Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

5 minutes	Reflection
20 minutes	Extension For Students Who Are Completing The Full Unit

Part A: Activating Prior Knowledge - What Is An Island?

Step 1.

Begin the lesson by creating an outline of an island on the board, similar to the one below:

Explain to students that this is an island. Invite students to suggest a definition for the word ‘island’. Suggested answer: An island is a piece of land surrounded by water.

Step 2.

You can then explain to students that islands come in all shapes and sizes, and include all sorts of natural geographical features.

Optional: Take a few minutes to invite students to share what they already know about islands, for example:

What is the world's largest island? Suggested answer: Greenland is officially the world's largest island that is not a continent. Australia is a continent. However, Australia is larger than Greenland so if Australia wasn't considered a continent it would be the world's largest island.
Have you ever been to an island? If so, where and what natural geographical features did it have?

Fact check: What is a natural geographical feature? These are the components of a place that are naturally occurring, like bodies of water or landforms.

Invite student volunteers to come up to the board and add natural geographical features to the picture of the island, recalling things they have seen in pictures/movies of islands or through their own experiences. Examples of geographical features could include:

Mountains and valleys
Volcanos
Rivers and lakes
Beaches and rocky shorelines
Coral reefs around the island
Animals
Plants

Through this process, explain to students that islands are fascinating places. The idea that an island can be hard to get to and that it is cut off from the rest of the world inspires our imaginations; we believe the island may be untouched or have a secretive element. In addition, we can imagine that islands are home to some of the strangest plants and animals on the planet because they are secluded places.

Explain to students that through this lesson (and the others in this unit) that they will be looking at the value of islands to humans and the environment by focusing on an island found off the coast of Australia; Lord Howe Island.

Part B: What And Where Is Lord Howe Island?

Step 1.

Now pose the question:

What do you already know about Lord Howe Island?

If students have anything to share, record their ideas on the board.

Step 2.

Now direct students to your map of Australia and invite them to try and find Lord Howe Island. Use the following clues to guide students.

Lord Howe Island is:

In the South Pacific Ocean
In the Tasman Sea
Considered part of New South Wales
About 700km from Sydney
At the same latitude as Port Macquarie.

Step 3.

Once you have located Lord Howe Island, explain to students that this is not a flat, desert island; instead, it has mountains, rainforests, abundant wildlife, beaches and coral reefs.

You could share some images of Lord Howe Island with students or play the following clip:

Lord Howe Island 4K 2019 https://youtu.be/OmQmWuFyeDg

Once students have adjusted to the fact that they are actually still in the classroom and not on Lord Howe Island, you can invite them to share some of their reflections from the clip/images they saw. You could use the following questions:

What did you find interesting about what you saw?
What natural geographic features did you observe?
What animals did you see?
What types of plants did you notice?

Through this process, explain to students that not only is Lord Howe Island an incredibly beautiful place, but that it also has high environmental value. They will now work in groups to explore some of these details.

Step 4.

Students will now create a map of Lord Howe Island. Students can work independently or in pairs/groups to create their maps (small, mixed ability groups would work well for this activity).

Give each group a copy of the Lord Howe Island - Overview Factsheet and invite them to read through it, annotating the factsheet to highlight any points they find particularly important or interesting.

You can also give each group a copy of this image (outline of Lord Howe Island) and drawing materials (note: you could adjust the size of the map that students make based on whether students are working independently or in pairs/groups, with students working collaboratively creating larger maps).

Each group is to create a detailed, coloured map of Lord Howe Island. The map should include:

Major natural geographical features (students should create a key of features and include these in the map) - features could include mountains, rivers, waterfalls, beaches These could be based on the geographical features of Lord Howe Island - see here
Highest point on the island
Major human-made features, such as town and airstrip
BOLTSS Conventions
Any details from the factsheet that could be transcribed onto the map.

The complexity of each of these requirements can be adjusted to suit the ability of your students and their prior knowledge of map creation.

Extension: In addition, students can create a series of labels that can be added to the map. These could include:

Year 5 -

Facts about climatic conditions
Locations where particular plant and animals species have been observed
Variation in plant species in different places

Year 6 -

Facts about climatic conditions
Locations where particular plant and animals species have been observed (these could be included in the key)
Variation in plant species in different places
Sites of major events in human history of the island and a one-sentence summary of the event
The inclusion of Admiralty Islands

Some resources students could use to guide their map-making could include:

Lord Howe Island Nature Tours (http://lordhowe-tours.com.au/) - Lots of information about the ecology and geographical features of the island
World Heritage Places - Lord Howe Island Group (https://bit.ly/3oMJXqa) - Information about the island and its World Heritage status
Lord Howe Island - Just Paradise (https://lordhoweisland.info/) - Lots of images and information about the environment and animals of the island
Wikipedia - Lord Howe Island (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LordHowe_Island) - Good for background information
The Maritime Heritage Project - Lord Howe Island (https://www.maritimeheritage.org/ports/AustraliaLordHowe_Island.html) - Some information about the human history on the island

Step 5.

Once students have completed their maps, invite each pair/group/student to team up with another pair/group/students to share their maps. Students should discuss (also available on the Student Worksheet):

What is similar about the details included in the maps?
What is different?
Something that works well on the map (“I like the way…”)
One thing that could be improved (“Next time it might be good to…”).

Step 6.

Each student should now work independently to create a Padlet page where they can store all their research and work around Lord Howe Island. The page should be titled ‘(Name’s) Lord Howe Island Library’ (or something similar). Students should take a photo of their map and upload it to the Padlet. In addition, they should create a series of additional points that feature interesting facts or images they found that relate to Lord Howe Island, with explanations about what these are and why they have included them.

You could differentiate the amount and type of information to be included based on age and ability.

Note: Students completing the full unit of lessons will refer back to this Padlet in future lessons as well as adding new information.

Reflection

Invite students to work independently to respond to the following (also available on the Student Worksheet):

Three things I learned from this lesson
Two questions I have about this lesson
One thing I enjoyed about this lesson

Extension For Students Who Are Completing The Full Unit

Invite students to remember the outline drawing of Lord Howe Island that they created their maps from. Then ask them to take a piece of paper (or use their workbooks) to create an outline of another island (it can be imaginary).

Explain to them that this is their own island, one that they get to design from their imaginations. Using the outline they can start adding some ideas about natural geographical features that they would like on their island - does it have mountains, rivers, waterfalls and forests? Or is it a desert island with just a small clump of trees in the middle? It’s up to students to decide!

Give students some time to record some rough ideas for their island design and a name for their island, explaining that they will get the chance to improve and perfect their plan at a later time.

Students should keep their island drawing in a folder that can be accessed throughout the rest of the unit.

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching practice today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

Lord Howe Island - An Introduction

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