumped" because of other commitments.
- Expectations as to respect and proper behavior are discussed and taught so that meetings run smoothly and duties of the participants are given.
- Brainstorming of possible solutions is a major part of the meeting, and suggestions are given as to how to do this.

Our class meeting time is Wednesday, after assembly.

ACT DET Fundamental Movement Skills

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In our classroom timetable we have 150 minutes weekly of designated fitness time.
Other fitness and sporting activities include:

- class fitness games such as Bomb Scare, Crocker, Long ball, Softball.
- class dance sessions
- class jazzercise sessions to music
- Athletics Carnival, Cross Country, Walkathon, Swimming Carnival, Woden/Weston sporting activities, doing-it-together whole school activities, Camp activities.

Specific sporting skills will incorporate those included in the ACT DET Fundamental Movement Skills list in the diagram above.