Early Stage One - Email Tasks - COGs Unit: Growing and Changing - Part of a Pattern



Printout for teacher programs


Look at the life stages of a range of plants and animals: bird, crocodile, butterfly, whale, waratah flower and gum tree. Compare the life stages and look for patterns. Observe growth of other living things. Show results using a timeline, graph, calendar or storyboard. This learning object is a combination of six objects in the same series.

This activity would also integrate with mathematics as students work with a timeline, graph and calendar.


Note:
* Students will need to know how to log on with their user name and password and how to access the Kidspace portal if it is not set as the home page.
* Students will need to be shown how to open an
email sent to them by double clicking on it.
* It would be advisable to complete the activity first as a whole class – show students how to navigate through the activity.

Teacher Instructions
1. Access the DET Portal by clicking on the link below:
https://portal.det.nsw.edu.au
2. Open your email account
3. Click on
'New' in the top left hand side
4. Click on the
'To' button, which opens the GAL - Global Address List.
5. Click in the
Alias field
6. Type a 'tilde' (
~) which is done by holding down the 'Shift" and Pressing the key above the 'Tab' key.
7. Then enter your school code next to the tilde.
8. Click on '
Find'
9. Select your class or tick the box next it (Apple) form the list that appears below.
10. Click
'To' from underneath this window
11. Click
'Close'
12. Highlight all the text in the Email Task section below.
13. Copy and Paste this text into your email text window
14. Press
'Send' - the lesson will then go to all students in your class.


This means up to 30 emails will be returned to you - if you do not wish to reply to each individual email then repeat the steps 4-11 to send one email to email the whole class thanking them for their efforts.


Email Task

1. Click on this link   http://tlf.dlr.det.nsw.edu.au/learningobjects/Content/L1472/object/index.html

2. Click on a picture of a plant or animal to find out its life cycle.

3. Read the instructions and click on the appropriate link to find out the life cycle.

4. Complete each activity to discover the life cycle of the following plants and animals:

Growing from an egg to a bird.
Crocodiles lay eggs too.
Butterflies are shape changers.
Whales have big babies.
Flowers have a short life.
Gum trees have a long life.

Discussion Questions:

1. Ask students to explain in their own words the different life cycles. 2. Students can describe the storyboard ‘Growing from an egg to a bird’ in their own words.
3. Students can talk through the flow chart ‘Crocodiles lay eggs too.’
4. ‘Butterflies are Shape Changers’ can be linked to the book ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’.
5. ‘Whales have big babies’ – students can brainstorm other animals that have big babies and find pictures of the babies on the internet through a google search. Student can graph their results.
6. ‘Flowers have a Short Life’ – students can keep a vase of flowers in the classroom. Students take digital camera photographs of the flowers daily and record changes they observe.