This Life Skills Program of Study was constructed for students in Stage 4, 5 and 6 within a Support Unit. Resources are taken from various websites and the booklet used is a TES resource (thank you!) Some resources can be found on Save Teacher’s Sundays. Teachers within a Support, Special Education or even mainstream setting, can easily adjust this program to suit the needs of your learners. Any reviews would greatly appreciated. Thanks.

These differentiated resources introduce students to Haiku, Tanka and Renga Japanese poetry by examining the form, use of syllables and environmental themes. The PowerPoints and accompanying worksheets are highly scaffolded and would work well in both a mainstream and Support classroom setting.

The unit engages students in a close study of Michael Morpurgo’s novel ‘Kensuke’s Kingdom’. Students will explore the themes, characters and techniques developed by the author and illustrate their understanding of these via a combination of creative and analytical tasks. Students will: • understand the features of a characterisation, narrative and themes and identify these throughout a close reading of the novel • develop their ability to infer meaning from the novel and consider their own interpretation of the concepts covered. • be introduced to analytical writing via the PEE formula and use quotations to support their points of view in their writing • recognise some basic narrative techniques and explain their use and effect on the viewer • adopt these narrative techniques in their own creative writing • use multimedia to compose an engaging Book Trailer. Any reviews or feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

This Australian thematic unit of work engages students in the study of three key areas of the concept of a journey; physical; inner and imaginative. It uses the film ‘Lion’ as a core text and other comparative material is studied including the Robert Frost’s poem ‘The Road Not Taken’; an overview of the autobiography ‘Tracks’ and the film ‘Big Fish’ by Tim Burton. Students will see the similarities and differences in these concepts and become familiar with the concept of the journey being the essential aspect, not necessarily the destination. The structure of this unit of work is based on the Stage 6 Area of Study studied in mainstream Standard English and modified to meet students’ needs.

This Social Skills program utilises outcomes from the Australian Curriculum in English and PDHPE. The program was designed after issues outside the classroom became known via my school’s Welfare team. This program was designed to explicitly teach what IS a healthy relationship and what choices or strategies are available when this is not the case.

Students will will be forming your their tourism company, which specialises in the fabulous country of their choice. The following TWO PARTS will need to be designed and completed for your project: Part 1: • Company name, logo, business card etc. • An itinerary of where students will take their customers and for how many days • Types of transport that will be using throughout certain parts • A TRAVEL BROUCHURE including FIVE different destinations and tourist attractions to be explored. • A cost package PART 2: Students then sell to the class their ULTIMATE JOURNEY TRAVEL PACKAGE in a 1-2 minute speech to the class.

This Life Skills Program of Study was designed to be delivered to Stage 4, 5 and 6 throughout an Australian Support Unit. The program makes various adjustments to meet the needs of learners who have a mild to moderate intellectual disability. The teaching and learning activities and resources are tailored to meet the age-appropriate needs of Secondary students and adjustments can easily be made to meet the highly personalised needs of your students. Any reviews or feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Students are provided with a modelled descriptive task where students are required to manually or electronically highlight the figurative techniques used. Students are then required to create their own descriptive passage using these techniques.

This cross-curricula program was designed for students to explore and engage with their local area. It incorporates various excursions and Community Access activities which worked extremely well with students who exhibit challenging behaviours or struggle to engage with the curriculum. This unit was a wonderful experience to deliver and the students thoroughly enjoyed being involved in their learning and incorporating their local knowledge into our learning experiences.

This program was designed for a multicategorical class in an Australian Support Unit (SEN) in which all of the students were diagnosed with ASD. The program worked on a small group or pair rotational basis and the students thoroughly enjoyed the transition between different Literacy areas of focus. This program would work well in any small group setting in which students are grouped on their areas of strength and areas for improvement.

This is a highly scaffolded worksheet which supports students in composing short Cinquain poems about themselves and fellow classmates. Great as ‘getting to know you’ or Social Skills activity.

This unit is designed to have students think critically about the advertisements they are exposed to in daily life. Students will learn a combination of persuasive devices used to persuade a target audience alongside the skills of visual literacy. Student will work with print, online, radio and television advertising material and learn to annotate these in detail. Students will be assessed on their ability to both analyse and create advertisements in these various forms with the unit concluding with students developing, planning and presenting a detailed advertising campaign on a new brand of bottled water.

These resources were designed for a high ability Year 7 class and led to creation of a Personal Narrative Folio consisting of 3 pieces of descriptive writing. Task 1: A description of a student’s first day of school Task 2: A description of a person a student admires Task 3: A recount of a student’s experience at school camp with an emphasis on using sensory imagery A marking rubric is included.

This is a simple yet highly effective worksheet in which students who experience challenging behaviours, sit down together (with teacher and SLSO/ Aide support) to share their ‘triggers’. These are noted on the sheet and the group discussed possible strategies for each student. This task encourages empathy and teamwork as the students work to identify their own barriers to their learning and/or communication with others, whilst thinking about their peers and what supports they may need when they are struggling. These sheets (best done in A3) can be displayed in the classroom so as to reinforce the significance and effectiveness of this task.

