People live in places: Important places - homes
Content summary
Students:
- investigate the importance of places they live in and belong to, for example:
- identification of places they live in and belong to (ACHGK002, ACHGK004)
- discussion of why places are special and how people care for them
- explanation of why people need to take care of places
Background notes for teachers
The focus of this sequence of activities is on place. As students will be most familiar with their home, this provides a good introduction to the concept of place. The inquiry can be expanded to include other places students belong to and why they are important. The inquiry leads to actions students can undertake to care for their place.
Student Activities
Activity 1
Homes
Activity 2
Are all homes the same?
Activity 3
Homes and people
Activity 4
My home
Activity 5
Caring for my home
Activity: Teachers notes
Activity 1
Engagement and questioning - Discuss what a home is and what it encompasses, i.e. the dwelling, its surroundings, its contents, its occupants and formulate questions for the geographical inquiry.
Activity 2
Visual representations – Students collectively observe images of dwellings (Sources 1-8). Use the ‘Observe’ and ‘Interpret’ questions to guide student observations and interpretations.
Fieldwork – Take students into the school playground to observe the variety of homes near the school. Take photographs to record observations. Students also bring a photograph of their own home.
Activity 3
Processing information - Compare the photos. What is a home? Why is it special? How to people care for their home? What is similar about each of these homes? Make a list.
Word bank: door, garden, home, live in, people, roof, walls, windows, yard, cleaning, garbage, family, gardening, mowing, privacy, putting away, safety, shelter, raking, sweeping, washing
Activity 4
Representing information - My home
Draw your home or paste in a photo of it. Write or draw what you like to do at home.
Draw yourself in your special place at home. Write or draw how you care for your home.
Activity 5
Communicating – Caring for my home
Students share how they care for their home. Through a discussion students explain why people need to take care of their homes and places that are special to them.
Using a video recording app such as Adobe Voice or PicPlayPost, students present their images from Activity 3 and explain how and why they care for their home and special places.
Additional resources
Picture books
Home by Carson Ellis
Home by Jeannie Baker
Big Rain Coming by Katrina Germein and Bronwyn Bancroft
NSW syllabus for the Australian curriculum - Geography
Outcomes
A student:
- GEe 1 identifies places and develops an understanding of the importance of places to people
- GEe 2 communicates geographical information and uses geographical tools
Geographical inquiry skills
Acquiring geographical information
- pose questions and make observations (ACHGS001)
- record geographical data and information (ACHGS002)
Processing geographical information
- represent data using charts or graphs (ACHGS003)
- draw conclusions based on discussions of observations (ACHGS004)
Communicating geographical information
- present information (ACHGS005)
- reflect on their learning (ACHGS006
Geographical concepts
- Place: the significance of places and what they are like e.g. places students live in and belong to and why they are important.
- Space: the significance of location and spatial distribution, and ways people organise and manage the spaces that we live in e.g. location of a place in relation to other familiar places.
- Environment: the significance of the environment in human life, and the important interrelationships
LAC
Learning across the curriculum
- Sustainability
- Literacy
- Difference and diversity