Individualised Educational Program and Assessment for Siena – Primary

Siena is extremely quick to pick up new skills and knowledge and does so with confidence. She has a keen mind that quickly comprehends and makes connections, she is highly creative with impressive craft skills. Siena will often set herself academic goals or new hands-on skills to master. She has a clear vision of what she wants to learn and is quite focused. Siena works best when she is challenged.

 

English

Outcomes

  • communicates to wide audiences with social and cultural awareness, by interacting and presenting, and by analysing and evaluating for understanding
  • fluently reads and comprehends texts for wide purposes, analysing text structures and language, and by monitoring comprehension
  • sustains a legible, fluent and automatic handwriting style
  • selects digital technologies to suit audience and purpose to create texts
  • plans, creates and revises written texts for multiple purposes and audiences through selection of text features, sentence-level grammar, punctuation and word-level language
  • extends Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary through interacting, wide reading and writing, morphological analysis and generating precise definitions for specific contexts
  • automatically applies taught phonological, orthographic and morphological generalisations and strategies when spelling in a range of contexts, and justifies spelling strategies used to spell unfamiliar words
  • analyses representations of ideas in literature through narrative, character, imagery, symbol and connotation, and adapts these representations when creating texts
  • analyses representations of ideas in literature through genre and theme that reflect perspective and context, argument and authority, and adapts these representations when creating texts

 

Reading comprehension

Understanding and responding to literature

Oral language and communication

Siena reads fluently and confidently. She recently finished reading the Hobbit and has moved on to her new reading goal. Siena has selected several books that she intends to read by the end of the year.  We will be encouraging her by nurturing a love of reading and immersing her in quality literature. Nurturing a love of literature within our family is at the core of our family’s learning approach. Listening to and memorising poetry is also part of our family’s culture, we will continue to include exposure to poetry regularly.

We host a Book Club within our homeschool group which our children love. The children facilitate the group, the book selections, the questions, and the structure. Siena will participate again this year.

Siena enjoys listening to our daily Read Alouds, she easily listens for long periods of time and her comprehension skills are impressive, understanding even the material read to and aimed at, her older brothers. Her oral narration skills are solid.

Resource: Wattle Gum Library

 

Vocabulary

Siena has always had an extensive and advanced vocabulary from a young age, using words appropriately. Siena has a good grasp of grammar; sentence structure, correct word usage and tenses. Grammatical infractions are quickly ‘pounced upon’ by siblings so all the children are strong in this area. We will continue to encourage her in extending her vocabulary.

Resources Include: World of Language Series – Ruth Heller , Little Grammar People – Nuri Mass

 

Creating written texts

Narrations form a basis of much of our written work, the retelling of what has been read/watched/learnt into one’s own words. This requires a good understanding of the subject matter, it takes concentration and sequencing skills. Narrations can take various forms; oral, written, illustrations, acting, building or creating. We consider narrations to be an extremely important skill, a foundation for logic and writing, we devote time to narrations regularly for the subjects of; Faith, Geography, History and Science.

Siena’s narration skills are developing nicely, she can extract the main points of information, recall detail and deliver information in sequential form. We will continue to focus on producing and perfecting high quality narrations.

We have been focusing on mechanics such as capitals, commas, full stops, question and exclamation marks, correct tenses, nouns, verbs and adjectives, homonyms, synonyms & antonyms.

In the upcoming period we will be cementing these concepts further and introducing other concepts such as abbreviations, contractions and developing stronger vocabulary skills. We will also be covering literary analysis, conflict resolution, development of writing style, paraphrasing, writing sequences to name a few.

We have been hosting a weekly Writing Club with homeschool friends since 2019 and we will continue to do so.  Siena’s interest in Creative Writing is intermittent lately. Some weeks she enjoys the synergy and enthusiasm of the others, other weeks she chooses to not participate. We will be encouraging her to work on more complex sentence structure and story plot.

Resources Include: Writing Prompt Cards, Writer’s Jungle, Institute for Excellence in English, Voyages in English, Marist Brothers English for 5th Grade,  Intermediate Language Lessons – Emma Serl, Cottage Press: Language Lessons for Grammar Students, 

 

Spelling

Siena is a good speller. Last year she completed All About Spelling Level 3 and learnt: which plural ending to use, how to spell compound words, open and closed syllables, how to spell multisyllable words, to spell Vowel-Consonant-E (VCE) words, to spell words with C+l-e syllables, to spell words with consonant suffixes and vowel suffixes, common contractions and common homophones.

In the upcoming years Siena will complete All About Spelling Level 4 and All About Spelling Level 5 and continue to grow in strength and become a more confident speller.

