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… 

National Reconciliation Week 2017

Today, on National Sorry Day, 
I add my personal apology to the families of the Stolen Generations.
I am sorry for how our country treated you, 
and commit to standing with you towards reconciliation and justice.

Sorry Day - 26th May
Reconciliation Week - 27th May to 3rd June
Mabo Day - 3rd June

Yesterday was National Sorry Day and the beginning of Reconciliation Week for 2017. So I thought I'd share a couple of AMAZING resources that I have found that could help explain this very important week to you children/ students.

But before we get started, let's talk about WHY this year in particular is so important!

This year is a HUGE year as it is the 50 Year Anniversary of the 1967 Referendum where we saw the removal of the words ‘… other than the aboriginal people' from our constitution.

It is also the 25 Year Anniversary of the Mabo Decision which involved Eddie Mabo challenging the Australian legal system in recognising the right of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the Traditional Owners of their land.

And the 20 Year Anniversary of the 'Bringing them Home' Report, which was a National inquiry into the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families.​

There's a lot of stuff in there. There's a lot to remember and a lot of pain to dig up. That's why I was completely blown away after reading Jennifer Castles' 'Say Yes'. Not only are the illustrations absolutely beautiful (thank you Paul Seden) but it explains the importance behind the 1967 Referendum clearly. Castles uses a number of examples to delicately show how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were treated prior to the Referendum. 

While Castles respectfully recognises that some people believe that the Referendum was a waste of time as not a lot had changed, she states that if we look back we can see that slowly ("very slowly") some positive changes have happened.

This book is a must-read. I highly recommend that you get your hands on a copy!


While searching around the internet, I also stumbled across a number of resources that have been put together by Twinkl. There's lots of resources that can be used and adapted. I particularly like their PowerPoint presentations on Reconciliation Week and Sorry Day.

Screenshot from the Twinkl website.

Don't forget to check out BTN (Behind the News) as well. They tend to cover lots and lots of topics and present the information in a kid-friendly format. They have an episode that covers Reconciliation Week, another that covers Mabo Day and finally one that was released just this week about the 1967 Referendum.

Also remember that the National Reconciliation Week website has lots and lots of ideas. You can download their teaching and learning resources HERE.

Glenmore Park Learning Alliance

Every now and then you come across a gem of a website and you just have to share. Today I would like to write about the 'Glenmore Park Learning Alliance' web page. I fortunately work at a school that is a part of this Learning Alliance and have been apart of the process for a couple of years now.

The short story is that the NSW Syllabus' were introduced and a few schools in the Glenmore Park area (Penrith) decided to join up and create programs together to be shared. What started as a group of four schools has now burst into ELEVEN (and counting) schools.

The Alliance has created programs for Kindergarten right through to Year 6 and cover English, Mathematics, Science and History (at this point in time).

I have been teaching from these programs for the last three years and it has definitely eased the load of programming.

I highly recommend that you check out the website and share with your teacher friends!

You can access the website HERE.