Glenorie Public School

CONCEPT

THE WAY WE WERE

Stage 1
DURATION - 10 WEEKS

Assessment and Evaluation

Children will be asked to carry out self-evaluation tasks related to their group work and individual
efforts during the activities.
Assessment will be carried out by peers for group presentations.
Teacher observations / anecdotal notes will be ongoing throughout the unit. These will concentrate on
research skills, group participation, effort, contribution to discussion, problem solving skills,
communication skills and achievement of unit outcomes.
During all activities emphasis will be placed on explicit and systematic teaching of literacy components
related to activities covered. e.g. report writing, public speaking, journals, recounts etc.

THE WAY WE WERE

The following pages contain a unit of work for Stage 1. The unit content has been developed from the
Board of Studies HSIE K-6 Units of Work titled The Way We Were (pp67-74).
The unit provides opportunities for students to explore the changes and continuities in the way families
have done things over time. The unit focuses on the effects of changes in technology.
Outcomes

CCS1.2:
SSS1.7:

Identifies changes and continuities in their own life and in the local community.
Explains how people and technologies in systems link to provide goods and services
to satisfy needs and wants.

Resources
The following resources are recommended:

Board of Studies website (http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au)list current available resources

such as some background information sheets, websites, texts and other material to support this unit.

Look Back Teachers Resource - Anna Ciddor, Harcort, Brace, Jovanovich

Look Back At Childhood - as above
Look Back At Homes - as above
Look Back At Clothes - as above
Look Back At Food - as above
Toys, Helen Whitty, Reading Discovery, Level 20, Scholastic
Jandi The Clown - Reading Discovery, Level 20, Scholastic
Papa and the Olden Days, Ian Edwards.
Changing Time Series: Toys, In the House, Housework, history from Objects
The End (poem) A.A. Milne

Glenorie Public School

THE WAY WE WERE

AREAS OF INQUIRY:

What toys have children played with throughout time?

How has a childs lifestyle changed?
How have homes changed in Australia?
How has food changed throughout time?
How has clothing changed throughout time?
DURATION - TEN WEEKS

STAGE 1

LEARNING OVERVIEW
KNOWLEDGE / UNDERSTANDING
Children are able to:

look for examples of changing technologies in their home and community.

examine the similarities and differences between the sequence of events in their own lives and in the
lives of others.
reflect on past events and stages in their lives and compare these with what is happening now and
what they consider may happen in the future.
draw connections between changes and reasons for changes in their families, schools and
community.
construct simple timelines of events in their own lives.
examine the structure and functions of their families, comparing and contrasting their families with
others.

SKILLS
Children have developed skills in:

acquiring information from a variety of sources through locating, accessing, selecting and critically
evaluating information.
using an inquiry process when participating in meaningful research related to important social and
environmental issues. This involves initiating an investigation, gathering, analysing, synthesising,
applying information and reflecting on their learning.
social and civic participation that will allow them to accept and fulfil their social responsibilities.

VALUES
Children have developed:

Social Justice:

following rules that have been developed to protect the rights, and person of others.
rejecting racism, sexism and other forms of prejudice.

Intercultural Understanding

empathising with people of different cultures and societies.

Democratic Process

participating actively and responsibly in society as individuals and members of groups.

Beliefs and Moral Codes

continuing to develop a personal value system and acting accordingly and responsibly.

Lifelong Learning

making connections between what one knows and what one is learning.

CONCEPTS

technology; past and present

changes; both past and present, caused by changing needs.
interconnections between technologies, workers, users and the environment

UNIT EVALUATION

Title of Unit:
Outcomes:
CCS1.2:

SSS1.7:

THE WAY WE WERE

Communicates the importance of past and present people, days and events in their
life, in the lives of family and community members and in other communities.
Explains how people and technologies in systems link to provide goods and
services to satisfy needs and wants.

Indicators of Achievement
identifies events related to different
stages of their lives.

