Activity Introduction
Quick summary: This lesson incorporates clips from Blue The Film as learning inspiration. Students are introduced to the topics of the unit by exploring their personal connections to the ocean and taking part in a mindfulness exploration of the ocean. This allows students to establish a personal connection to the ocean by engaging with their senses, including listening, moving and feeling. Students then create ocean symbols on sea story stones. They then participate in creative and interactive storytelling about the ocean using their own sea story stones.
Blue is a feature documentary film charting the drastic decline in the health of our oceans. With more than half of all marine life lost and the expansion of the industrialization of the seas, the film sets out the challenges we are facing and the opportunities for positive change. Blue changes the way we think about our liquid world and inspires the audience to action. Find out how to screen or download the film here. Along with the film is an ambitious global campaign to create advocacy and behaviour change through the #oceanguardian movement. To become an ocean guardian, see the website.
Learning intention:
- Students understand how they feel about the ocean and the creatures that live there.
21st century skills:
Australian Curriculum Mapping
Content descriptions:
Foundation English
-
Create short texts to explore, record and report ideas and events using familiar words and beginning writing knowledge (ACELY1651)
Year 1 English
- Create short imaginative and informative texts that show emerging use of appropriate text structure, sentence-level grammar, word choice, spelling, punctuation and appropriate multimodal elements, for example illustrations and diagrams (ACELY1661)
Year 2 English
- Create short imaginative, informative and persuasive texts using growing knowledge of text structures and language features for familiar and some less familiar audiences, selecting print and multimodal elements appropriate to the audience and purpose (ACELY1671)
Foundation Health and Physical Education
- Identify and describe emotional responses people may experience in different situations (ACPPS005)
- Identify actions that promote health, safety and wellbeing (ACPPS006)
- Practise personal and social skills to interact positively with others (ACPPS004)
Years 1 and 2 Health and Physical Education
- Identify and practise emotional responses that account for own and others’ feelings (ACPPS020)
- Explore actions that help make the classroom a healthy, safe and active place (ACPPS022)
Syllabus outcomes: ENe-2A, EN1-2A, INES1.3, IPES1.11, SLES1.13, PHES1.2, COES1.1, COS1.1, INS1.3, IRS1.11, SLS1.13.
General capabilities: Critical and Creative Thinking.
Cross-curriculum priority: Sustainability OI.7.
Relevant parts of Foundation English achievement standards: Students understand that their texts can reflect their own experiences.
Relevant parts of Year 1 English achievement standards: Students create short texts for a small range of purposes.
Relevant parts of Year 2 English achievement standards: Students create texts, drawing on their own experiences, their imagination and information they have learnt.
Relevant parts of Foundation Health and Physical Education achievement standards: Students use personal and social skills when working with others in a range of activities. They identify and describe the different emotions people experience.
Relevant parts of Years 1 and 2 Health and Physical Education achievement standards: Students recognise how strengths and achievements contribute to identities. They identify how emotional responses impact on others’ feelings.
Topic: Blue The Film, Ocean Conservation, Water.
Unit of work: Blue The Film: Inquiry – Foundation, Blue The Film: Inquiry – Years 1 & 2.
Time required: 60 mins.
Level of teacher scaffolding: Medium – oversee mindfulness activities, lead discussions and assist with story stones.
Resources required: Six flat river stones or one copy of Sea Story Stone Template for each student.
Keywords: Blue The Film, ocean conservation, mindfulness, whales, story stones, oceans.
Cool Australia and Northern Pictures would like to acknowledge the generous contributions of GoodPitch² Australia, Shark Island Institute, Documentary Australia Foundation, The Caledonia Foundation and Screen Australia in the development of these teaching resources.
Cool Australia’s curriculum team continually reviews and refines our resources to be in line with changes to the Australian Curriculum.
© 2017 Northern Pictures and Cool Australia
Teacher Preparation