HUMANITIES
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SCIENCES
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file:///C:/Users/mackayd/Desktop/Batch_1%20(6)/AW_G1.1b_02665.sv
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Scan the code
to link to a video
about the
continents
of the world.
FACT!
Antarctica is the smallest continent in terms
of population, with fewer than 5000 people.
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Do you know what a continent is?
A continent isa large land mass,
and there are seven continents on
Earth. From biggest to smallest,
these continents are Asia, Africa,
North America, South America,
Antarctica, Europe andAustralia.
Asia is also the largest continent
in terms ofpopulation, with
approximately 4 billionpeople.
The island continent
Australia is often called the island
continent becauseit is a huge land
mass surrounded byoceans.
Like Antarctica, Australia is
separatedfrom all of the other
continents bylotsof sea water.
FAC_ACR3_02665_Geography_ALL_PPS.indd 1 21/12/2015 2:22 pm
GHUMANITIES AND
SOCIAL SCIENCES
KEY TERMINOLOGY AND VOCABULARY
agile, boundaries, clans, land mass, population, several,
surrounded, unique
Go to Oxford Owl online and use the interactive
e-card to access and display the online glossary for
your students.
Use the interactive e-card to investigate and record what
students already know and what they need to learn
about the continent of Australia.
TEACHING ACTIVITI ES
1. Ask students to look at a ma p of Austra lia and or der the
states fr om larges t to smalle st in ter ms of area .
2. Ask: T hink ing about Au stralia’s location in the world,
why do we have a range of native an imals that are not
found in other countr ies?
3. Explain that ‘l argest ’ is a superlat ive adject ive, meani ng
‘of the greate st size’. It is formed by a dding ‘st’ to the
word ‘large’. Ask: Can you th ink of three othe r superlat ive
adjectives that are formed by add ing ‘st’ or ‘est’?
4. Ask students to rese arch the p opulation size of al l the
continent s and creat e a graph show ing thei r result s.
Students s hould then w rite t hree sta tements abo ut what
they obser ve.
5. As a class , brains torm how the s tates and t errit ories of
Austra lia got thei r names. A nswer s can then b e checked
by doing an Internet sea rch.
6. Split the cla ss into sm all tea ms and play ‘A race to know
Austra lia’. Provide the m with a com puter or an at las.
The role of each team is to be t he quicke st to fi nd out
the follow ing facts ab out Austra lia: tallest mou ntain,
largest bo dy of water, longest r iver, largest i sland
(other than t he main l and mass o f Austra lia itsel f),
norther nmost point, sout hernmost point.
7. Ask students to crea te an A to Z of Aust ralia . They li st
the letter s of the alph abet down t he side of a piece of
paper and t hen write somethi ng to do wit h Austra lia
next to each le tter. It could be t he name of an a nima l,
city, natur al or huma n-made fe ature; it could also b e
a fact. [A]
BACKGROUND TOPIC INFORMATION
There are seven continents on Earth. Continents are large
land masses, often separated by water. While Australia is the
smallest continent on Earth, it is a large island and known for
its diverse features. From rainforest to reefs and deserts to
alps, Australia is a unique country.
Before the arrival of European settlers in 1788, Australia
had been home to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
groups for thousands of years. Some historians estimate that
Indigenous Australians fi rst arrived in Australia 50 000 years
ago. The different nation groups or communities developed
their own languages, customs and laws and have a deep
spiritual connection to the land.
TOPIC CARD LITERACY FOCUS
Comprehension behaviours
• Deciding what’s important [Question 1]
• Putting it together [Question 2]
• Language focus [Question 3]
Writing focus
Create a fact card.
Year 3 English links
• Read an increasing range of different types of texts by
combining contextual, semantic, grammatical and phonic
knowledge, using text processing strategies, for example
monitoring, predicting, confi rming, rereading, reading on
and self-correcting (ACELY1679)
• Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and
persuasive texts demonstrating increasing control over
text structures and language features and selecting print,
and multimodal elements appropriate to the audience and
purpose (ACELY1682)
• Understand how different types of texts vary in use
of language choices, depending on their purpose and
context (for example, tense and types of sentences)
(ACELA1478)
Text type
Information report
Word count
280
Text level
Below (Oxford levels 18–21)
Therepresentationof Australia as states and territories
and as Countries/Places of Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Peoples; and major places in Australia, both natural
and human(ACHASSK066)
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