What's New in the Australian Curriculum!

Version 7.2 Released

If you visit the Australian Curriculum site you will notice that it has changed. One of the changes is the icons for the cross curriculum priorities and the general capabilities. Just hover over the icons with your mouse and you will see which ones they are.

Also, take the time to have a read of the overview for HASS. http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/humanities-and-social-sciences/introduction 
They have now produced some information on the Key Ideas and Key Skills. 

SHACC 

A reminder that our first SHACC will be on Wednesday the 25th of February at Greenmount Primary School, 4-5 pm. Please register on the IPL website! We will be looking at planning, a really vauable session! Come along, it will be fun!

That's all for today!
Mr Stephen Powell
TDS Coordinator

3 Year Plan Geography for Split Grades

Juggling the Australian Curriculum in a small primary school can be hard work. 

In 2013 we developed a simple 3 year plan for History that helped teachers reduce the amount of Content Descriptors Knowledge & Understandings for split grades. The focus at Sawyers Valley is to teach the Content Descriptors Knowledge & Understandings outlined for their split grade in our plan and making sure the Key Concepts of Evidence, Continuity & Change, Cause & Effect,Perspectives, Empathy, Significance and Contestability are being taught where it is outlined in the year level description. The teachers focus on all the historical skills for the 2 year levels.

We have now developed a 3 year plan for Geography. We have created a table with the Geographical Knowledge and Understandings to reduce the pressure on split grades. Again, the Geographical Inquiry and Skills and the key concepts of Place, Space, Change, Environment, Sustainability, Interconnection and Scale are the focus to make sure there is flow from year to year.

Click on the link below to access our new 3 year plan.

Geography 3 Year Plan SVPS

That's all for now!

Mr Stephen Powell
TDS Coordinator

Ready, Set, Go! Are you ready for 2015?

Welcome back to another year! I am sure you are all flat out getting to know your new classes and making sure things will be running smoothly sooner rather than later!

Here at Sawyers Valley P.S. we are super busy and really looking forward to seeing what this year brings us!

REPORTING in HASS 2015 from SCSA

There has been a change in when schools are required to report in History. This change is due to not all of the Humanities and Social Science components have been develop as yet.

Please go to http://k10outline.scsa.wa.edu.au/Reporting_policy/Requirements to read about the reporting requirements for HASS. Please read the information under the heading Reporting learning area achievement using the Australian Curriculum.

Schools will need to look at how they will report in HASS this year.

Professional Learning Opportunities for 2015

SHACC is BACK!

Once again SHACC will be happening at Greenmount Primary School. Our first session will be around planning and it will soon be on the IPL website for registration. 

Date: 25th of February 2015

Time: 4:00 - 5:00 pm

Venue: Greenmount Primary School

Saba Online formally known as Centra

History Forum

Once again we will venture online to have discussions about what is currently happening in AC History and this time you will control what we will discuss during the session. Attend in the comfort of your own home or at your school. This will be on the IPL website soon!

Date: 24th of March 2015

Time: 4:00 - 5:00 pm

Venue: Online

That's all for now!

Mr Stephen Powell

TDS Coordinator

Time to Reflect!

It has come to the end of yet another very busy year at Sawyers Valley Primary and the TDS team here have worked hard to provide for the different needs of people/schools who access our support. We have started our Facebook Group as well as Tweeting whenever we can!
This year we have provided Hikes through History K-6 as planned events as well as on request. From this lessons plans were created so teachers can make a start in their classroom in history.

We started our collaboration with Greenmount TDS developing SHACC (Science and History Curriculum Collective) which was a great sharing opportunity for teachers to attend as well as being a lot of fun! We went out to schools and networks meeting some awesome teachers dedicated to making a difference in their schools. 

We also commenced our Victorian School Experience Workshops for teachers planning to bring their classes to the school for a day in the times of Victorian children. This will continue in 2015.

Thank you

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Tonya Wood, Carey Stewart, Rachael Gillett, Melissa Jones, Scott Beckett and Leanne Sheardown for their ongoing support this year. I would also like to thank Cynthia McGlew for her collaboration and offer of the use of the school. Without them, I couldn't do what I have to do!

Feedback
Throughout the year we access feedback however it has come to the time of year when we need to plan what Sawyers Valley Sharning has to offer in 2015. So I am asking for you to take a moment to complete an on online survey to help decide what we will offer in 2015. There are 10 very easy questions which will take an instant to answer. Please click on the link below that will take you to the survey.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PGDJ6WJ 

From all of us here at Sawyers Valley Primary School AKA Sawyers Valley Sharing, we wish you all a happy and restful holiday!

