Hi I’m Tam. I’m proud to be on the rap team because we will be doing lots activities about Aboriginal culture in the school. I’m looking forward to recreating the handprint snake mural. I’m also looking forward to Hatsi Day because I like doing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander games and activities.
Aboriginal people painted different materials and strung them on to string.
Last term our class collected gumnuts and over the holidays we had holes drilled in them.This term we painted them and strung them onto string.
We were all in groups and each group painted their gumnuts in a different pattern and/or colour.
Jemima
On Monday “Wild Man Philip Green” visited our school. He has visited Aboriginal Communities around Australia and he shared some of his stories with us. After he showed us a slide show we had time to look at and touch lots of artefacts. Some of the artefacts included: kangaroo skin, possum skin, an emu foot, an emu egg, coolamons, digging sticks, fire sticks, lotus seed pod, tapping sticks and lots more.
On Camp Aldinga we meet an Aboriginal man called Uncle Wally. He told us about his childhood in the outback. We learnt about bushtucker, artifacts and weapons. When we learnt about bushtucker we wrapped fresh water fish in clay then cooked it over an ashie campfire, the fish was delicious. On the bush walk with Uncle Wally we learnt all about how Aboriginal people survived in the outback with plants being used as medicine and food. When we learnt about weapons we found out that to catch an emu the Aboriginal men held the number 7 boomerang above their heads to look like an emu, the emu would come over to have a look at this strange emu. Then the men would hook the boomerang around the emus neck.
By Lucy and Zoe
Traditional Fish cooking at camp
We enjoyed the traditional fish cooking, we liked the main part of the fish the best.
We were in dorm 2.
The food was great . by Liam and Lucas
Traditional fish cooking at camp
At camp we did traditional fish cooking and it was fun because we enjoyed wrapping the fish in clay. After it was cooked we whacked the fish because when we cooked the fish the clay went rock hard. When we took the clay off the skin came with the clay.
By Mathew and Anna.
This camp was great fun because everyone was nice, the food was brilliant and all the activities were very fun and interesting.
Our class went on camp to Aldinga scrub. We were kept busy with lots of activities, all of them had an Aboriginal focus. We had a great time so we thought we would share some of the things we did with you.
This is room9 and 10 on camp making our wiltjas. None of the wiltjas were water proof but they were very strong. They were fun to make and everyone enjoyed it. By Louise and Alex.P.
At camp some people got to play the didgerdoo. It was very hard and not many people could do it. Uncle Wally was fantastic at playing the didgerdoo! By Jasmine and Victoria
This is my group making our collage for our group totem. Our group name is The Dirty Dingoes. It was great fun by Alex.M.
Here are some of the groups standing listening to Louise while she is explaning how to make the wiltjas.
By Charlotte and Ella!
This is the playground at camp that was fun and, there was equipment there we had not seen before.
There was a climbing frame, a whizzy thing, 2 slides, swings, see-saw, circles you can climb on, poles that go up so you can get up to the slide or go down to the ground, poles with a little round platform at the bottom of them and some other equipment including a volleyball court.
By Tiani and Anniekah
This is the Legendary Echindas after they built their wiltjas. We had a lot of fun building them! By Ryan & Ham!
Watch out next week for more exciting camp activities.
On Monday our school held a HATSI Day, this stands for Hawthorndene’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Day.
We started the day with an Opening Ceremony run by our kids on the Reconciliation Action Plan Team. What a fantastic job they did despite the drizzle and the faulty microphone. A highlight of the opening ceremony was Aunty Stephanie welcoming us all. It was also wonderful to see the whole school singing and doing the actions for the song “Ridge – i – didge”. We sounded awesome.
Our first activity was with Eddie Peters. He is an Torres Strait Islander who taught us about the Torres Strait Islands and then he taught us two dances. I thought the sit down dance was a lot of fun. We then moved on to string games and traditional games. We learnt about these because this is one way Aboriginal kids learn life skills e.g. for hunting. Thank-you to Bindi and Jane for their help with these activities. We now have a “String games” craze in our school. They are so much fun and I can’t believe how clever you all are, you are doing really tricky ones.