CC/SS

describes people at different stages in

their lives.
identifies ways in which previous
generations in their family and
community played.

examines the impact of changing

technologies on lifestyle and on the
environment.

compares how things were with the

way they are now.

compares how things were with the

way they are now.

Teaching / Learning Activities

Read the poem The End by A.A. Milne and discuss with
students the stages in their lives so far and in the future.
Construct a class timeline to explore this. Under each stage
write some of the things people do at this stage. Collect
pictures from magazines depicting people at various stages
of their life. Discuss lifestyle. Brainstorm with students all
the activities they do. Create a concept map using the
information gathered during the brainstorming session. Use
the following categories: What I eat; What I play with;
How I get from place to place; People I know.
Students brainstorm toys they play with now and toys they
played with when they were younger.
Interview parents and grandparents to compile a database
of toys they played with in the past. Have children find
examples, or provide a picture or illustration of, the toys
and write a short explanation on how you would have used
one of the toys. Jointly categorise toys into those played
with by own generation, parents, grandparents. Present on
a retrieval chart. Explore gender differences in the choice
of toys now and in the past.
Discuss the difference between the toys that students play
with and toys from the past. What changes have taken
place? Why? Present information using a matrix: use the
headings such as; construction material, built by, power,
age group, positive points, negative points. Have children
draw conclusions from the information gathered.
Read the story Jandi the Clown and use the contents as
the basis for a class discussion. Question class to have
children recall detail from the text. Relate back to unit
outcome. Further activities related to this text may be
covered at this point.
Invite parents from other cultural backgrounds up to the
class to discuss toys they played with. Have children
compare these toys with the toys of their parents and
grandparents to identify similarities and differences. Draw
conclusions from the findings. eg. What influences the
types of toys children play with? Why do the types of toys

examines the impact of changing

technologies on lifestyle and on the
environment.
shares opinions with peers related to
the past and present.

understands the changes that occur in

the way people feel and the attitudes
they have as they grow.

examines the impact of changing

technologies on lifestyle and on the
environment.

identifies different goods and services

that meet their needs.

identifies different goods and services

that meet their needs.

identifies the impact the past and

present has on the future.

demonstrates an understanding of
how important past and present

differ in different areas around the world? Use the heading

toys from other cultures, add the toy types to the retrieval
chart compiled earlier in the unit.
After reading the book, Toys (Reading Discovery, Level
20, Scholastic) jointly complete a timeline showing the
development of toys through the ages.
Ask students what they think of the toys from the past. Do
they think toys are better today? Why? Have students in
pairs develop an oral exposition to present their point of
view.
Ask students to survey older members of their family about
how they felt about their toys when they were young. Have
them compare their findings with the way they feel about
their own toys.
Teacher directed activity: working through book Looking Back At Childhood. Explain the layout of the
book and model a presentation on childhoods from the past
using information gathered from the text. Students
complete a group investigation related to the texts:
Looking back at Homes, Looking back at Clothes,
Looking back at Food. On the three topic set out in the
books and, using the presentation model demonstrated by
the teacher in the above activity, give their own
presentation on the assigned topic.
Have students identify the different technologies that are
used in each room of their home. Use factual texts that
explain the development of different technologies over
time.
How have the changes in technology changed the ways in
which people do things? What effect has this had on people
and the environment? Ask students to choose one room in
the house and role-play the differences in how they might
have done things then and now in that room.
Discuss how as you grow your attitudes and feeling toward
different things change. Select a topic and have children
explain how their feelings have changed about the topic as
they have grown. eg. toys, leisure activity, books. Discuss
our needs and how they are met. Display a poster showing
a room, part of a house or a scene from the past that can be
compared with the present. Discuss the differences to
present day. How will this change in the future? In pairs
have children recreate the poster on display as it will look
in the future. OR Have them select a room in a house and
have them design a plan of the room in the future. Present
your design to the class explaining the different technology
that is now being used in your room.
Relate the activities covered back to the unit outcomes and
reflect on the learning that has taken place throughout the

people, days and events are important

in their lives.

unit. Allow opportunities for students to share their ideas

and opinions.