COMPONENTS EXPLANATION/DETAILS LEARNING EXPERIENCES

Unit Orientation Students are motivated from their excursion to

Australia Zoo the previous week where they
learnt about different animals and their
adaptions. In lesson one of this new unit the
teacher activates students prior knowledge by
asking them questions about their excursion and
the different animals. The teacher asks the
students if they can figure out the link between
their new science unit and this new English unit.



Lesson 1 - Activate

Building knowledge of
the field
This unit introduces students to many different
multimodal texts. These texts are then used to
develop students knowledge, assist them to
comprehend and analyse information, learn new
scientific vocabulary and build their
understanding of the structure and features of
informative texts.
Lesson 1 Activate
Lesson 2 Build
Lesson 3 Comprehend
Lesson 5 Vocabulary
Lesson 6 Text structures
Lesson 7 Language features
Lesson 10 Build meaning

Utilising the non-
fiction focus text
Kalman, B. (2002). How do animals adapt? St
Catharines, ON: Crabtree.
This text is used many times within the unit
to discuss the purpose of informative texts,
the structure and language features, new
scientific vocabulary and how to search for
their meaning.
Lesson 1 Activate
Lesson 2 Build
Lesson 3 Comprehend
Lesson 5 Vocabulary
Lesson 6 Text structures
Lesson 7 Language features
Lesson 10 Build meaning

Responding to texts It is anticipated that students respond to all the
texts used in each lesson. This is done through
grand conversations, group work, worksheets,
activities and reflective journal writing. This is
achieved through the Literature strand
(Responding to literature) and the Literacy
strand (Interactions with others and
Interpreting, analysing and evaluating).

Lesson 1 Activate
Lesson 3 Comprehend
Lesson 6 Text structures
Lesson 7 Language features

Exploring texts Students explore different texts in many lessons
to provide greater understanding and content
knowledge. The features explored through texts
include genres, structure and language features,
vocabulary and grammar. This is achieved
through all three stands and can be viewed in
detail in the specified learning experiences.
Lesson 1 Activate
Lesson 2 Build
Lesson 5 Vocabulary
Lesson 6 Text structures
Lesson 7 Language features
Lesson 10 Build meaning

Examining texts
including:

Text structure
and organisation
Text structure is explicitly taught to students to
construct a deeper understanding and assist in
the writing of an informative report. This is
achieved through the Literacy strand
(Interpreting, analysing and evaluating).



Lesson 6 Text structure
COMPONENTS EXPLANATION/DETAILS LEARNING EXPERIENCES
Expressing and
developing ideas
Students were also explicitly taught how to
express and develop their ideas to assist in
writing an informative report. This is achieved
through knowledge of language features and the
writing process. These lessons link with the
Literacy strand (Interpreting, analysing and
evaluating and creating texts)

Lesson 7 Language features
Lesson 8 Plan & Draft
Lesson 9 Revise & Edit
Lesson 10 Build meaning
Visual and
multimodal
features of texts
Comprehension strategies to analyse digital
sources were explicitly taught to assist students
navigate through different multimodal texts and
their features. The visual features of informative
texts were also taught to students in the text
structures lesson. This is achieved through the
Literacy strand (Interpreting, analysing and
evaluating).


Lesson 4 Analyse
Lesson 6 Text structures

Extending beyond the
focus text including:

Creating texts
utilising print and
multimodal texts
Students were explicitly taught the different
stages of the writing process to assist in their
writing of an informative report. Students were
then given a topic and three facts to write about.
Over two lessons students planned and drafted
their text and then revised and editing their
work to understand how the writing process is
achieved. This is achieved through the Literacy
strand (Creating texts).


Lesson 8 Plan & Draft
Lesson 9 Revise & Edit

Assessment
Formative (one
strategy and
instrument)
Formative assessment is assessment that allows
the teacher to monitor students learning to
make sure what they are teaching is being
understood by the students. Within this lesson
plan formative assessment is achieved everyday
through observations of group work, grand
conversations, worksheets and journal entries.
A more comprehensive formative assessment
was conducted just past the half way mark to
evaluate students understanding of the structure
and language features of informative reports.
This allows the teacher to see if further explicit
teaching is needed in this area.





Lesson 7 Language features
(Appendix P)
Summative (one
strategy and
instrument)
Summative assessment is assessment that sums
up and evaluates students learning and is often
assessed with a marking criteria or rubric at the
end of a unit. The summative assessment for
this unit was an informative report on a created
animal and its adaptions in a particular habitat.
The task sheet, planning sheet and rubric were
handed out to the students at the start of the unit
so they knew what they were working towards
and each lesson always emphasised why it



Lesson 1 Activate
Appendix B,C & D
COMPONENTS EXPLANATION/DETAILS LEARNING EXPERIENCES
would help them write their report. In the final
lesson a checklist was also created with the
students so they could determine if their report
was complete. Students had to hand in their
reports on Monday the following week however
could hand them in early if they wished to do so.

Significant
demonstration of
learning.
The expectations for achieving the productive
modes of writing and creating were explained to
the students in the first lesson. By giving the
students the rubric this allowed them to see
exactly what was being assessed and how they
needed to demonstrate their learning.


Lesson 1 Activate