Last month I attended the The Cultures of Thinking conference at Bialik College in Melbourne. During one workshop I had the privilege of listening to Naomi Ryan and Janis Kinda speak about the creative journey they took students on, as they helped them to understand and acknowledge the First Nations and the importance of Country. It was a joint activity between Year 3 and Year 5.
Inspired by the work of Janis and Naomi I will explore what ‘country’ means for my students. During Library I will review a variety of Acknowledgements of Country statements with my Year 3 Library class. We will find the words that are common in Acknowledgement of Country statements to build a work bank. Using these words (such as Country, People, Elders, Traditional) students will write their own Acknowledgement of Country which will be shared with the school community.
You might like to share Welcome to Country by Aunty Joy Murphy and Lisa Kennedy with your students. It is a beautiful picture book that helps children to understand the importance of recognising the traditional custodians of the land.
Students might also enjoy artwork linked to Acknowledgement of Country. The artwork featured above is from http://acu.edu.au.