If you would like to look at the video clips we used on HATSI Day for string games then you can look in the Art Links on the right hand side of our blog or click on this link:
After recess we worked with ladies from the Ngarrindgeri Weaving Group. These ladies taught us how to weave with raffia. Traditionally they used rushes but the drought has made these hard to find. I thought the weaving was lovely because each class continued working on the same weaving, so all Yr 3-7 classes made something together.
After the weaving we had time to learn about Aboriginal technology and look at the artefacts with Aby. Aby then talked to us about the book Nyuntu Ninti (What you should know). This book teaches us about Aboriginal culture and their connection to the land. Thanks for working with us Aby.
At lunchtime we had a special treat – Bush Tucker Icecream, yum. What was your favourite flavor?
After lunch we worked with Auntie Stephanie, she taught us how to do beading. We used red, yellow and black beads to make bracelets, necklaces, rings and earings. Our last activity for the day was the Skin Game. This taught us about Aboriginal kinship or families. We learnt that Aboriginal children have many mums and many brothers and sisters. They may not be biological relatives but they treat each other like their family. I think sometimes this would be a good thing and sometimes it would be a bad thing. What do you think?
Unfortunately I forgot to take any photos in the afternoon. Sorry I was having too much fun joining in with the activities!
I had a wonderful day and learnt a lot about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and I also enjoyed talking to our guests and listening to their stories. I think that this is an important step towards Reconciliation.
Please leave a comment to let us know your favourite activity on HATSI day.
Mrs Shep
NAIDOC Week is celebrated from the 4th -11th July, during the school holidays. NAIDOC stands for the National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee. The theme for 2010 is Unsung Heroes – Closing the Gap by Leading Their Way. NAIDOC Week is a time to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. NAIDOC is celebrated not only in Indigenous communities, but by Australians from all walks of life. The week is a great opportunity to participate in a range of activities and to support your local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.There are many ways you can celebrate NAIDOC Week but you may not have thought of visiting the museum.The Musuem has a wonderful holiday program including Indigenous performances, art and craft and a Culture Trail. Visit this website to find out more:
http://www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/page/default.asp?site=1&page=ON_School
I would love to read about the wonderful things you have been doing to celebrate NAIDOC so please leave a comment on our blog.
Our school will be celebrating NAIDOC Week next term with a special day called HATSI (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Day.
Enjoy your holidays
Mrs Shep
Reconciliation week starts on the 27th of May and goes ’till the 3rd of June. Today we had an assembly and it was all about Sorry Day and Reconciliation Week. Reconciliation means ending disagreements and reuniting friendships with Aboriginal people, Torres Strait Islanders and us.
By Jackson, Kahlia and Jemima from the RAP Team.
In week six it was sorry day. Sorry day is a day when we say sorry to the “Stolen Generation”. The “Stolen Generation” are the Aboriginal and Torres Strait children who where taken away from their families. Most of the children never got to see there familes again. On the 13th of February 2008 the Prime Minster, Kevin Rudd and the Australian Government said Sorry to the “Stolen Generations” and all Aboriginal people. We are glad that we said Sorry!
By Ella, Sira, Victoria, Zoe.
On Wednesday our class launched our school’s RAP at the whole school assembly. Everyone was excited and the activity room was overflowing with kids and parents. I am very proud of they way you all helped to make our assembly extra special. You did a wonderful job of introducing items, sharing information about Sally Morgan and the book covers we made based on her book “My Place” and performing those two catchy songs – “Red, Black and Yellow” and “Kids on our Block“. I still have the tunes running around in my head. It was wonderful to have the whole school stand up and join in with the dancing for “Red, Black and Yellow“.
It was obvious that you all had a fantastic time. What a terrific way to end a great term!
What is a RAP you may ask?
RAP stands for Reconciliation Action Plan.
Our RAP is a plan showing how we can better understand and celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, culture and history and develop friendships with them. Click here to view Our School’s RAP tri-fold (a tri-fold is a brochure that has 3 panels on each side).
We have 5 fantastic kids our our school RAP Team and at the assembly they were introduced to the school, awarded their badges and told everyone about our RAP. Congratulations to Jackson, Sira, Kahlia, Zoe, Jemima, Ella and Victoria.
The kids on our RAP Team
I have some video clips that were taken of the assembly and I will add them to our Blog as soon as I work out how to do it because they are quite large. In the meantime I hope you enjoy looking at the photos.
Enjoy Easter and your holidays and see you next term
Mrs Shep
