Year 6 teacher guidelines

Assessment portfolio: Building our ideal community

This is a text version of Year 6 teacher guidelines. Along with this accessible version, which you can either print or use online, we also have the same guidelines available as a PDF – Year 6 teacher guidelines (PDF, 201KB)This link will download a file.

Assessment description

The assessment that has been developed for this resource is drawn from activities in the resource itself. Activities from each topic have been identified to form a portfolio of work. Each activity enables teachers to gather evidence of student performance in relation to aspects of the Australian Curriculum achievement standards for English, Mathematics, HASS and HPE. Teachers can select activities and related assessment items that best suit their student and programming needs. The unit of work was developed using the Backwards design process as detailed below.

Stage 1: Desired results

Achievement standards for English

Students:

• Receptive modes    
  • listen to discussions, clarifying content and challenging others’ ideas.
• Productive modes    
  • create persuasive texts for different purposes and audiences
  • create detailed texts elaborating on key ideas for a range of purposes and audiences
  • make presentations and contribute actively to class and group discussions, using a variety of strategies for effect
  • demonstrate an understanding of grammar, and make considered vocabulary choices to enhance cohesion and structure in their writing
  • use accurate spelling and punctuation for clarity and make and explain editorial choices based on criteria.

Achievement standards for Mathematics

Students:

• solve problems involving all four operations with whole numbers
• connect fractions, decimals and percentages as different representations of the same number
• interpret and compare a variety of data displays including those displays for two categorical variables
• calculate a simple fraction of a quantity
• write correct number sentences using brackets and order of operations
• locate an ordered pair in any one of the four quadrants on the Cartesian plane

Achievement standards for HASS

Students:

• describe how people, places, communities and environments are interconnected
• describe the rights and responsibilities of Australian citizens
• recognise why choices about the allocation of resources involve trade-offs
• explain why it is important to be informed when making consumer and financial decisions
• locate and collect useful data and information from secondary sources.
• interpret data to identify, describe and compare distributions, patterns and to infer relationships, and evaluate evidence to draw conclusions
• organise and represent data in a range of formats, including large-scale maps, using appropriate conventions
• collaboratively generate alternative responses to an issue, use criteria to make decisions and identify the advantages and disadvantages of preferring one decision over others
• reflect on their learning to propose action in response to an issue or challenge and describe the probable effects of their proposal
• present ideas, findings, viewpoints and conclusions in a range of communication forms that incorporate source materials, mapping, graphing, communication conventions and discipline-specific terms.

Achievement standards for Health and Physical Education

Students:

• describe the significance of physical activity participation to health and wellbeing
• examine how physical activity, celebrating diversity and connecting to the environment support community wellbeing and cultural understanding
• demonstrate skills to work collaboratively.

Source

ACARA, The Australian CurriculumExternal Link v8.3,

Transfer

Students will be able to independently use their learning to:

• understand and enact the values, civic rights and responsibilities at the heart of a democratic society
• demonstrate respect for others and their rights and act in ways that promote inclusion
• reflect on the values which underpin Australian communities
• value the contribution that individuals make to their communities through volunteering and paying taxes
• set short and long-term savings goals and make informed financial decisions
• work collaboratively to problem solve issues and draw conclusions
• appreciate the importance of physical activity and the environment in connecting community members.

Meaning

Students will understand that:

• all Australians have rights and responsibilities
• the government protects our rights and responsibilities
• taxation is used to pay for goods and services that benefit all Australians
• all Australians contribute to taxation through their income and/or what they buy
• there are different taxation models that are used to ensure the system is fair
• saving requires planning and making informed choices
• superannuation plays a role in meeting future needs and wants.

Essential questions:

• What is democracy?
• What values underpin Australian communities?
• What are our rights and responsibilities?
• What is the role of government in my community?
• What is fair?
• How is our taxation system fair?
• Where does taxation go?
• What is the difference between short-term and long-term goals?
• Why should I set saving goals?
• What is superannuation?
• What do I think makes an ideal community?

Acquisition

Students will know:

• the rights, responsibilities and values which exist in a democratic system
• the organisations that lend a helping hand in their community
• taxation is a system
• the difference between resources and services and distinguish between those that are public and those that are private
• equivalent fractions, decimals and percentages
• three different taxation models
• where the government allocates taxation
• the difference between short-term and long-term goals
• the costs and opportunities of savings
• the purpose of superannuation.

