Creative Writing Through Short Stories

This unit aims to develop students ability to recognise cultural diversity in their personal lives and within the local and global community.  Students will explore how identity is shaped by culture and how people from other cultures have difference perspectives to their own.

The learning element examines different styles of poetry. Students will examine ballads, free verse and literary devices. Their final assessment piece will be a poetry anthology that combines everything they've learnt throughout the unit.

Students will compare Ancient Greek government, society and the role of women with Australian Society today. Students are required to write an information report where they are offered the chance to extend themselves.

The learning element reinforces the connection between a known text (Jack and the Beanstalk) and real life situations; weaving its way gradually through the topics of bartering, the concepts of fair, unfair, needs and wants.

The unit culminates in a market day where the students are given a directive to purchase three things they need for an 'excursion' with money they have 'earnt in the class over the course of the unit.

This learning element addresses the use of money in the younger years. It builds the concepts of earning, saving and spending money.  It also develops an understanding of the value of Australian notes and coins.  Students work in groups and are taught to value group members' contrubutions to achieving a group goal.

In this unit the students will look at traditional Japanese dress, fashion sub cultures, fabrics, traditional and modern dyeing techniques.  The students will identify the features of traditional Japanese costume and understand how it can be transformed into contemporary garment designs.  During the unit the students will learn traditional dyeing methods and will apply their understanding of traditional Japanese design through the construction of a Japanese inspired cushion. 

This learning element helps students to understand how they read. The activities in this learning element come from a PD with Glenda Raison. It is important that students understand how they read, this will help re-introduce cooperative reading to students in year seven.

This learning element introduces students to the concept of the world being a global village, and as such, societies being interconnected. They also explore the connectedness between the geographical features of different parts of the world and how and why people live in those areas.

Originally written by Chris Melican. It was updated in 2008 by the year seven team (Jo Larkin, Jane Offley, Elizabeth Edwards and Stefanie Pearce). This is the 2009 updated version which incorporates functional grammar.