UpperPrimary

Merryn Whitfield

Integrating English with Society and Environment/Science

© 2001 Blake Education ISBN 1 86509 752 9Targeting Writing Across the Curriculum Upper Primary

Blake EducationLocked Bag 2022Glebe NSW 2037www.askblake.com.au

Publisher: Sharon DalgleishEditors: Maureen O’Keefe and Nick SzentkutiDesign and illustration by Jane Cameron, Fisheye DesignPrinted by McPherson’s Printing Group

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Contents

The Principles Underlying this Book 4

The Structure of this Book 5

Teaching Text Types 6

Text Types in this Series 7

Useful Resources 11

Student Assessment 13

Record SheetsBLM 1 Term Planner 14

BLM 2 English Outcomes: National Level 4 15

BLM 3 English Outcomes: NSW Stage 3 16

BLM 4 Society and Environment Outcomes 17

BLM 5 Science Outcomes 18

BLM 6 English Skills Checklist 19

BLM 7 Society and Environment Skills Checklist 20

BLM 8 Science Skills Checklist 21

BLM 9 Cross-Curriculum Checklist 22

Units Linked with Society and EnvironmentUnit 1 Gold: Description and Response 24

Unit 2 Antarctica: Recount and Exposition (Argument) 37

Unit 3 Australian Government: Discussion and Exposition (Persuasion) 50

Unit 4 Global Connections: Information Report and Discussion 63

Units Linked with Science Unit 5 Out in Space: Information Report and Exposition 77

(Argument)

Unit 6 Electricity: Procedure and Explanation 90

Unit 7 Sailing, Sinking, Soaring: Explanation and Description 103

Unit 8 Animal Environments: Information Report and Discussion 116

Teaching time with a class is always at a premiumin an increasingly crowded curriculum. Tomaximise student learning potential, teachers canintegrate Learning Areas. Targeting Writingprovides a wide variety of activities that ensurestudents have the opportunity to achieveoutcomes in English with either Science orStudies of Society and Environment (SOSE).

Certain skills are an integral part of all LearningAreas and K-12 syllabuses. By working to developthese skills, the integrity of each Learning Area ismaintained while still allowing connections to bemade in terms of content knowledge, values andattitudes, and life-long learning skills.

The following nine skills have been identified ascommon to all curriculum areas. Not all of theseskills need to be incorporated into every teachingand learning unit. However, it is important that,throughout the year, students are provided withopportunities to develop and enhance them all.Targeting Writing provides opportunitiesthroughout the program for students to developthese skills. A photocopiable record sheet (BLM 9) will assist teachers in assessing students’ development.

1 Information skillsStudents develop the ability to locate, select andevaluate information from people, books,pictures, computer technology and a variety ofother resources for a particular purpose.

2 CommunicatingStudents learn about how different audiences,contexts and purposes affect the way in whichgathered information is presented to others. Theyare involved in discussing and analysing theirown and others’ information so that it ismeaningful and concise.

3 Working cooperativelyThis does not simply mean group work. Itincludes the ability to work independently on aparticular task, as well as during whole-classexperiences. Students develop interpersonal andwork skills for learning in a variety of situations.

4 Social ResponsibilityThis takes place at a variety of levels. As studentsjourney through their school lives, they willdevelop an awareness of personal, local andnational roles and responsibilities as well as theroles and responsibilities of global citizenship.

5 CreativityIn all subject areas, students are required torespond to their own learning and the learning ofothers in a variety of ways – including throughactivities which can be creative or expressive.

6 Creating solutionsStudents learn the skills and strategies for solvingproblems in different situations. The main aim isto find a mutually acceptable result that ispositive rather than negative.

7 Applying technologyTechnology is an integral part of everyone’slearning. Students encounter many kinds oftechnology and need to learn to discriminatebetween a range of possibilities to choose the onewhich will best meet their needs for a particulartask.

8 Decision makingAll students are thinkers and are involved inmaking decisions every day. Their personaljudgements need to be informed and based onsound principles of learning and personalreflection.

9 Task managementStudents learn how to manage their time,resources and working relationships in aneffective manner so as to complete a set task or toactively participate in an activity.

4

The Principles Underlying this Book

5

The Structure of this Book

The UnitsThis book consists of eight units, each with twotext-type writing programs. Teachers can choosethe text type most appropriate for theirparticular class, based on their needs asindividuals and as a group, or they can choose towork through the activities for both text types.Four units are linked to Studies of Society andEnvironment (SOSE) topics and four are linked toScience topics.

Each unit consists of Teaching Notes andphotocopiable blackline masters for students’ use.The first page of each unit identifies the focus ofthe unit in terms of:• Topic• Text types• Cross-curriculum skills• Activities from the English syllabus and other

focus learning area (SOSE or Science) together with further possible activities from other key Learning Areas.

The second and third pages of each unit list theNational and New South Wales syllabus outcomesand indicators for the three strands of Englishand either SOSE or Science, depending on thefocus of the integration.

