How to teach Foundation Year History to meet the ACARA elaborations

If you're new to teaching HASS this year or just need a refresher about the Australian Standards (ACARA) for History this is the place for you!

I'm an experienced HASS teacher for early years so over the next few months I will guide you through Foundation to Year 3 HASS expectations based on the ACARA.

First things first, HASS means Humanities and Social Sciences (if you didn't already know) and covers History and Geography in Foundation (Prep) to Year 3. In Year 3 onward you now get the joy of teaching Civics and Citizenship as well as History and Geography! More about THAT later..

For now.. Foundation Year teachers. 

What does HASS History cover, when should you teach it, how should you assess it and what resources you will need?

Let me guide you through.

Firstly, if you haven't already purchased my Foundation Year History Pack (available in my store in AUD here or my TpT store in USD here) then why not join over 850 Aussie teachers and download a pack today. It will save you a LOT of time, worry and stress. NB: if you've already purchased this pack, be sure to download the updated version (as of 22nd December 2018).

Inside the pack you will find curriculum-alignment sheets, such as this one below, to guide you through the curriculum elaborations and step-by-step instructions on how to implement each activity.

What does Foundation Year History cover?

As with all other Foundation Year subjects, History moves students from their known world to the unknown world. The known world of your Foundation Year students is their family. Foundation Year History explores who their family members are, how their families are structured and how family traditions and memories are shared.

When should you teach Foundation Year History?

I strongly recommend you begin the year with History and finish with Geography. The reason for this is that you can easily integrate the History curriculum with the activities that are already being undertaken in your classroom at the start of the year. These activities include making a birthday wall with students (not before they arrive) and creating a classroom calendar (sequencing events), getting to know students (family structures and photographs of family members) and exploring celebrations early in the year such as ANZAC Day (how events are celebrated or commemorated).

How should you assess Foundation Year History?

Any new Foundation Year teachers will possibly panic when they see the standard of work expected from 5 and 6 year olds by ACARA but any experienced Foundation Year teacher will tell you it IS possible to gather evidence through work samples and prompted activities.

The key point is to keep things simple. Be clear about what you want your students to say or do to demonstrate their understanding of the concepts covered. For example, show students pictures of families and see if they can establish who the father, mother, grandparents and children are. Ask them; how do you know this? to assess their vocabulary and visual comprehension skills. Undertake LOTS of modelling of your own family - this is me, these are my children etc.

Use vocabulary cards to build students' understanding of key terms, this will assist students in providing a clearer response in their final assessment.

Undertake one-on-one assessments such as the family sequencing activity. Can they name the members of their families? Who is the oldest, who is the youngest? Use a tick and flick sheet to quickly record students' responses in a busy classroom (aim to do this activity for 2-3 minutes each student over several days).

Think about what you want students to say. What is the expectation of this unit? This is something your year level will need to agree on. What does an A look like (there are assessment examples in ACARA but remember the guidelines expect students to be taught to a C standard). 

What resources will you need?

You can use a lot of your own items from home, in fact this should be essential to keep the content relevant to students. Bring in photographs of your own family, draw up your own family tree as an example and discuss your own family memories. How do you remember events in your family? What celebrations do you have?

There are a great range of early years books for discussing family celebrations. I have discussed these before in this blog post - click here.

You will also find the Foundation Year History Pack an absolutely must in your planning, especially if your school works directly from ACARA.

Here is what other teachers have said about the pack:

"This resource is a life saver ! thank you for taking the time to create it. I can't wait to use it"

"I cannot rate this product any higher! It is fantastic!"

"Great unit. Can't wait to use again next year!"

"Great to see more quality Australian based resources."

"Everything I needed to cover the entire curriculum. Thank you."

"Great thank you, fit in perfectly with our unit!"

"Can not wait to use for our family unit next term. so clear and concise."

"This is such an amazing resource!!! It aligns perfecting with Australian Curriculum outcomes. Thank you for all this hard work.

"Very useful for helping me to plan my HASS unit this semester. Thank you!"

"Love saving time with helpful resources well-aligned with our curriculum requirements. Thanks!"

"Great quality resource for Prep History. Thank you so much. It is exactly what we need."

"Absolutely amazing resource. I've been using this with my prep class over the past few weeks. The worksheets are very easy to explain and the kids have no trouble with them at all. I printed and laminated the family members and had my students order them from oldest to youngest and they loved it!"

"Fantastic thank you, saving me hours of work and making history so much fun!"

To download a free preview visit my TpT store link here.

or visit my Australian shop here.