Siena will continue with her weekly dictation lessons, which will strengthen her spelling, punctuation, listening and recall skills.

Resource: All About Spelling Level 4, All About Spelling Level 5 and Spelling Wisdom

 

Handwriting and digital transcription

Siena writes neatly, with confidence and fluency.  Last year we focused on cursive writing, in the upcoming year we will continue with that, and continue to emphasise uniformity in printing as well.

Resource: Startwrite: Creates customised handwriting practice sheets.

 

Mathematics

Outcomes

  • develops understanding and fluency in mathematics through exploring and connecting mathematical concepts, choosing and applying mathematical techniques to solve problems, and communicating their thinking and reasoning coherently and clearly
  • applies an understanding of place value and the role of zero to represent the properties of numbers
  • selects and applies appropriate strategies to solve addition and subtraction problems
  • compares and orders fractions with denominators of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 10
  • selects and uses the appropriate unit and device to measure lengths and distances including perimeters
  • selects and uses the appropriate unit to calculate areas, including areas of rectangles
  • selects and uses the appropriate unit to estimate, measure and calculate volumes and capacities
  • constructs graphs using many-to-one scales
  • compares and orders decimals up to 3 decimal places
  • selects and applies appropriate strategies to solve multiplication and division problems
  • determines 1/2 , 1/4 , 1/5 and 1/10 of measures and quantities
  • measures and constructs angles, and identifies the relationships between angles on a straight line and angles at a point
  • combines, splits and rearranges shapes to determine the area of parallelograms and triangles
  • selects and uses the appropriate unit and device to measure the masses of objects
  • interprets data displays, including timelines and line graphs
  • determines percentages of quantities, and finds equivalent fractions and decimals for benchmark percentage values
  • constructs and completes number sentences involving multiplicative relations, applying the order of operations to calculations
  • locates and describes points on a coordinate plane
  • investigates and classifies two-dimensional shapes, including triangles and quadrilaterals based on their properties
  • visualises, sketches and constructs three-dimensional objects, including prisms and pyramids, making connections to two-dimensional representations
  • measures and compares duration, using 12- and 24-hour time and am and pm notation
  • conducts chance experiments and quantifies the probability

 

Siena is quick to grasp new concepts and has a good understanding of maths. Lately she hasn’t been enjoying maths as much as she used to. We’ve tried a few different approaches but she eventually settled back into mathsonline.

Last year Siena covered: mental strategies; patterns & algebra, multiplication 4-9x tables, division of large numbers, partitioned fractions, place value of decimals and expanding decimals, money & change, measurement, space and geometry, statistics and probability.

In the upcoming year Siena will be covering: expanded notation, addition up to 7 digits, multiples & factors, long multiplication, division with fractional remainders, improper fractions, algebra,  problem solving, geometric measures, 2d & 3D structures and data.

Resources: Maths Online, maths board games and our living maths books collection.

 

Science and Technology

Stage Statement

Students develop an appreciation of the role of Science and Technology in local, national and global issues relevant to their lives and a sustainable future. Students engage in the skills of Working Scientifically, and Design and Production independently and collaboratively. They pose questions for investigation, predict likely outcomes, and demonstrate accuracy and honesty when collecting, recording and analysing data and information. Students plan and conduct fair tests, isolate variables and select appropriate measurement methods. They construct tables and graphs to organise data and are able to identify patterns, using evidence to compare with predictions, draw conclusions and develop explanations. Students develop criteria to evaluate success based on their intended outcome. They examine needs and opportunities for design projects, using research and existing solutions to inform their ideas. Students are able to reflect on their processes to identify risks and improve their design ideas, methods and findings. They communicate their ideas in tables, graphs, diagrams and multimodal texts, using digital technologies where applicable. Students examine how environmental conditions affect the growth, adaptations, structural features and survival of living things. They explain how food and fibre are produced sustainably in managed environments for health and nutrition. Students examine the properties of materials and observe how changes of state occur and new substances are formed. Students explain how energy is transformed, describe the difference between contact and non-contact forces, and investigate how electrical energy can control movement. They compare the regular events in the solar system with the irregular events that cause rapid changes to the Earth’s surface. Students collect, store and interpret different types of data and explain how digital systems connect to form networks that transmit data. They define problems, and design, modify and follow simple algorithms that involve branching, iteration and user input.

 

We desire to encourage Siena’s knowledge and love of science and technology, to encourage her to foster her questing mind and to continue to support her confidence in tackling technological challenges. We have been owner building since before Siena was born and she has grown up observing, learning and building.

