INQUIRY LEARNING PLANNER

UNIT TITLE: Australian Animals

LEVEL

TEAM

Foundation-Grade
Two

RW
MC
Samantha Murnane

UNDERSTANDINGS:
FOUNDATION:
Living things such as Australian
animals have basic needs including
food and water.
Students are able to share
observations and ideas about
Australian animals.
YEAR ONE:
All Australian animals have a
variety of external features to help
them adapt and survive
All Australian animals live in
different places where their needs
are met in regards to food, shelter
and safety.

YEAR TWO:
Australian Animals are living things
that can grow, change and have
offsprings similar to themselves and
must live in particular environments
for survival.

TERM
Fourth Term

DURATION
Nine weeks

FOCUS QUESTIONS:
FOUNDATION
What are Australian animals?
Why do Australian animals have
different needs?
Why do Australian animals look
different to one another?

YEAR ONE:
What are some key features that
help aid in survival?
How have Australian animals
adapted to changes to their
environment?
Have some of these
environmental changes lead to
difficulties for animals to adapt
resulting in extinction?
YEAR TWO:
Which type of animal lives in which
particular environment - explore
Why are habitats and the
environment important for an
animal's survival?

Comment [A1]: Di spl ayed below is

the understandings in which
students shoul d develop at the
concl usi on of the unit. It
demonstrates the learning goals
that provide achievable challenges
whi ch are appropriate for each year
l evel [3.1]
A sequence of l essons was created
through the knowl edge of student
l earning, content and effective
teachi ng strategies [3.2]

Thinking Processes Communication Skills Personal Learning

Make observations
and discuss w ith
peers about dif f erent
Australian animals
and pose questions
about them in
regards to w here and
how they live/survive.

Record inf ormation

about w hat makes
Australian animals
special/unique, this is
collected by
observation and
research.

Present student
research in a range of
both verbal and nonverbal representations of
student choice. eg. oral,
posters, reports,
pictures/diagrams,
videos or sound tracks.

Students are able to

use appropriate
communicat ion and
listening strategies
to share
observations and
ideas about
Australian animals.

Communicat ion should

involve the use of
multimodal texts and
technology

Students take
responsibility f or
their learning and
actively participate
in research, group
w ork and class
discussion.

Students demonstrate
their f eedback skills
w hen analysing their
peers w ork.

Students show
responsibility w ith
their ow n personal
learning.

RESOURCES
Who am I? activities
Books
Who Did That? written by Jill Bruce
Diary of a wombat written by Jackie French
Bilby and the Bushfire written by Joanne Crawford
The Hunt written by Narrell Oliver
Youtube Resources:

Interpersonal
Development

Students collaborate
w ith each other w ithin
their diverse learning
environments.
Students use time
ef f ectively and share
roles and
responsibilities w hen
completing group w ork.
Students ref lect
regularly on w hat they
have learnt and w hat
they w ould like to
know .
Students receive and
give f eedback
graciously to one
another.

Demonstration of a range of verbal

and non-verbal communication
strategies to support student
engagement. [3.5]
Demonstration of a range of
strategies (feedback, recording
information. Assessment strategies
further listed at end of plan) that
can be used to evaluate teaching
programs to improve student
learning. [3.6]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sWFAGGWvUA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vqCCI1ZF7o

TUNING IN:
Lesson 1:
To engage the students in the new inquiry unit the students will undertake a shared
reading activity as a whole class based around the book Who Did That? by Jill Bruce.
After reading the book the students will undertake the brainstorming activity.
This first lesson of the inquiry unit is based around finding out what the students already
know about Australian animals, their habitats and what they eat and drink. To find out
this information students as a whole class will complete a KWL (what they Know, what
they Want learn and what was Learnt) chart, each section in the shape of a different
australian animal. The students will together complete the K and W sections of the chart
on two different animals. Every student will have two different coloured post it notes for
each section allowing the students to take control of their own learning.

Comment [A2]: To begi n each

l esson woul d state an
i ntention/learning goals woul d be
used that provi de achievable
chal l enges for students [3.1]

Comment [A3]: Di fferent learning

strategy [3.3], helping develop
communication ski lls and students
take control of their learning.

Allowing students to write their own ideas and share them with the class helps to develop
communication skills, and provides opportunities for students to scaffold each others
learning. In using a KWL chart the students take control of what they want to learn about
and discover in regards to the topic of Australian animals.
REFLECTION: At the end of the group discussion and once everyone is satisfied that
they have written and discussed all their current understandings of Australian animals.
The class will then discuss the top 8-10 ideas that they wish to learn about which will be
used to create the lessons for the rest of the unit.

