Reindeer Reflections: A Year of Growth
Create a legacy of positivity and inspiration in your classroom with Reindeer Reflections: A Year of Growth. Celebrate the end of the school year by showcasing your students’ achievements and encouraging them to leave their mark for the next class to admire.
The Reindeer Reflections: A Year of Growth activity is a meaningful end-of-year resource that encourages students to reflect on their personal and academic achievements throughout the school year. This engaging exercise helps students articulate their growth, memorable experiences, and lessons learned, contributing to a sense of accomplishment and closure for the year. The completed reflections can be displayed in the classroom, leaving a warm, welcoming message for the incoming class to read on their first day.
Educational Benefits:
• Promotes self-reflection and personal growth.
• Enhances social-emotional learning by recognising achievements and lessons.
• Fosters a positive classroom culture that celebrates student progress.
How to Use:
• Hand out the Reindeer Reflection sheets to each student.
• Guide students through reflecting on key moments, accomplishments, and growth during the year.
• Have students write their reflections on the template and decorate them.
• Display the completed reflections on the classroom wall as a motivational message for next year’s class.
Learning goals
- We are learning to create artworks that communicate ideas clearly through different materials and techniques.
- We are learning to use different art materials and techniques to create our own colorful artworks.
- We are learning to identify some familiar texts and their purpose, such as symbols (exit signs, school crossings, badges), stories and informative texts.
- We are learning to identify the people in our family, e.g. mother, father, grandparent, where they were born and raised and the relationships between family members.
- We are learning to investigate our own family structure and understand that other families in the community may look different.
- We are learning to discuss how language and images are used to create characters, settings and events in a range of texts.
- We are learning to understand the differences in family structures and roles today, and how these have changed or remained the same over time.
- We are learning to discuss and identify similarities and differences between the same topic presented in different types of texts.
- We are learning to understand the history of a significant person, building, site or part of the natural environment in the local community and what it reveals about the past.
- We are learning to describe our personal qualities and those of others, and explain how they contribute to developing our identities.
- We are learning to recognise how texts can be created for similar purposes but different audiences, e.g. different language choices for children and adults.
- We are learning to understand the celebrations and commemorations in places around the world (for example, Lunar New Year in countries of the Asia region), including those that are observed in Australia (for example, Christmas Day, ANZAC Day, NAIDOC Week, Diwali, Easter, Hanukkah, the Moon Festival and Ramadan).
- We are learning to identify, discuss and compare the language features of historical and contemporary texts with similar purposes and their portrayal of events.
- We are learning to understand the nature of contact between First Nations Australians and their Countries/Places following the arrival of the First Fleet and how this was viewed by First Nations Australians as an invasion.
- We are learning to identify how success, challenge, setbacks and failure help to strengthen our resilience, our capabilities and who we are.
Curriculum alignment
Create arts works that communicate ideas
AC9AVA2C01 9Use visual conventions, visual arts processes and materials to create artworks
AC9EFLY01 9 Identify some familiar texts, such as stories and informative texts, and their purpose AC9HSFK01 9 The people in their family, where they were born and raised, and how they are related to each other AC9HPFP01 9 Investigate who they are and the people in their world AC9E1LY01 9 Discuss different texts and identify some features that indicate their purposes AC9HS1K01 9 Differences in family structures and roles today, and how these have changed or remained the same over time AC9E2LY01 9 Identify how similar topics and information are presented in different types of texts AC9HS2K01 9 A local individual, group, place or building and the reasons for their importance, including social, cultural or spiritual significance AC9HP2P01 9Describe their personal qualities and those of others, and explain how they contribute to developing identities
AC9E3LY01 9 Recognise how texts can be created for similar purposes but different audiences AC9HS3K02 9 Significant events, symbols and emblems that are important to Australia’s identity and diversity, and how they are celebrated, commemorated or recognised in Australia, including Australia Day, Anzac Day, NAIDOC Week, National Sorry Day, Easter, Christmas, and other religious and cultural festivals AC9E4LY01 9 Compare texts from different times with similar purposes and audiences to identify similarities and differences in their depictions of events AC9HS4K04 9 The effects of contact with other people on First Nations Australians and their Countries/Places following the arrival of the First Fleet and how this was viewed by First Nations Australians as an invasion AC9HP4P01 9 Investigate how success, challenge, setbacks and failure strengthen resilience and identities in a range of contextsAustralian Curriculum covers QLD / SA / WA / NT / TAS / ACT.