The Teaching NotesThe teaching notes for the unit are set out in twocolumns. The first column gives step-by-stepinstructions for teaching the unit while thesecond column highlights the writing modellingfocus of each activity so that teachers can see thetarget area at a glance.

Each unit contains a wide variety of stimulatingand challenging activities for each focus texttype. These activities aim to develop awareness ofthe particular text type as well as develop skills,knowledge and understandings of the integratedLearning Area. Not all activities will becompleted in a single lesson. Some may takeseveral, depending on the abilities and priorexperiences of the students. In addition to these

lessons, it should be noted that students needtime every week for free choice writing – both topractise writing and to enjoy the writingexperience.

The final activity for each text type acts asculmination of the learning that has taken place.It is an excellent opportunity for teachers toundergo some summative assessment of thestudents’ level of understandings of both theintegrated topic and the text type.

The Blackline Masters The units in Targeting Writing contain • Two text models for the featured text types• Four text type blackline masters (BLMs), to

be used during the writing component

The Teacher’s Record SheetsPages 14-22 comprise photocopiable BLM recordsheets for the following:• Student outcomes for both the National and

New South Wales English syllabus (BLM 2 & 3)• Student outcomes for the Learning Areas of

SOSE and Science (BLM 4 & 5) • Skills checklist for English, SOSE and Science

(BLM 6-8)• Cross-curriculum skills (BLM 9)There is also a blank term planner (BLM 1).

Teaching Text Types

6

Each unit in Targeting Writing focuses on twotext types that are compatible with the topic or theme of the unit. Teachers can choose to work on one or both of these text types. Eachunit takes the students through a series of stageswhich build on their understanding of and skills in the focus text type. Students will gain a thorough understanding of text types anddevelop the skills necessary for producing theirown texts.

The Five Teaching Stages in theTargeting Writing Program

1 Building the FieldBefore attempting any form of writing, studentsneed to know about the topic. This stage allowsthem time to develop their topic knowledge andvocabulary, usually through class discussion andgroup activities. This is where appropriateresourcing of the topic is crucial. Depending onthe prior experiences of the students, this maytake any number of lessons, the key being varietyand relevance.

2 Deconstruction/Modelled WritingThis phase relies on teacher guidance and inputto assist students in examining the structure,features and purposes of a particular text typeand how it can be used for a topic or context. It is best achieved in small groups to maximisestudent input and allow time for adequatequestioning.

3 Joint ConstructionDuring this phase, the teacher graduallywithdraws some of the direct assistance andbegins to involve the students in more concretewriting experiences. Teachers guide studentsthrough the necessary methods of collecting,categorising and organising the stages of theparticular text type. Again this stage is enhancedby opportunities for writing in small, teacher-ledor student-led groups.

4 Independent ConstructionThis phase provides students with theopportunity to experiment with the text type and to put into practice their understandings ofits structure, features and purpose. To beginwith, students may use a scaffold to assist theirunderstanding of the organisational structuresand features.

5 Editing and PublishingEither by themselves, with a peer, teacher orother adult, the students evaluate their text bychecking the application of common writingconventions and the organisational features of thetext type. They then make revisions if necessaryand publish their text for a particular audience.The use of computer technology can easily beincorporated into this stage.

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© Blake Education Targeting Writing Across the Curriculum Upper Primary This page may be photocopied for non-commercial classroom use.

Name ____________________________________________ Date ___________________

INFORMATION REPORT

Text Model

New PlanetDiscovered

Anew planet in our solar

system has just been

discovered. Preliminary

research has been carried out

by space probes. The new

planet, known as Planet Y, is

located between Xap and Zeta.

It is, therefore, the fifth planet

in orbit around the sun.

Planet Y’s atmosphere

consists mainly of carbon

dioxide (95 per cent), and small

amounts of other gases. Oxygen

comprises 3 per cent of the

atmosphere. Surface tempera-

tures range between -113°C and

0°C.Like the first four planets in

our solar system, Planet Y is a

rocky planet. It is not a very

large planet—only 4,900 km

across. Scientists believe that

Planet Y was not discovered

previously because it had been

mistaken for a piece of rock

debris in the asteroid belt

which occurs between the

orbits of Xap and Zeta.

Planet Y appears to have a

similar physical environment to

Xap. Planet Y is orange in colour

and is covered by rocks,

canyons and volcanoes. These

canyons indicate that there was

running water on Planet Y

billions of years ago. It has polar

ice-caps which grow during

Planet Y’s winter.

There is no evidence of

current life forms on Planet Y.

However, only one isolated

location has been sampled.

Further sampling will need to

be performed to establish

whether there was life on

Planet Y in the past.

85© Blake Education Targeting Writing Across the Curriculum Upper Primary This page may be photocopied for non-commercial classroom use.

Name ____________________________________________ Date ___________________

BLM

35

INFORMATION REPORT

NAT ENG RV 4.5 RV 4.7 RV 4.8a W 4.9 W 4.12a NAT SCIENCE E&B 4.1 E&B 4.3 WS 4.14 NSW ENG RS 3.5 RS 3.8 WS 3.9 WS 3.13 NSW SCIENCE INV 3.7 UT 3.9

Location

Origin

Appearance

Unique features

Brainstorming Chart

TOPIC

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© Blake Education Targeting Writing Across the Curriculum Upper Primary This page may be photocopied for non-commercial classroom use.