Lesson 2:
This lesson is highly interactive and hands on lesson that follows in from a trip to
Healesville Sanctuary. Before starting the activity students will be placed into 20 groups
of 3, with a student from each year level. and each student will have one ipad per group.
The students will be using the ipads to take photos of the animals they see throughout
the day as well as make voice recordings of their thoughts about each animal they see..
In having the voice recordings and images the students will be able to refer to the
information they found throughout the unit as well as have access to other groups
information at a later date.

Comment [A4]: Each l esson

woul d fi nish wi th a reflection where
the educator can see i f students
understood the content [3.6]

Comment [A5]: Thi s l esson i s

i nteresting and engaging for
students as they are able to go on
an excursi on. This i ncorporates
usi ng knowl edge of student
l earning, content and
encompasses di fferent effective
teachi ng strategies.
Comment [A6]: Incl udes the use
of ICT, having students take photos
of ani mals wi th IPads [3.4]
Comment [A7]: Students al so use
voi ce recordings to convey their
thoughts this complemented the
IPads use ni cely [3.4].

During the day students will be asked to take photos of all the wild animals they see in
their surrounding school area and decide whether they think they are native to australia
or not, as well as why they think that. Once this section is completed the students will
undertake 3 Who am I? tasks about different animals. These who am I tasks allow for the
students to work together as a team to recall information from their excursion through
reading the clues and solve the animal and provide and photo and drawn picture of the
animal.
Reflection:
After the activities have been completed the students will have an opportunity to share
their work with two other groups. This helps to further promote social interactions across
year levels and scaffold oral language development. The classes will then come together
to collate their main ideas on the animals they saw to create a mindmap. Students will
then reason if these animals are Australian animals or introduced species.

Comment [A8]: Di fferent teaching

strategi es [3.3] incorporated
throughout the sequence of
l essons.

Lesson 3:
At the beginning of the lesson students will be provided with time to share their top 5
pictures that as a group were taken during the Healesville excursion.
This lesson is to consolidate students understandings around the new information they
have received from their excursion and ideas from the KWL chart. This lesson also helps
to engage students in the vocabulary used when discussing Australian animals such as
habitat types, extinction and endangered animals. The students will have their iPad
pictures and recordings to refer to when completing diary. The students are also able to
easily refer back to as the charts are displayed around the classroom.
The students will draw a picture and write a diary entry with teacher assistance if
necessary about Healsville sanctuary and their favourite animal and what they have
learnt about their animal. Students will revisit their top 8- 10 inquiry ideas and see if they
can answer some of these questions from their visit. The diary entries will have high use
of adjectives to help students understand and decribe what makes their animal unique.
REFLECTION: In preparation for the next lesson the students will watch a youtube clip
around different Australian environments that will be reviewed at the start of the next
lesson.

FINDING OUT
How can we: Take students beyond what they
al ready know? Challenge their ideas, beliefs and
atti tudes? Enable them to use ski lls and knowledge
to col lect new informati on? Provide a range of

SORTING OUT
How wi l l students sort out, organise, represent and
present what they have found out? How can they
communi cate and express what they know? How
wi l l they use preferred ways to demonstrate their

Comment [A9]: Teachi ng strategy

[3.3]

experi ences to develop our understandings?

knowl edge, skills and values?

Lesson 4:
Introduce project for the remainder of
unit
Educators will engage students by
displaying photographs of different habitats
located in Australia. Educators will ask
students what they think a habitat is.

Lesson 6 :
Finalise habitats. Research the animals
that could live in their habitat. How
would it survive? What does that animal
need to survive?

Educators will read Diary of a Wombat by

Jackie French. Educators will ask students
if they think a house is a natural
environment for a wombat?
Students will then be given the opportunity
to think about the habitat they live in.
Educators will ask, is Melbourne the same
habitat as Central Australia?
Students will brainstorm what they know
about the pictures of habitats on the board.
Prompting questions could be;
What animal might live here?
Does it look hot or cold?
What do you think it might feel like to live
here?
How do humans impact on this
environment?

Educators will tune students in with the

story The Hunt by Narrell Oliver.
Students will be asked what habitat the
Tawny Frog Mouth lives in, what it eats
and how their habitat helps them to hunt.
Students will be asked what they think
camouflage means and what other animals
might use it.
Following on from the previous lesson,
each group will create an animal that lives
in the particular environment that they have
created. It must be well suited and
appropriate to match the research that they
have conducted. Each group will be
required to show how the animals in the
assigned habitat are adapted for life there.
Students will learn about an animal by
creating the animal and relating it to its
natural habitat. Student will explore how
their animal lives in its natural habitat and
also find out if that habitat is threatened,
and if so, why?

