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… 

NAIDOC week 2016: Songlines

The theme for NAIDOC week 2016 is Songlines: The Living Narrative of our Nation.

But what exactly are "Songlines"?

For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, the Dreamtime describes a time when the earth, people and animals were created by our ancestral spiritual beings. They created the rivers, lakes, plants, land formations and living creatures.

Dreaming tracks crisscross Australia and trace the journeys of our ancestral spirits as they created the land, animals and lores. These dreaming tracks are sometimes called ‘Songlines’ as they record the travels of these ancestral spirits who 'sung' the land into life.

These Songlines are recorded in traditional songs, stories, dance and art. They carry significant spiritual and cultural connection to knowledge, customs, ceremony and Lore of many Aboriginal nations and Torres Strait Islander language groups.

Songlines are intricate maps of land, sea and country. They describe travel and trade routes, the location of waterholes and the presence of food. In many cases, Songlines on the earth are mirrored by sky Songlines, which allowed people to navigate vast distances of this nation and its waters.

This information and more can be found on the NAIDOC website.

This theme is perfect for making a small unit of work around! I think it's really important to incorporate the ATSI perspective throughout all teaching… however, it can be very tokenistic if not done authentically. NAIDOC week is a great opportunity for ALL teachers to spend quality time teaching about Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander histories and culture.

I have searched the internet and I have found four brilliant units of work that I'd like to share with you. I also have a few ideas of my own around the theme of Songlines.

I found this on Pinterest- no direct link to anywhere -
but I thought it would be a cute addition to
'The Rainbow Serpent' unit.

Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2):
Reading Australia have created an impressive unit of work around Dick Roughsey's 'The Rainbow Serpent'. I'm in love with this book and this unit has a collection of lessons that help students to develop a deeper understanding of Songlines. You can find a copy of the unit of work HERE.

Stage 2 (Years 3 and 4):

The Australian Curriculum Lessons website have published a fantastic unit entitled 'Aboriginal Dreamtime Stories'. You can find it HERE.

Stage 3 (Years 5 and 6):

The National Literacy and Numeracy week have published and project that they had conducted called 'Dhurri Birrilii-gal Burruguu' (Children Write Dreamtime Stories). Following the project results, is a copy of a simple yet very effective program aimed primarily at Year 5 students. You can find it HERE.

The Western Australian Department of Education have created a program entitled 'Aboriginal Dreamtime Stories'. The program is quite detailed and is an excellent resource for Years 5 through to 7. You can find it HERE.

Finally… I thought I'd share with you what I will be doing with my class.

I have decided to spend some quality time studying 'The Legend of the Seven Sisters' by Mary L O'Brien and Sue Wyatt. This beautiful picture book explains a Sky Path that the Aboriginal people would use to help them navigate longer journeys.

I will start by explaining what the 2016 theme means. I have found a couple of youtube videos that I will show my students to help explain the theme Songlines. 

Video 1: What are Songlines?
Video 2: NAIDOC Week 2016

Alma Nungarrayl Granites - Seven Sisters

Once I am confident that students understand the theme, I thought that it would then be a great time to introduce 'The Legend of the Seven Sisters' and read it aloud to the class.

The plan is to then show students a variety of artworks about the Seven Sisters. The Japingka Gallery have a wide selection of beautiful artworks, including the one pictured right. I've actually fallen in love with them and that's why I thought it would be a great idea for students to paint their own version.

As we live in the Sydney area, I thought it would be a good idea to study some of the constellations in our night sky and paint them using dots. Students will use dotting techniques to portray important constellations, such as The Southern Cross and The Big Dipper. 

We will be celebrating NAIDOC week during Week 5 of Term 3. I will update you all with how my lesson went and what the artworks look like, once we're complete. 

So stay tuned for more! Feel free to join my Mailing List so that you can be updated about future posts!