School has been busy as ever. I am looking forward to a bit of a break after Valentine's Day. We have just finished off a social studies unit on Australia. What a great country to study! The uniqueness of it adds to the interest. Being a continent, island, and country in itself was a great lesson to my students. They have been introduced to these concepts and to all the facts that make for a very interesting study!
When putting together a unit study my first stop is always the school library. Here are some of the books I found and used.
Story books
Books by Mem Fox -- One of my favourite authors and she's from Australia.
Early chapter books and step-by-step drawing books.
Non-fiction books.
and of course we made a book -- A is for Australia, an acrostic poem.
Uluru Rock came in central on this page of amazing animals by one of my first graders.
Paintings of the Coral Reef.
We started with finger-painting a blue background. Then we added yellow paint to the top and red to the bottom and mixed them with the blue to make green and purple for the hues of the sea. The students used their thumb print for the school of fish and added sea plants in yellow. This was a nice activity that was successful for all students.
Aborigine Dot Art
The Australian animal was drawn on black paper, cut out, and then decorated with different sized dots in metallic tempera paints. We also made boomerangs, but some things make it home faster than others. I never got a picture.
Animal Non-fiction stories.
You-tube is a great source of information.
Great Barrier Reef Video -- my students just love this one. We are watching it a little at a time as we find a few minutes.
My students' all time favourite song!
...and my favourite Australian collection!
If you will be studying Australia, here is a link to my pinterest board.