What natural disasters might occur?

Students will form groups of 3 to research
different habitats found in Australia.
Each group will produce a poster, report,
powerpoint presentation, or other on their
habitat including the following information:
What is a habitat?
A physical description of the chosen
habitat (verbal or non-verbal).
Examples of animals and plants that live
in the habitat.

When the students have developed an

animal that would be suited to live in their
created habitat they will then begin to
create it using a variety of materials
including fabrics, card, coloured paper, or
digitally create it on an iPad or computer.
When complete the students will complete
a checklist, which includes the following Name of animal
Description
Needs for survival/ What does it eat/
drink

 Why are habitats important?

Interesting facts
Useful accompanying photographs

Reasons it needs a specific habitat/ Why

does it live there
Any concerns about the habitat

Reflection: Once the groups have found

the key aspects of their chosen habitat, we
will meet together as a class and discuss
our results, recording answers on the
board for all students to see.

Reflection: The students will then be given

an opportunity to discuss what they have
found out about their animal and habitat as
a group. Pictures from the lesson 4 will be
displayed around the room. Students will
then be asked to pick where their animal
belongs.
Once they are in their individual habitats
students can guide a conversation about
the similarities and differences between
their animals.

Lesson 5:
Educators will tune students in with the
story Bilby and the Bushfire by Joanne
Crawford. Students will be asked how the
different animals escaped the bushfire.
What in their habitat helped them? Why
didnt they escape the same way?
This lesson will require students to use the
knowledge already acquired from previous
lessons to create their own habitats in
groups of 3.
This will help students to demonstrate the
importance of habitat to an animals
survival through building a habitat for a
species with materials and learning about
the adaptations each has to survive in its
habitat. This task is very open which allows
students to explore different ways to create
their environments including poster,
diorama, book, PowerPoint etc as
discussed with the teacher. All living things
have needs that are satisfied by their
environment and this will be explored.

Lesson 7:
The aim of this lesson is to engage
students in the knowledge they have
gained so far throughout the unit.
Students will create a presentation whether
it is a speech, play, movie/ audio, puppet
show, TV show, costume design,
questionnaire, game show or diorama to
present what they have learnt about their
habitat and the animals to go along side
their previous work.
To inspire the students they will watch a
youtube clip from one of the aboriginal
dreamtime stories How the Kangaroo got
its pouch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sWFA
GGWvUA
In their same groups the students will
create a story, speech, play, movie/ audio,
puppet show, TV show, costume,
questionnaire, game show or diorama to
demonstrate the knowledge they have
learnt thus far.

Each group will have specific elements

they must include.

Reflection
At the end of the lesson students will
The teacher will create a brainstorm with
present their ideas to another group and
the class to refresh the students previously vice versa. Educators will pick three groups
learnt knowledge (researched last lesson). to display their work in a booth for the end
The students will revisit their top 8-10
of the class.
inquiry ideas from lesson 3 and see if they
have answered any questions or if the
Students will be told that they will be
students have any more to add to their list. presenting in 2 lessons to some of the Wild
Students will begin to look into the
Life Experts from Healesville Sanctury as
following questions; what do animals need well as their parents.
to survive? The class will be guided to
generate a list with these needs: food,
Educators will direct student attention to
water, cover and places to raise young,
the booths created with the three groups. It
which they must include.
will be explained that the school hall will be
set up to show visitors their hard work.
Students will define the term habitat to
demonstrate that they know what they are
building. They are then to think about the
different habitats found across Australia.
They will use their information from the
previous lesson to guide them with what to
include in their environments. Students will
begin to build their habitats with their
groups using numerous materials.
After creating their environment students
must briefly explain all of the elements they
selected to make up a habitat such as a
description of chosen habitat, animal live
there, the kind of environment required.
Reflection: Students will then be asked to
pair up with another group that has a
different habitat to themselves. Students
will compare environments and in their own
groups make a list of what's different, the
same and what the students would like to
know more about.

GOING FURTHER
How can we extend and broaden the unit? What other perspectives or di mensi ons can we expl ore? What
are the ways whi ch students can negotiate their own personal inquiries?

