Blue: Messages of Blue - Years 3 & 4

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 identifying the ways they think about and are connected to the ocean. Students begin by completing a ‘Colour-Symbol-Image’ thinking routine. They are then asked to consider how they think about the ocean and work together to produce a word cloud based on their ideas. Students will then consider the messages of Blue – particularly in terms of some of the animals featured in the film – and work independently to create their own communication piece to share the message that they resonate with the most.

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 intentions:

Students understand some of the key features of two marine creatures: marine turtles and seabirds.
Students understand how to communicate a message about our oceans.

21st century skills:

critical_creative_communicating_personal-social_global-citizenship_community-engagement

Australian Curriculum Mapping

Content descriptions:

Year 3 English

Identify the audience and purpose of imaginative, informative and persuasive texts (ACELY1678)
Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts demonstrating increasing control over text structures and language features and selecting print,and multimodal elements appropriate to the audience and purpose (ACELY1682)

Year 4 English

Identify characteristic features used in imaginative, informative and persuasive texts to meet the purpose of the text (ACELY1690)
Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts containing key information and supporting details for a widening range of audiences, demonstrating increasing control over text structures and language features (ACELY1694)

Year 3 Science

Science knowledge helps people to understand the effect of their actions (ACSHE051)

Year 4 Science

Science knowledge helps people to understand the effect of their actions (ACSHE062)

Syllabus outcomes: EN2-8B, EN2-2A, ST2-11LW.

General capabilities: Critical and Creative Thinking.

Cross-curriculum priority: Sustainability OI.2, OI.4.

Relevant parts of Year 3 English achievement standards: Students understand how language can be used to express feelings and opinions on topics. Their texts include writing and images to express and develop, in some detail, experiences, events, information, ideas and characters.

Relevant parts of Year 4 English achievement standards: Students create structured texts to explain ideas for different audiences.

Relevant parts of Year 3 Science achievement standards: Students understand how they can use science investigations to respond to questions.

Relevant parts of Year 4 Science achievement standards: Students identify when science is used to understand the effect of their actions.

Topic: Blue The Film, Ocean Conservation, Water.

Unit of work: Blue The Film: Inquiry – Years 3 & 4.

Time required: 60 mins.

Level of teacher scaffolding: High – oversee activities, lead discussion and gallery walk.

Resources required: Student Worksheet – one copy per student. Device capable of presenting a website to the class. Recycled paper and pencil for each student. Board or butcher’s paper for the class word cloud. Art materials or digital medium materials.

Keywords: Blue The Film, ocean conservation, messages, turtles, seabirds.

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.

Worksheets

Teacher Worksheet

Teacher Preparation

Learning intention: Students learn about the life of two different marine creatures and share a message about our oceans.

Success criteria: Students will...

Be able to share their thoughts with others to express an idea or viewpoint.
Be able to express their ideas as a picture, poem or story.
Know some ways we can all help the marine species.

blue_learning-intentions-tip

Teacher content information: From space, our planet appears as a tiny blue dot in the vastness of space. No matter where you live on our blue planet – you’re connected to the sea.

But the seas are under threat. The industrialisation that has occurred in the oceans over the last century, mirrors the events that triggered mass extinctions on land. Industrial scale fishing, habitat destruction, species loss and pollution have placed the ocean in peril. The very nature of the sea is being irretrievably altered.

By international standards, Australia is a marine conservation leader. It has the world’s largest coral r

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Student Worksheet

Thought starter: What do I love about the ocean?

Name of the student whose work I am looking at:

What is the main message of their work?

Why I like this work:

The best bits of this work are:

I agree with this message because:

One improvement I would suggest is:

Remember to be kind, helpful and specific when offering feedback:

blue_providing-feedback

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Activity: Blue: Messages of Blue – Years 3 & 4