Name ____________________________________________ Date ___________________

NAT ENG RV 4.5 RV 4.8a W 4.9 W 4.11 W 4.12a NSW ENG RS 3.5 RS 3.8 WS 3.9 WS 3.13 NAT SCIENCE EB 4.1 EB 4.3 WS 4.14 NSW SCIENCE INV S 3.7 UT 3.9

ScaffoldINFORMATION REPORT

Topic ____________________________________________________________________

General statement ________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Location _________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Description _______________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Special features ___________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

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Human impact or exploration________________________________________________

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Other interesting information_________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Concluding statement ______________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

87© Blake Education Targeting Writing Across the Curriculum Upper Primary This page may be photocopied for non-commercial classroom use.

Name ____________________________________________ Date ___________________

BLM

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ARGUMENTText Model

To: Chairperson, Exploration CommitteeFrom: Team Leader, Mars Project CommitteeSubject: Ongoing exploration of Mars

Recently a group of scientists has proposed a change to our current focus ofexploration. They believe that we should concentrate our exploration efforts onVenus, and scale down the Mars Project. This proposal is ridiculous considering thatwe have accumulated many years of research about Mars, and taking into accountthe physical difficulties of exploring Venus.

We know very little about the surface of Venus because of its dense, permanentcloud cover (of sulfuric acid). What we have established, however, is that Venus has asurface temperature of over 450°C, which is high enough to melt lead. Even if anexploratory craft were able to survive the temperature, it would be crushed by theatmosphere (which is approximately 90 times heavier than our own).

Regardless of whether Mars will ever be suitable for human habitation, at least itsenvironment is less hostile to exploration than that of Venus. Mars’ atmosphere is 95per cent carbon dioxide, but also contains 0.15 per cent oxygen and 0.03 per centwater. Mars has two polar ice caps which are made up of both water ice and carbondioxide ice.

On Mars, we have been able to land several probes and record visual images of theplanet’s surface. Although Mars is smaller than Earth, it has about the same surfacearea of land. We have clear evidence of erosion occurring on Mars. Mars is probablythe only planet in our solar system which bears any resemblance to Earth—this iswhere we should concentrate our resources.

Therefore, due to the amount of effort already expended upon exploring Mars, andthe hostile conditions on Venus, NASA should continue with its program for futureprobes and spacecraft to Mars. Any other decision will mean that all our efforts untilnow were wasted.

Memo

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© Blake Education Targeting Writing Across the Curriculum Upper Primary This page may be photocopied for non-commercial classroom use.

Name ____________________________________________ Date ___________________

NAT ENG W 4.9 W 4.11 W 4.12a NSW ENG WS 3.9 WS 3.13 NAT SCIENCE EB 4.3 WS 4.14 NSW SCIENCE INV S 3.7 UT 3.9

Planner

Topic/Point of view _______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

Statement ______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

Supporting evidence _____________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

Statement ______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

Supporting evidence _____________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

Statement ______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

Supporting evidence _____________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

Reinforcing point of view __________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

ARGUMENT

89© Blake Education Targeting Writing Across the Curriculum Upper Primary This page may be photocopied for non-commercial classroom use.

Name ____________________________________________ Date ___________________

ARGUMENT

NAT ENG SL 4.1 SL 4.4 W 4.9 W 4.11 W 4.12a NSW ENG TS 3.1 TS 3.2 WS 3.9 WS 3.13 NAT SCIENCE WS 4.14 EB 4.3 NSW SCIENCE INV 3.7 UT 3.9

BLM

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Assessment

Did you find the opening statement both clear and forceful?

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

Was the arrangement of the arguments logical?

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

Were the facts relevant and convincing?

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

What audience would find this argument interesting?

_______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

Can you suggest any improvements to the language used?

__________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

In an increasingly crowded curriculum, teaching time is

always at a premium. The Targeting Writing Across the

Curriculum series will help you to maximise student learning

potential by giving students the opportunity to achieve

outcomes in English while working with the subject matter and

skills of other important curriculum areas.

The author has chosen popular themes in both the Science

and the Society and Environment Learning Areas. Each theme

is linked to a writing unit that focuses on two appropriate text

types. These writing units contain a wide range of stimulating

and challenging activities, and can stand alone or be

expanded into a full integrated unit.

Here at last is a series that addresses the language demands

of the different Learning Areas. Students will improve the

structure and quality of their writing in all factual text types.

And they will transfer their knowledge and skills from

curriculum area to curriculum area.

Targeting WritingAcross the Curriculum

Also availableTargeting Writing Across the CurriculumLower Primary

Targeting Writing Across the CurriculumMiddle Primary

Companion seriesTargeting TextTargeting Society and Environment

ISBN 1-86509-752-7

9 781865 097527