Lesson 8:
To extend students knowledge on their Australian animals, educators will introduce an
Australian animal that is now extinct, the Tasmanian Tiger.
Educators will ask students if they know what an extinct animal is. They will tell students
that the following animal is an extinct Australian animal, but will not name it.
Students will watch the following clip and make observations about what they think it
might be.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vqCCI1ZF7o
As a class students will brainstorm what they know about the animal, what it looks like
and what it eats. Educators will then share relevant information on the Tasmanian Tiger
through their own short presentation.
Educators will then pose the following questions to the students;
Is your animal or habitat close to extinction?
How can we protect your animal or habitat?
Students will then be given an opportunity to further research their animals and add to
their final presentations. Educators will roam around the classroom ensuring together
they watch the final preparations for the students presentations.
Reflection:
Students will be given the opportunity to share the information they have gathered about
whether or not their animal is close to extinction. Students divided into three clusters of
groups. Each educator will take 6 groups and listen to their presentations individually
taking notes whilst the other 5 watch. Students will collaborate to finish the KWL chart
displayed in the classroom. Together students will write what they have learnt about their
animal and habitat. Students will also be reminded that next lesson they will be
presenting to their guests.
Lesson 9:
Prior to this lesson students were given the opportunities through their own time to set up
their presentation booths and practice their individual style of presentation. The students
that had used technology were given a series of iPads to display their work so passing
guests could interact with their project.
At the start of the lesson students will be given 15 minutes to finalise the set up of their

booths, put costumes on or display any extra work. Parents will then be invited in and
asked to film one group from finish to end on an iPad, so students may revisit their
presentations and reflect.
Parents and Healesville Sanctuary volunteers to come in during school time to wander
through the room and learn about Australian animals as the different groups present in
their individual stalls. There will be three different parts of the room set up, as the
previous lesson was. The six groups in each class will take turns to present their
Australian animal whilst the audience watches.
At the end of the presentations two students from each of the three sections set up will
thank the guests for coming. The Healesville Sanctuary volunteers and parents will be
given an opportunity to congratulate students on their hard work.
Reflection
Students will gather back into their groups and be given time to reflect on their
presentation, and will be given the opportunity to watch it on their iPads. Returning back
to their classrooms, students will be congratulated and asked to reflect on what they
enjoyed when learning about Australian animals. Students work will then be put on
display in the schools foyer for the rest of the school to admire.

ASSESSM
ENT
SUMMARY
(ONGOING
: FOR, AS
and OF
learning)

Assessment OF learning: When an educator uses

assessment to judge student achievement.
Assessment AS learning: Occurs when students reflect
on their personal learning to take responsibility for their
own work and goals.
Assessment FOR learning: Occurs when teachers use
evidence and reasoning to inform future planning.

What are the

cumul ati ve and
summati ve
opportunities for
assessment?
How can teachers
and students
moni tor progress?
What strategies
can we use to
cater for vari ance
i n l earning styles

Cumulative opportunities for assessment refer to

accumulating work that educators can therefore assess.
Summative assessment occurs at the end of the unit
because it is used to evaluate a students learning that
has occurred throughout a unit of work, project, semester
or year. In this students demonstrate the skills they have
acquired and their academic achievements.
Teachers and students can monitor their progress by

Comment [A10]: Understandi ng of

di fferent strategies for assessment
[3.6]

and progress?
How can we al l ow
for expected and
unexpected
outcomes? How
can we provi de
opportunities for
sel f, peer, teacher,
parent
assessment?

regularly reflecting on their work, what they did learn,

what they want to learn about as well as any
misconceptions that arise throughout the unit.
Giving students opportunities to have their own input on
what they want to learn and how they want to present
allows students to take responsibility for their own
learning. This will ensure we cater for students variance
in learning styles.
Unexpected outcomes will occur within every unit of
work. These may be caused because of a students prior
knowledge or misconceptions made previous to
undertaking the unit. Educators must always be prepared
with an abundance of resources to follow student
learning and they must also be able to adjust a lesson to
the level the students are currently at.
We can provide opportunities for self, peer, teacher and
parent assessment by providing students with
opportunities to critically reflect on their work, the work of
others and by including parents into the curriculum as
this unit of work has done. Educators can regularly
assess their lessons monitoring the learning students
have completed, and reflect upon their work so that next
time they can improve their teaching strategies. Providing
opportunities for peer assessment needs to be done so in
a sensitive manner, with warm and cool feedback.
Parents should also be part of this process and can be
invited in to view their childs work/ presentation or view a
childs work online and comment in a google doc or blog.
Students should regularly reflect on their own learning
and set goals for themselves so they take responsibility
for their learning within the classroom environment.

