Our Growing Tree of Oranges - Classroom Activity
The Our Growing Tree of Oranges - Classroom Activity is designed for students to reflect on their personal growth and accomplishments throughout the year. Each student writes their achievements on orange-shaped cut-outs, which are then added to a collaborative classroom display. This visual activity not only highlights individual progress but also strengthens the classroom’s sense of community and collective growth.
Learning goals
- We are learning to identify and practise emotional responses.
- We are learning to use comprehension strategies to find literal and inferred meaning in texts.
Curriculum alignment
Identify and practise emotional responses that account for own and others’ feelings
ACELY1660 8.4 Use comprehension strategies to build literal and inferred meaning about key events, ideas and information in texts that they listen to, view and read by drawing on growing knowledge of context, text structures and language features ACHASSI034 8.4 Pose questions about past and present objects, people, places and eventsAustralian Curriculum covers QLD / SA / WA / NT / TAS / ACT.
Differentiation
Modifications
• For Students Needing Support:
- Guided Sentence Starters: Use sentence starters like “I am proud of…” or “This year I learned…”.
- Partner Assistance: Pair students to brainstorm and discuss their reflections before writing.
- Visual Cues: Display completed oranges as examples to guide and inspire students.
• For Students Ready for a Challenge:
- Detailed Reflections: Encourage more comprehensive explanations of achievements and lessons learned.
- Peer Teaching: Allow students to present their reflections and discuss what they learned with the class.
- Creative Customisation: Let students decorate their orange cut-outs with patterns or drawings that represent their growth.
Extensions
• Class Book Compilation: Assemble the orange cut-outs into a class book that showcases each student’s year-long progress.
• Presentation Practice: Facilitate student presentations to build speaking and listening skills.
• Goal Planning: Transition this activity into goal-setting for the next term by linking past achievements with future objectives.