Siena has a particular fascination with science experiments. It is quite common to find her watching a science youtube and then find her undertaking said experiment, her favourite experiments are chemistry ones.

Last year Siena studied various topics including; bats, wolves, turtles, planets and the solar system. She read books, watched youtubes, documentaries and science videos, enjoyed a variety of science experiments, made K’nex models and Kapla designs to name a few endeavours.

Coming up our studies will include; Living Things, Earth & Space and Physics & Digital Technology, as well as always being flexible to follow any further interests that arise. With Siena being so scientifically and technically minded we expect these interests to be many and varied. To meet these studies we will use various mediums and resources, and we’re confident that other areas of scientific and technological interest and knowledge will be sought and pursued.

Resources include: Wattle Gum Library and our town library, Young Scientist set, DVDs and youtubes, Experiment kits, Snap Circuit Kits, K’nex, Lego, Kapla Blocks, the Drone & Robotic kits; Edison, Boson and the Robobloq Qooper.

 

Human Society and its Environment (HSIE) – History

Stage Statement

Students describe and explain the significance of people, groups, places and events to the development of the Australian colonies and then Australia as a nation. They describe and explain different experiences of people living in the Australian colonies and then in Australia as a nation. Students identify change and continuity and describe the causes and effects of change in Australian society. Students explore the factors that led to Federation and trace experiences of democracy and citizenship over time, including the struggles of various groups for rights and freedoms including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Students engage with global connections through stories of various migrant groups and their contribution to Australia’s economic and social development. Students sequence events and people in chronological order, and represent time by creating timelines. When researching, students develop questions to frame an historical inquiry. They locate, identify and use a range of sources to record relevant historical information to answer inquiry questions. They examine sources to identify and describe points of view. Students develop texts, particularly narratives and descriptions. In developing these texts, and organising and presenting their information, they use historical terms and concepts and incorporate relevant sources.

 

We wish for Siena to have an interest about ‘all things history’ and want her to have an awareness of World and Australian history and to understand the significance of certain events.

Last period we focused on World History from the Early Modern Times through to the Modern Age. Covering areas such as; warlords of Japan, Moghul emperors of India, Cromwell in England, Peter the Great, Bonaparte, Victorian England, British Invasions, American Civil War, Boxer Rebellion, First and Second World Wars, Crumbling of Communism.

This year we will refresh our previous Australian History studies, and study indepth the Bushrangers, Gold Rush and the Federation. We will also continue to study what was happening to our First Peoples concurrently. We will also connect in our family history with the nation history. Siena’s ancestors on both sides arrived on the First Fleet, on the same ship. We have a long and rich connection with the developing nation and we want Siena to have an awareness of and passion for our nation’s history.

Resources Include: Wattle Gum Education- as I test run products before release, History of Australia – Meredith Hooper, Story of the World – Susan Wise Bauer and our extensive collection of historical living books and the town library.

 

Human Society and its Environment (HSIE) – Geography

Stage Statement

Students describe the diverse characteristics of places in different locations across local and  global scales. They explain interactions between people, places and environments and identify factors influencing interconnections. Students compare spatial distributions and patterns among phenomena. They explore how people respond to a geographical challenge and investigate reasons for differing perspectives. Students develop geographical questions to frame an inquiry. They use a variety of strategies to locate, collect and record relevant data and information to answer inquiry questions. They represent data in different forms. Students interpret data and other information to identify and compare spatial distributions, patterns and trends, infer relationships and draw conclusions. They present findings and ideas using geographical terminology in a range of communication forms. They propose solutions, and may take action in response to a geographical challenge and describe the expected effects of their proposal.

We want Siena to have an awareness of and appreciation for different cultures, customs and environments.  To be familiar and confident with maps, to be able to recognise the different continents and many countries.

We will continue to use Mega Maps for our mapwork which continues to be hugely popular with our children, Siena’s skill for tracing lends well to developing mapwork skills. We will also continue to use Shepard Software which is enjoyable and effective. Siena is becoming quite proficient at naming many of the countries of the world and we’ll continue to encourage her to be able to locate and name all.

We will also focus on the Australian environment, our impact upon the environment and ways in which we can best care for our environment.

Much of our geography approach is covered by using our collection of geography living books, we are always flexible to follow any interest areas that arise.