This program was designed for a Secondary Support Unit class and uses outcomes from the Australian Curriculum in English and PDHPE. It was created for my weekly Social Skills lessons and investigate what students know about healthy and unhealthy relationships. This is done by examining various forms of behaviours and communication; both inside and outside the school. Students will also explore their highly personalised triggers and how their response to conflict affects how they and others feel. They will learn techniques in identifying if they are feeling overwhelmed or develop strategies such as distancing themselves from stressors or asking for help from an appropriate adult. Resources, data and content have been taken from current evidence-based research in relation to adolescent mental health (e.g. R U OK?) and campaigns that have been released from Australian and U.K. Education Departments in addressing young peoples’ wellbeing. The sources and material used range from KS1-KS4 so that they are age-appropriate for both Primary and Secondary students in a Support Setting.

This program was designed to cater to the needs of an Australian SSP (School for Specific Purposes) class for students who exhibit challenging behaviours. The program was written for an Australian Stage 4 class (Years 7 and 8) but could easily be adapted for younger or older students. The outcomes are from the Australian Curriculum (mainstream) with adjustments made throughout to cater for students’ highly personalised learning and behaviour needs.

This program was designed to cater to the needs of an Australian SSP (School for Specific Purposes) class for students who exhibit challenging behaviours. The program was written for an Australian Stage 4 class (Years 7 and 8) but could easily be adapted for younger or older students. The outcomes are from the Australian Curriculum (mainstream) with adjustments made throughout to cater for students’ highly personalised learning and behaviour needs.

This unit of work is 10-weeks of planning and addresses the broad textual focus of informative writing. Teachers are encouraged to select a specific informative text type to focus on throughout the unit e.g. information report, factual description, explanation. In addition to this, learning is consistently personalised to each students’ interests and ability level as there are various content topics for students to write about e.g. objects, animals, phenomena and numerous scaffolds and differentiated resources throughout. The topic of Informative Texts is again reinforced throughout pair and small group reinforcement tasks that take place with the class SLSO. Students complete these tasks with 1:3 (maximum) support on a rotational basis throughout each 2-week learning cycle. Alongside this, the class teacher will be conducting the 1:1 Reinforced Reading component of the MultiLit Program. Levelled Informative Texts are read by the students at least once per 2-week learning cycle. The Pause, Prompt, Praise delivery of the program will allow the teacher to gauge reading fluency, accuracy and comprehension (verbally discussed after each 15 min reading session). The teacher will select 5 words of difficulty from the session and these are recorded by student in the back of their English book. Throughout the plenary of each lesson, the student will use each word in a written sentence in their books. Assessment of student goals, strengths and areas for improvement are consistently assessed via teacher questioning and discussion. The core key questions of the unit will be informally discussed and assessed using a student friendly Assessment Rubric throughout Weeks 9 and 10. Students will: • Complete a series of Literacy assessments which will benchmark their ability and areas for progress • Complete MultiLit’s 1:1 Reinforced Reading Program twice per week and have their progress assessed and charted fortnightly • Work in pair and individual settings as they complete levelled work on Informative Texts.

This unit of work addresses the text type of non-chronological report writing. Students are exposed to the various language and structural features that make up this type of text and are encouraged consistently to think about Purpose, Audience and Form. Students are introduced to this text type before working with the class teacher in modelling non-chronological texts before they go on to compose their own. Secondly, small groups will be working with the SLSO throughout each of these lessons in completing Literacy Tasks which focus on particular skills such a grammar and sentence structure. Students complete these tasks with 1:3 (maximum) support on a rotational basis throughout each 2-week learning cycle. Alongside this, the class teacher will be conducting the 1:1 Reinforced Reading component of the MultiLit Program. Levelled Informative Texts are read by the students at least once per 2-week learning cycle. The Pause, Prompt, Praise delivery of the program will allow the teacher to gauge reading fluency, accuracy and comprehension (verbally discussed after each 15 min reading session). The teacher will select 5 words of difficulty from the session and these are recorded by student in the back of their English book. Throughout the plenary of each lesson, the student will use each word in a written sentence in their books. Assessment of student goals, strengths and areas for improvement are consistently assessed via teacher questioning and discussion. The core key questions of the unit will be informally discussed and assessed using a student friendly Assessment Rubric throughout Weeks 9 and 10. Students will: • Complete a series of Literacy assessments which will benchmark their ability and areas for progress • Complete MultiLit’s 1:1 Reinforced Reading Program twice per week and have their progress assessed and charted fortnightly • Work in pair and individual settings with the class SLSO as they complete differentiated work on Literacy skills.

This unit is focused on identifying the key social skills and empathy required to be successful in working with others in a safe and respectful way. By learning to work together, regardless of individual differences, students build empathy and show kindness towards others. These are essential life skills for all people. This unit of work allows students who struggle with some or all these areas, to make substantial progress in these vital skills as they regularly practice them in a safe and supportive team building environment. Positive and respectful relationships occur when all parties feel respected, secure and supported in their interactions with one another. Positive relationships might look different between peers, between educators and children, between educators and families, and within families themselves. However, some common aspects include relationships where all parties: • listen to others’ needs and are respectful of their beliefs and values, even if they don’t share them • can be honest with each other • feel supported, encouraged and valued as they are • feel safe from any form of abuse or put-downs • plan and make decisions collaboratively • show empathy and feel understood, trusted and that they’re being treated fairly.