ABORIGINAL EDUCATION
Grade 1 Incursion
Last Thursday all Grade 1 students hosted local Aboriginal knowledge holder AJ King. The day started with learning about the importance of acknowledging Country, with a welcome smoking ceremony. The children then learned that, for Aboriginal people, the term Country refers to everything in nature: the mountains, valleys, rivers, trees, animals, the sea, the sky and people. They acted out the local palawa creation story with children 'making' Country in the sand circle that we have at the Junior Campus.
After trying their hands at making ice caves and then miniature bush shelters, they worked together to build bigger huts. Thanks to Jye Synnott, Kaiden Reynolds and Isaac Lovell from Grade 2 who helped AJ erect the frames during their morning tea break. When the students came back from playtime they were ready to start construction. AJ showed students how to lay poles against one another and tie them off. They then covered the huts in stringybark and ferns. It was so dark and cosy inside. Unfortunately, it started raining at lunchtime, but luckily Mrs Twining had a freshly baked damper made by Aunty Michelle McNamara. We finished up our day in the blue carpeted area, learning a song in the local melukerdee dialect and practising dancing like different animals. Grade 1 students are to be commended for their attentiveness, enthusiasm and cooperative teamwork throughout the day.