Resources include: Wattle Gum Education- as I test run products before release, our library and town library, DVDs and youtubes, light table, Sheppard Software and Mega Maps

 

Creative Arts

Visual Arts ■ Music ■ Drama ■ Dance

Stage Statement

Students make artworks for a variety of audiences using different forms and techniques to convey meaning and represent the likeness of things in the world. They discuss artworks in terms of how subject matter is used and represented, artists’ intention and audience interpretation and make reasoned judgements about these artworks. Students sing, play and move to a range of music, both as individuals and in group situations, demonstrating an understanding of musical concepts. They organise musical ideas into compositions, using notation systems to record these ideas. Students listen to a range of familiar and unfamiliar music with a sense of understanding, appreciation and discrimination. Students use movement, voice and the elements of drama to sustain dramatic roles in a range of contexts. They devise and perform a range of drama forms for audiences. Students interpret a range of drama experiences by making, performing and appreciating drama. Students perform dances from a range of contexts demonstrating movement and expressive qualities appropriate to the dance. They explore, refine and organise movement to convey meaning to an audience. They recognise and discuss how dance has various artistic and cultural contexts

Visual Arts     

Visual Arts happens most days in our household, there is often some form being undertaken. Siena has a particular passion for papercrafts, and is often creating and undertaking complex and new crafts. She may decide to begin a new sewing project, create a new longstitch design or make paper models.

We have maintained an annual membership with Artventure  for many years and continue to be highly impressed with the work that Siena produces.

Resources include: Sewing materials, Craft & Art Supplies, How to Draw & craft books,  Artventure, youtubes and various internet sites.

Music 

Siena will continue to be exposed to a variety of music genres, with the opportunity for movement and free expression. Siena is always singing with her sisters, she has an impressive recall of lyrics and can identify songs with the names of their artists. Siena is keen to learn the piano or violin, we are considering lessons in the upcoming year.

Various musical instruments are available in our home: piano, guitar, violin and woodwind and percussion instruments which Siena can readily access.

Dance

Siena has a love of and aptitude for dance and is the first to begin dancing.  Siena has begun/returned to weekly Jazz classes with a local Dance Academy and is loving it!

Drama

Last year Siena was part of the incredible production of Oliver! Performed at the local Theatre by our local homeschool group. She held a variety of roles; an orphan, a pickpocket and a pub lady. It was a preparation of two terms, hundreds of hours and the most incredible performance of an amazing standard. She learnt and developed so much!

At home Siena is often choreographing home-grown plays, using props and costumes, roping in siblings. She designs and hands out tickets, sets up chairs and organises us, the audience.

 

Personal Development, Health and Physical Education (PDHPE)

Stage Statement

By the end of Stage 3, students investigate developmental changes and transitions. They examine the influence of people and places on identity and practise skills to establish and manage relationships. Students identify controllable and uncontrollable factors and recognise the influence of contextual factors on health, safety, wellbeing and participation in physical activity. They plan and practise responses, skills and strategies that protect and promote healthy, safe and active lives. Students examine the connections they have to their community and implement actions to increase physical activity levels. They access and interpret health information and apply skills to seek help to enhance their own and others’ health, safety and wellbeing. Students participate in a wide variety of moderate to vigorous physical activities to apply, refine and adapt movement skills with increased confidence and consistency. They perform specialised movement skills and sequences in a variety of contexts. Students select, manipulate and modify movement concepts and strategies to achieve movement outcomes and solve movement challenges. They  demonstrate fair play and skills to work collaboratively. Students apply and adapt strategies and tactics when participating in individual and team activities.

Many Personal Development skills that need to be learnt are covered by the values we hold as a family which are underpinned by our Catholic Faith. To be confident in their own selves knowing their value and dignity, to understand they must treat their bodies with care, to remove themselves from situations in which may be harmful, to treat others with kindness, consideration and generosity, to extend Christian charity to all.

We have many opportunities in our homeschool group to discuss strategies and practice kindness and acceptance. We have a wide age range of children that provide Siena opportunities to build caring and respectful relationships. Siena has many growth opportunities.

Siena is to deepen her personal relationship with God and increase her knowledge of God and His Church.
Resources include: Liturgical Year Resources, saints biographies and the ‘Green’ Catechism.

Siena enjoys gymnastics at PCYC weekly with our homeschool group, @60 children participate.

Siena will be continuing with swim squad this year, participating in Terms 1 & 4. In March she competed in our First local Home Education Swimming Carnival and won the Junior Girls Medallion!

Siena will compete in June in our annual home education Sports Day.

Siena sometimes joins us weekly for Park Run, she is working towards achieving the 5km course with greater ease. Siena also enjoys kayaking, she has confidence and a love for this sport.

Siena is to further develop an understanding of the importance of an active lifestyle and nutritional health. Siena will continue to deepen her knowledge and understanding of the human body, the need for personal hygiene and an awareness of nutritional health choices and their impact. To be aware of the positive and negative choices that we can make for our bodies and the consequences of our choices, not only as individuals but upon the community.