NAIDOC Week

My blog has had a lot of foot traffic lately and I've noticed that most people have been interested in my NAIDOC Week posts. I love NAIDOC week. It's a great opportunity for us to teach students (and ourselves) about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history and culture. But I also know that it can be a stressful time, when you want to do the occasion justice but you're stuck for ideas.

So today I thought I'd share with you what my school has done around this week/ day.

Earlier this week we celebrated NAIDOC day. We began our day with a whole-school assembly that was run by our Kulcha Club (ATSI students). We had a Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony by a local Dharug man and then our Kulcha Club performed the beautiful lullaby, 'Inanay' (you can hear a version of the song HERE). Our Kulcha Club met one lunchtime a week, every week, for the whole of Term 2 in preparation for NAIDOC day. The students wore red, yellow or black shirts for the assembly, which they had painted with handprints prior to the day.

Kulcha Club running the K-6 Assembly on the basketball court

After our assembly, students participated in either rotational activities or they watched a performance. And then after recess classes swapped. If they were watching the performance they were then participated in rotational activities and vice versa.

Each grade ran their own rotational activities. For my grade (Year 4) one teacher ran a dancing activity, another read Dreamtime stories, the third teacher had students create artworks and finally I ran a language activity. Other grades ran different activities chosen by the teachers, however, all staff members were given a list of ideas in the lead up to the day.

Notebook file with a variety of Darug words and greetings

Pretend fire that was the centre of our yarning circle

The performances we had, introduced students to dancing and the didgeridoo. There was also story telling and information about Aboriginal culture and history from Elders.

Elder Big Al telling the Stage 2 students a story

In the afternoon, classes had time to participate in activities within their own rooms or they could play games found in the Yulunga document (you can download a copy HERE). This PDF is filled with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander games and activities for all ages and group sizes.

Prior to our NAIDOC day, classes also participated in our Doorways Project. Originally the idea was that classes would create a collaborative artwork, along with a story, and then this artwork would be hung outside of the classroom (hence "doorways project"). However in the end, we hung them up in the School Hall as we didn't want them to get weathered.

My class' collaborative painting based on the story 'The Legend of the Seven Sisters'

Artworks made by Stage 2 and 3 classes ready to be hung up in the hall

Like any whole-school event, there are always hiccups along the way. Despite a few little mishaps, I believe our NAIDOC day was a huge success. 

Thank you to the Aboriginal Education Team at RPS for putting the day together!

I would love to hear about what your school does for NAIDOC week. 
Please post your comments below…