That's all for 2014!
Mr Stephen Powell

Teacher Development School Coordinator

Are We There Yet?

Hopefully you are managing to stay on top of everything this time of year and I hope that report writing has been easy and with few spelling/grammatical errors!

Saba Session - Historical Activities!

We have our final Saba session on Monday the 1st of December. Historical activities F-7 online sharing (Centra) (3). Please register via the IPL website and I hope to see and hear you online soon!

Planning for 2015?? SOME IDEAS BELOW

Teaching children Anzac history with craft activity

The THE-HE Vietnamese Language Centre in Victoria has initiated an Anzac Centenary project. `teaching children Anzac history with craft activity’.  Their initiative seeks to connect the symbol of Anzac, The Rising Sun, with an image that is very familiar in many Asian countries, namely the lantern.  For more information about the initiative see https://anzaclantern.wordpress.com/ 

Mr Van Tran, the Centre’s coordinator of the project invites all Western Australian teachers to consider conducting the craft activity at their school.  The Centre provide template cards for $1 each (including postage), allowing for each students to decorate and assemble their lantern.  If you wish to be involved contact Mr Tran at anzac.thehe@gmail.com. 

National History Challenge Years 1-12

The National History Challenge is a research-based competition for students.  It emphasizes and rewards quality research, the use of community resources and effective presentation.

http://historychallenge.org.au/  Entries close in Term 3 2015.

Subiaco Local History Awards Years 2-3

The biennial Local History Awards are a great opportunity to research, record and share the rich history of Subiaco. The Argonauts school category is designed for year two and three students, which reference the Australian Curriculum. 

http://www.subiaco.wa.gov.au/Your-council/Awards/Local-History-Awards 

Contact Subiaco Museum on 9237 9227 or email museum@subiaco.wa.gov.au

Entries open in April 2015

Geography - The Spatial Technology in Schools (STiS) Competition Years K-12

The STiS competition aims to introduce students to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in a fun and informative way. 

 http://www.stis.org.au/stis2.php

Projects due: Late October

Feedback for 2014

It is that time again and shortly I will be posting a survey for you to complete to help the TDS team at Sawyers provide an even greater service in 2015. If you wish to send me private feedback, please email at stephen.powell@education.wa.edu.au . Stay tuned, survey coming soon!

That's all for now!

Mr Stephen Powell

Teacher Development School Coordinator

SHACC reminder!

A quick post to remind everyone that we have our last SHACC today (Wednesday 12/11/14) at 4 pm at Greenmount Primary School. I would love to see as many people there so we can look at what we have done this year and plan some exciting things for 2015! I will be there, so I hope you will be there too!

That's all for now!
Mr Stephen Powell
Teacher Development School Coordinator

Term 3 Reflection Time...

Well another term is nearly over and I hope that whatever you have been doing, it has worked for you and you are making gains however small or large in your classroom. Sawyers Valley Primary has been hurtling along with school production and sports carnival making this term one of the busiest. This term we have presented to schools, delivered History Hikes and made Centra/Saba available for remote teachers. We have continued with SHACC, with die hard History lovers coming along when they can and we thank you for your commitment. We also commenced our first professional learning for the Old Schoolhouse - Victorian classroom experience. I would like to thank the staff, volunteers and students of Sawyers Valley Primary for their support and commitment to the Teacher Development School Project this term and we look forward to providing even more support in term 4 and 2015!

The Old Schoolhouse

We are very excited that the Victorian Schoolhouse experience is now operational and encourage schools to attend our professional learning if you would like to bring your class/es to our little, beautiful, green and leafy school in the hills. Why attend the professional learning? It will help you to get the most out of the excursion and it will help keep the cost down! If you can't make the professional learning then teacher relief is required on top of the $5 student fee, so a teacher from Sawyers can run the day. So a pre-visit is worth a lot, I mean it will save you a lot!
The next professional learning is on Monday the 10th of November (5-7 pm), perfect if you want to start planning for 2015!
Please go to the IPL website to register or if you are from a non-government school, please email. If you type TDS History in the search box at the top you will find all the History events available to you. 

Taking a Break
There will not be any posts for a while. I will be taking long service leave starting this Friday (19th of September) and will be returning on Thursday (6th of November). Any support in History, please contact the wonderful support staff at Statewide Services. They will then be able to redirect you to someone who can help 9402 6315. 

That's all from me for a while! 
Mr Stephen Powell

Teacher Development School Coordinator