Assessment Plan

Assessment Plan

Before learning activities begin

While students work on learning activities

After learning activities end

Introductory multimedia presentation Brainstorming activities Venn diagram Slip writing Gauging Needs Assessment(DOC 130KB) (formative) Y chart KWL

Anecdotal notes Questioning Guided discussion

Publishing software - Plant tag Self & peer assess Rating scale KWL Questioning Anecdotal

Growing (Plants) multimedia presentation rubric (DOC 33.5KB) Plant journal Questioning Conferencing Concept map Guided discussion Microsoft Publisher* - webpage

Plant tag rubric (DOC 32KB) KWL Plant journal Questioning Anecdotal notes Self & peer assess Guided discussion

Webpage creation software Rating scale Invitation Garden Tea Party

Summary
The whole class engages in a range of formative assessments to ascertain what students already know about gardens and growing plants. Students collaborate to create a successful garden. Students create, design and develop a garden based on the collective ideas of the class. The students then manage their own section of the garden based on their individual plans. Students learning’s and progress is observed, monitored and documented through a plant journal. Students complete a series of analysing tasks, to measure the success of the project. They gather and graph collated data and report their findings. The culminating project for this unit includes a Celebration of Seeing Change – "Garden Tea Party". This includes the preparation and planning of the event with invitations to school administration, parents and community partners to be held in the location of the newly created courtyard garden. Throughout this unit of work a living website is established. The site is updated throughout the unit to include factual information, journal entries, images of seeing change within the garden and the celebration.

Activity	Process and Purpose of Assessment
Thinking Skills
Introductory multimedia presentation	An introductory presentation is utilized to present the essential question as a thinking tool for students to engage in the concept of before and after while recognizing change through images.
Brainstorming	The teacher gains an understanding of the prior knowledge of the students. Through this process the teacher is able to consolidate and confirms the reasoning processes throughout this activity. The teacher evaluates what the students already know to scaffold learning and to create a platform for future direction within this unit. Students are able to interpret, analyze and evaluate the introductory process of the unit.
Venn diagram	The Venn diagram graphic organizer is utilized to compare and contrast information gathered from the brainstorming activity to establish common ground and future discussion and interaction.
Slip writing	Students use a slip of paper to draw/write facts they know about a particular topic they are then able to evaluate the plants by identifying and describing through text and images to establish reasoning in their decision making process.
Y chart	Students utilize a Y chart to employ their sensory skills in identifying the environment and elaborate on coping with the complexity of the needs necessary for living things.
Anecdotal notes	The teacher uses this strategy for informal assessment. Notes from observations of students problem solving, risk taking and interactions with individuals, groups and class discussions are recorded. Conferencing and plant journal notes are also recorded through this process.
Questioning	Teachers use questioning strategies to monitor student progress, probe for understanding, and engage students in higher-order thinking. Teachers use the questioning strategy during group, individual work time and conferences. Teachers also return to curriculum-framing questions throughout the project to analyze student understanding. It is important to use the questioning strategy at all stages of assessment before, middle and end.
Conferencing	The teacher schedules individual conferences to assess the students’ understanding of the unit of work, review the folio and student checklist and the progress of their work and allow for feedback, clarifying misunderstandings, or providing additional information if necessary. Checklist of the student’s progress will be recorded and other additional comments on their learning.
Processes
KWL	The teachers utilize the KWL teaching strategy for students to create ownership of their learning and knowledge needs. This strategy is used throughout the unit of work and revisited at critical junctures throughout the project for students, so they can identify were their knowledge base began, were they have progressed to and what direction they individually need to travel in. The teacher utilizes this strategy to reflect on the learning activities to date and to understand which students need further learning support to grasp concepts. The strategy also caters for visual representation to synthesis information for specific components of the unit.
Guided discussion	Guided discussion throughout this unit of work is used for team building and self evaluation. This process is used for the collaboration of ideas in the garden design, development and creation phase.
Self & peer assessment	On completion of the plant tag students are involved in a peer assessment/review to provide feedback to individual students on their publication communicating individual opinion based on a teacher devised rubric. Students then utilized as self management and reflective tool to revisit their plant tag for enhancement.
Rating scale	Students complete surveys at specific intervals within the unit. The survey data is graphed and used as an alternate form of determining and reading information for research purposes. Students are able to communicate in team work discussions and collaboratively plan for further enhancements for future measuring of success.
Concept map	The teacher uses the concept map strategy to provide a platform for students to understand and recall all aspects of a garden. This strategy is used at specific intervals throughout the unit as students develop their knowledge base and enhance their understanding of all aspects related to the garden. The teacher uses the concept map as a literacy tool throughout the unit eg: spelling words, phrasing and sentence construction. This activity can be done using inspiration software.
Products and Performance Tasks
Plant tag	Students create a plant tag that describes their specific plant and demonstrates their knowledge, research and ability to orderly document scientific information in a creative format. Students then apply this knowledge of plant and care information to make decisions about where to locate their plant in the garden.
Multimedia presentation - How to start a garden	This class activity involves students working collaboratively to creatively detail the process of starting a garde, and create a multimedia presentation. A timeline account is descriptively constructed to demonstrate student’s ability to effectively use previously scaffolded tasks in determining the process involved in starting a garden. This assessment instrument provides the ability to reflect on clearly structured and sequenced instructions. Students then utilize this presentation as a guide to kinesthetically work through the process.
Plant journal	Students complete entries about the growth of their plants. There are a series of scientific observations with the necessity to demonstrate problem solving skills through narrative writing and further during conferencing as persuasive speaking. Students identify and describe problems and make changes to solve problems by modifying conditions. The student’s journal incorporates a time line frame work to report their account of the entire unit. It is envisaged in laptop schools that this would take the format of a digital folio providing students with the opportunity for skill demonstration, simulation and artistic and creative individual performance.
Webpage	The class collaboratively creates a webpage. Each student is required to work independently in small groups and within the whole class to contribute to the web page creation. Students will complete their individual fact sheets that will be uploaded a sample of random plant tags and journal entries, links to relevant site utilized throughout the unit along with images and creative writings of reflection from the celebration of seeing change.
Garden Tea Party invitation	Students create an invitation. The formal layout of an invitation is collaboratively discussed and students individually demonstrate their skill and ability to creatively plan and produce invitations for administration, parents and community partners.

© The State of Queensland (Department of Education, Training and the Arts) 2006 (DOC 31KB).
* Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

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