Students will be skilled at:

• reflecting on their role in the community
• identifying goods, services and business
• using mathematical language to describe fair
• calculating equivalent fractions, decimals and percentages
• proposing and evaluating solutions
• using mathematical reasoning to solve real-world problems
• constructing and interpreting graphical representations
• designing and explaining simple budgets
• creating scaled maps
• using efficient mental and written mathematical strategies
• making informed decisions
• setting short and long-term goals
• working collaboratively
• planning, rehearsing and delivering presentations
• composing persuasive texts

Stage 2: Assessment evidence

Assessment evidence for activities by topic

Topic	Activity	Product
Topic 1: Community rights and responsibilities	Activity 3: What is a democracy – Video stimulus Activity 4: Rights and responsibilities – Sorting game Activity 7: Creating our ideal community – Group planning	Graphic organisers: Students complete the provided graphic organiser individually while viewing the video ‘What is democracy’ and collaboratively use a Venn diagram to sort rights and responsibilities Personal response: Students explain the importance of each value of Australia’s democracy and select three rights and phrase them as personal responsibilities Community planning template part 1: Students collaboratively research and decide on their ideal community’s profile and the rights and responsibilities of citizens and individually explain how and why their community values diversity
Topic 2: Community support	Activity 2: Helping hands in the community – Visual stimulus Activity 4: Taxation as a system – What if? Activity 6: Creating our ideal community – Group planning	Helping hands template: Students consider ways they can contribute to their communities and reflect on the difference these actions may make Visual representations and Group consequences chart: Students create a visual representation of the tax system and identify consequences caused by changes to parts of the system Written explanation: Students select public resources/services in their ideal community that support physical activity and connecting to the environment and explain how these services or resources contribute to community wellbeing
Topic 3: Collecting tax fairly	Activity 2: Unequal contribution – Modelling Activity 4: Tax models – Worksheet and discussion Activity 5: Creating our ideal community – Group planning	Representing fractions, decimals and percentages worksheet: Students represent the same number in different ways and locate these on a number line Tax models worksheet: Students apply different tax models to calculate the amount of tax payable Community planning template part 3: Students individually decide on the tax models their community should use and justify their choice
Topic 4: Responsible government spending	Activity 3: Social security and welfare – The distribution game Activity 5: Creating our ideal community – Group planning	Distribution of wealth worksheet: Students construct and interpret data displays to show how wealth is shared in a hypothetical economy Community planning template, Part 4, 5 and 6: Students complete the three resource sheets in this activity, aspects of which are completed either collaboratively or individually. The tasks include research, community budget, a map and the location of government services
Topic 5: Saving and superannuation	Activity 2: How to reach your goals – Budgeting Activity 3: The benefits and costs of saving – Estimating Activity 4: Long-term saving – Saving worksheet Activity 6: Reflection – Jingle or tap Activity 7: Extension - Presentation	Budget help worksheet: Students develop budgets and decide on what actions to take to reach financial goals Photographic evidence: Students use mini-whiteboards (or notebooks) to show their chosen estimation strategy. Photographs are taken of their working. Saving worksheet: Students individually complete the calculations and reflection questions on this worksheet. Jingle script: Students collaboratively create a jingle to promote the benefits of superannuation Recording: Students produce an audio or video recording of their jingle being performed.
Topic 6: Our ideal community	Activity 3: Community pitch – Preparing to present Activity 4: Presenting the pitch – Community group presentations	Written pitch: Students individually write a pitch for their ideal community Presentation: Students present their pitch to an audience N.B Assessment evidence from earlier topics should be embedded into the multi-modal presentation as appropriate.

There are several opportunities throughout this resource for students to work with others, either in pairs, groups or as a class. Interactions, discussions and participation in groups should be observed when appropriate. The rubrics indicate when observations may be required.

Judgments about performance

When making judgments about evidence of student performance, teachers are advised to use the assessment rubrics.

Stage 3: Learning plan

The content descriptions that teachers may include in their teaching programs can be draw from the mapping documents. These include links to the general capabilities.

Topics:

1. Community rights and responsibilities
2. Community support
3. Collecting tax fairly
4. Responsible government spending
5. Savings and superannuation
6. Our ideal community

Return to:

• Years 5–6