Eureka Stockade by Alan Boardman – A Unit of Work and Lessons For Yr 5

Summary of lesson plan / unit of work:

This unit of work based around the Year 5 National Curriculum ‘Historical Knowledge & Understanding – The Australian Colonies’ it provides students with the opportunity to develop their understanding of ‘The Gold Rush & The Eureka Stockade’ while working on their literal and inferential comprehension skills with the use of a historical based text. It includes an array of tasks such as predicting, discussing and viewing before assessing students’ comprehension abilities. Mathematics and Geography elements are incorporated into this unit.

Australian Curriculum Links:

Year 5 English:

• Identify aspects of literary texts that convey details or information about particular social, cultural or historical contexts (ACELT1608)
• Recognise that ideas in literary texts can be conveyed from different viewpoints, which can lead to different kinds of interpretations and responses (ACELT1610)
• Use comprehension strategies to analyse information, integrating and linking ideas from a variety of print and digital sources (ACELY1703)
• Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive print, choosing text structures, language features that are appropriate to purpose and audience (ACELY1704)

Year 5 History:

• The impact of a significant development or event on a colony; for example, the gold rush and the Euerka Stockade(ACHHK095)
• Sequence historical people and events (ACHHS098)
• Use historical terms and concepts (ACHHS099)
• Identify questions to inform an historical inquiry (ACHHS100)
• Develop texts, particularly narratives and descriptions, which incorporate source materials (ACHHS105)

Lesson Plan / Unit Sequence:

 LESSON 1 (links to English and History)

• Student prediction – Tell students the title, but don’t show them the cover.
• Students record their prediction in reading journal. What questions come to mind? What might the story be about? When is the story set?
• Discuss predictions and read the text to students.
• Discuss impressions they had / messages the illustrations convey / students feelings.

LESSON 2 (links to geography)

• Read the text to students and then label a Map of important places from the text. Options could include using a map on interactive whiteboard as a class, students work in pairs with an atlas or in groups.

LESSON 3 (links to Mathematics and History)

• Read the text to students – Create a Timeline of the important dates and places in the story as a class. Go through the text again and identify the important dates and places with the students (modelling finding the main idea / determining importance).

LESSON 4 (links to English and History)

• Read the text to students – Students work in small groups to re-create the story of the Eureka Stockade as a simplified narrative. Students would benefit from teacher modelling of the narrative structure.

LESSON 4 (links to English comprehension)

• Read the text to students – Independent Comprehension Questions (under assessment conditions) because it is a long text provide students with a copy (supplied – without illustrations) photocopied so they can refer back to it and determine the important parts that relate to the questions. You choose if you want to mark as a class or individually.

Assessment

• Anecdotal records from student participation
• Independent Comprehension Questions

Materials Required

• The Eureka Stockade, by Alan Boardman (Real Book)
• Eureka Stockade by Alan Boardman (Text only) (PDF)
• Whiteboard & markers
• Smartboard / Atlases – for mapping activity
• Eureka Stockade by Alan Boardman Comprehension Questions (DOC)

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