Activity Introduction

Quick summary: Students will learn about Hydro Tasmania’s history and transform an information text into a timeline and poem.

Activity developed in partnership with tasmania_hydro_200x84_300pxl

Hydro Tasmania has been at the forefront of clean energy innovation for one hundred years. It is Australia’s largest producer of clean energy – generating hydro and wind power – and the largest water manager. Hydro Tasmania has 55 major dams, operates 30 hydropower stations and has built some of Australia’s largest wind farms.

Hydro Tasmania also sells energy in the National Electricity Market through its retail business Momentum Energy, and sells its expertise internationally through its consulting business Entura. Visit the Hydro Tasmania website to learn how the business is working towards Australia’s clean energy future.

Learning goals:

  • Students will develop skills in reading, comprehension, creative writing and textual transformation.

General capabilities: Literacy, Critical and creative thinking.

Cross-curriculum priority: Sustainability OI.8.

Australian Curriculum content description:

Year 3 English

  • Recognise high-frequency sight words (ACELA1486).
  • Read an increasing range of different types of texts by combining contextual, semantic, grammatical and phonic knowledge, using text processing strategies, for example monitoring, predicting, confirming, rereading, reading on and self-correcting (ACELY1679).
  • Use comprehension strategies to build literal and inferred meaning and begin to evaluate texts by drawing on a growing knowledge of context, text structures and language features (ACELY1680).

Year 4 English

  • Incorporate new vocabulary from a range of sources into students’ own texts including vocabulary encountered in research (ACELA1498).

Syllabus Outcomes: EN2-4A, EN2-9B.

Topic: Hydro Tasmania, Energy.

Time required: 60 mins.

Level of teacher scaffolding: Medium – oversee activity, assist with defining difficult words.

Resources required: Power into Poetry – Information Sheet, Student Worksheet (one copy per student OR computers/tablets to access the online worksheet).

Digital technology opportunities: Digital sharing capabilities.

Homework and extension opportunities: Includes opportunities for homework and extension.

Keywords: Energy, hydropower, poetry. Hydro Tasmania. 

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

Overarching learning goal: By participating in this activity students will develop skills in reading, comprehension, creative writing and textual transformation.

Teacher background information: Energy is the lifeblood of our modern life. It gives us light and keeps our food fresh. It powers our industry, fuels our cars, and charges our iPhones. Our energy is produced by burning fossil fuels and this has a range of environmental, social and economic impacts. One of the most significant is the emission of greenhouse gases. A solution is the transition to clean energy sources. The brilliant thing is that we have huge amounts of free, renewable and clean supplies of natural energies. These include sunlight, wind, running water, oceans and underground hot rocks.

According to the Clean Energy Australia Report 2013:

  • 14.76% of Australia's electricity came from renewable sources in 2013: enough to power the equivalent of almost 5 million homes.
  • Wind turbines provide
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Student Worksheet

Thought starter: What rhymes with 'energy'?

Instructions

In this activity you will be using an information text about Hydro Tasmania to create a poem.

1. Read the Introduction to Hydro Tasmania below.

2. Read the separate Power into Poetry - Information Sheet. As you read, your teacher will help you to define the tricky words numbered i to xii in the vocabulary table below.

3. In the Poem Ideas table below, write down a few interesting details and events from the Power into Poetry - Information Sheet.

4. Use some or all of these details to write a poem celebrating the history of Hydro Tasmania. Write this poem below.

5. For homework, finish and polish your poem and bring it to class next lesson.

An Introduction to Hydro Tasmania

Hydro Tasmania provides electrical energy for the people of Tasmania, Australia’s island state. The word ‘hydro’ means ‘water’. Power stations can make electricity by using water to turn large engines (or ‘turbines’) that release energy. This energy is

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