Activity 1: Reconnecting with prior learning - What is Country, and why do we care for it?

Activity 1: Reconnecting with prior learning - What is Country, and why do we care for it?

Focus: Building personal connections with the living environment around us.

Possible overarching question: What makes our Country feel alive, and why should we care for it?

Step by step guide

• Step 1: Connecting to students’ prior learning

• Step 2: Exploring through discovery stations

• Step 3: Collating observations and creating an “Our Country is Alive” display

• Step 4: Reflection and sharing

Required Resources

• Teacher Support Material

• Mat, piece of fabric or picnic rug

• What is Country poster

• Cloth bag with 5 - 6 local objects: smooth stone, creek pebble, eucalyptus leaf or gumnut, shell, feather, cotton ball “cloud”, etc. (prepare prior to activity)

• Land, Water, Sky Country heading cards

• Land, Water, Sky Country posters

• Discovery station materials (prepare prior to activity, see Step 2 for details)

• Noticing card templates

• Mini Ngarrngga picture frames

• Three case study pieces from the 65,000 Years A Short History of Australian Art Exhibition (including did you notice cards)

• Sticky notes or speech bubbles

Step 1: Connecting to students’ prior learning

Gather students in a circle outdoors if possible. Spread the mat in the centre and explain that it represents Country. Undertake an Acknowledgement of Country and invite everyone to rest a hand on the mat and say, “Thank you, Country.”

To reconnect with last year’s learning, hold up the What is Country? poster used in Foundation. Tell students, “Some of you might remember this from last year. Let’s see what comes back to us.” Invite them to share what they see and think: a child might point out the rainbow or the emu, another the flowing water.

As they speak, weave in the language of Land Country, Water Country and Sky Country, encouraging them to locate each item within one of those parts. Remind students of one of the key takeaways from last year:

Country is everything working together: land, water, sky, plants, animals and people. It is all family.

Next, introduce the cloth mystery bag. Explain, “Country has sent us some treasures, like the ones in this picture. Let’s discover where each belongs.” Draw out the first object and pass it around the circle for slow, gentle touch, smell and close looking. Ask, “What do you notice?” Pause to let descriptive language emerge (rough, shiny, smells fresh, light as air). Then ask, “Where might this treasure belong, Land, Water or Sky Country? Why?” Encourage students to justify their response. Accept layered answers, for example, a feather travels through Sky, then rests on Land. Place the object on the corresponding heading card and repeat with the remaining treasures until the bag is empty.

To close, stand back and appreciate the growing collection with the class. Prompt them to reflect:

• Do we have something from each part of Country?

• Which treasure seems to connect two places at once?

Emphasise that these objects, like the images on the poster, are all related, they are all family.

Finally, signal the next stage of learning: “Now that we’ve greeted Country, remembered our learning from Foundation, and explored its treasures, we’ll move around the room to meet even more of Country’s family and think about ways to care for them.”

Step 2: Exploring through discovery stations

Discovery stations overview:

• Land Country: trays of soil/sand/rocks, leaf litter, magnify glasses, texture-rubbing cards photos of landscapes, soundscapes of landscapes

• Water Country: shells/pebbles, creek and other waterbodies photos, droppers & water beads, running water or ocean soundscape

• Sky Country: cloud photos, star wheel, torch “sun,” rain/thunder soundscape

• Living Things: toy insects and animals, pressed leaves/flowers, plants, bird call soundscape

• Stories of Country: picture books focusing on aspects of Country some suggestions

1. Eight text series from Ros Moriarty and illustrations by Balarinji title include: Ten scared Fish, Bush Tracks, Kangaroo Hop, Splosh for the Billabong, The Rainbow, Who saw Turtle?, Summer Rain, and What’s that there?

2. Backyard Beasties by Helen Milroy

3. Rain on the Rock by Jodie Toering and Valerie Brumby

4. Djinang Bonar – Seeing Seasons by Ebony Froome

5. Nature all around by Kimberly Engwicht

6. Look and See: Meet your favourite Australian animals by Shane Morgan

7. Shapes of Australia by Bronwyn Bancroft

8. Where is Galah? By Sally Morgan

• Art depictions of Country: Use the three case study pieces from the 65,000 Years A Short History of Australian Art Exhibition. Provide tiny cardboard frames so students can slide this over the artwork and talk about the parts of Country it shows.

1. Ngangkari Ngura (Healing Country): Can you notice the different paths and shapes?

2. Limmen Bight River – My Mother Country: Can you find examples of Land, Water and Sky Country? Can you spot the eagle and snake?

3. Quarta-Tooma (Ormiston Gorge): Can you find examples of Land, Water and Sky Country?

Begin by explaining that the class will now travel, in small groups, to six Discovery Stations positioned around the room. Each station invites children to explore Land Country, Water Country, Sky Country, Living Things, or Stories of Country with their eyes, ears and hands.

Explain that they will record aspects of Country that are alive on a Noticing Card. Demonstrate how to use a Noticing Card: draw a quick picture or symbol, add describing words or a sentence, circle Land, Water, or Sky Country. Emphasise that one card will be completed at each station, six in total.

Before sending groups off, model the sort of slow, respectful observing you expect hold a shell to your ear and listen, feel the ridges of a bark sample, or pause quietly to hear the bird call audio.

Step 3: Creating the “Our Country Is Alive” class display

Invite students to gather as a whole class and lay out the three large heading cards, Land Country, Water Country and Sky Country, beneath the What is Country? poster.

Invite each group, in turn, to place their Noticing Cards under the heading they think fits best, narrating their reasoning aloud: “We put the frog under Water because it lives in the creek, but it can also hop on Land.” When cards prompt debate, allow the children to negotiate a solution, reinforcing the idea that Country’s parts are interwoven rather than separate.

Once every card has found a home, tape a sheet of butcher’s paper to the wall and transfer the sorted cards, grouping them as they appeared on the floor.

Step 4: Reflection and sharing

Hand out sticky notes or speech bubbles and guide the class to finish the sentence “We can care for Country by …” A child might write “planting seeds,” another “picking up plastic,” a third draw hearts around a tree. Title the anchor chart “Our Country is alive”.