Dear Year 3 parents/carers,
I hope you and your child spent a wonderful holiday and I am writing to share with you about what we will learn in this term in Humanities and Social Sciences learning area. This term’s topic is Civics and Citizenship and our focus will be democracy. In order to achieve the learning outcomes demonstrated on the Australian Curriculum (figure 1), I have designed a series of activities.
Figure 1 (ACARA, 2015)
Firstly, we will hold a classroom meeting to elect a leadership group of three for our class. Undoubtedly, every student has the right to be elected, so I will ask every student to prepare their election speech. That will be nice if you can help your child to prepare the speech. After everyone has their say, all of the students will vote three persons which they think could be a good leader. Then the leadership group will be formed openly and fairly according to the votes. By doing so, the students could understand how important their opinions are and what they say can make a difference. The Enrolment Statistics show that 632,953 people are missing from the electoral roll at 31 December 2018 (Australian Electoral Commission, 2019). What an incredible number! I hope our children could take their right and responsibility to vote in the future after learning through the classroom activity.
Secondly, the leadership group will work with the rest of the class to make classroom rules and consequences under my supervision and assistance. I will communicate with the leadership group in advance about what classroom rules look like, and the leadership group will hold the meeting to discuss the rules and make the consequences if the rules are broken. This process enables the students to understand the importance of making rules and consequences. Also, it provides students freedom and power on classroom issues which could eliminate some of the most significant student behavioural problems (Edwards, 2008).
Moreover, the students will apply internet and technology to investigate how government works and what they can do to contribute to their community. There is a wonderful website (figure 2) that students can use to assist their learning. Especially the ‘Kidsview’ includes a lot of different forms of resources tailored to children which is fun and practical. It will promote the students’ critical and creative thinking through doing the activities.
Figure 2 (Parliamentary Education Office, 2017)
Furthermore, we will visit the local council. This provides the children opportunity to witness how a local government works in real life and how they deal with some social issues. You are more than welcome to come along with your child if you like. After the tour, we will have a classroom debate on some community issue or school problems which could enhance their problem-solving skills and teach them how to express their thoughts clearly and firmly and comment on other people’s opinions in a nice and respectful way. I believe that will be beneficial if you can discuss some community or social issues with your child and share your opinions. Meanwhile, paying attention to the community and school issues could cultivate the children’s sense of responsibility.
Let’s collaborate with each other closely to help our children become good citizen.
Word count: 529
References
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority ([ACARA], 2015). Australian Curriculum. Retrieved form https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/humanities-and-social-sciences/hass/
Australian Electoral Commission ([AEC], 2019). Enrolment statistics. Retrieved from https://www.aec.gov.au/Enrolling_to_vote/Enrolment_stats/index.htm
Edwards, C. H. (2008). Classroom discipline and management (5th ed.). Milton, Qld: John Wiley.
Parliamentary Education Office [PEO]. (2017). Retrieved from https://www.peo.gov.au/
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