INQUIRY
STAGE

Comment [A11]: Understandi ng of

di fferent strategies of assessment
[3.6], whilst also having the
opportunity to include parents [3.7]

DESCRIPTION

PURPOSE

Teacher consistently asks probing questions throughout

lesson and takes running notes on students responses.

Please specify
which of the three
assessment
strategies you are
developing e.g FOR,

AS or OF
Lesson One:

Anecdotal notes, observe what students think, say,

believe- if there are any misconceptions

Assessment AS
learning. Students

understand/decid
e what they will
learn in the unit
and what learning
goals are in place for
them to achieve
Lesson Two:

Portfolio of information collected on iPads- level of

engagement
notes and information used to solve Who am I? task.

Assessment OF
learning. Educator will
look at language
used, and problems
solving skill
implemented to solve
Who am I?

Lesson Three:

What they learnt from Healesville Sanctuary- their

interests and/or misconceptions- look at diary entries.
Look at the language used in the diary entry to see if new
topic vocab is being used.

Assessment OF
learning: Educator
looks at diary entries
and language used to
ensure basic concepts
are understood,
before moving into the
next stage of lessons
further developing
their understandings.

Lesson Four:

Teacher will take anecdotal notes and reflect through

observing class, who are working- raising relevant
questions to gain where the students are at with their
understandings of knowledge of the unit.

Assessment FOR
Learning

Why did you choose that particular habitat?

Can you tell me something interesting you have

Understanding of
different environments
and habitats to
support additional

Comment [A12]: Assessment AS

l earning or Assessment OF
l earning provides di fferent
strategi es used to evaluate
teachi ng programs to i mprove
student l earning [3.6]

discovered?
Can you give me an example of some animals
that live in that environment?

Lesson Five:

Teacher roams around the room, observing students

progress. This will be recorded with written comments.

development of the
unit. Building of
habitat vocabulary.

Assessment FOR
Learning

Why did you decide to use these materials?

Students can
Why is the environment important for this habitat? construct an
appropriate habitat for
a particular animal.
Students have
assessment criteria in
which they must
follow.
It will be observed
how well students
answer the questions.
Lesson Six:

Teacher roves around the class as they are working and

observes their progress. Teacher will pose questions to
the students as they are working. Timely feedback will be
given to that will help students in their learning
progression.
How does your animal live in its natural habitat?

Assessment FOR
Learning
Students choose
where their animal
belongs - indicating
what they have learnt
about that particular
species and habitat.

Lesson Seven:

Educators will roam around the classroom supporting

students.
Educators will observe student behaviour, interaction and
contributions through anecdotal notes.

Assessment OF
learning:
Educators observe
student behaviour,
interactions and
contribution in
creating their
presentation.

Lesson Eight:

Educators will observe each group's presentation and

Assessment OF

give positive and encouraging feedback so students

continue to improve their performances.
Educators will observe student involvement, their
creativity, the information they have chosen to include.

learning:
- Educators observe
student behaviour,
interactions and
contributions when
presenting their work
Educators will also reflect on the students
to others.
understandings from KWL chart, as evidence for what the -Educators will reflect
students have learnt throughout this unit.
on units success
using evidence from
the students
collaborative KWL
chart.
Lesson Nine:

Teachers will assess each groups final presentation and

give positive immediate feedback to each group.

Assessment OF
Learning:
- Students present
Educators will also collect group reflections and individual their learning to an
reflections with what the students thought they did well
audience.
and what they could improve on.
Assessment AS
Learning:
- Students individually
reflect on what they
have learnt.

INQUIRY EVALUATION
Overall this unit was highly successful, exciting and engaging for all the students.
it provided them with a hands on experience in their surrounding environment.
This unit allowed for strong collaboration over the three year levels and helped
improve social interactions and oral language development. The activities
provided catered to all learning levels and styles of learning and allowed students
to creatively present the relevant information on their habitat and Australian
animal. The EAL students within the classes engaged with the unit because the
culture and animals were ones they had not yet experienced. This also helped

immerse the families of these EAL students into some Australian culture.
Although this unit flowed well the amount of new vocabulary within this unit at
times was confronting for some students. The resource options for the creative
aspects were sometimes overwhelming for students when completing an activity.
Students sometimes became too caught up on finding a style to use instead of
focussing on the unit work.
Over the course of this unit students found it much easier to verbalise their ideas
as the unit involved a high level of communication amongst peers. Due to this we
as a cohort of educators deemed the unit a success.