Sustainability, as defined by the
Australian Curriculum “addresses the ongoing capacity of Earth to maintain all life”.
Teaching sustainable patterns of living to our students gives them great responsibility
that they are ensuring quality of life for their future and the future of those
who come after them. Educating our students for
sustainability, creates socially
informed citizens who will work to maintain and improve the environment in
which they live. Sustainability is one of the Cross-Curriculum priorities in the Australian Curriculum, meaning it can and should be integrated where possible.
Outcome two of The Early Years
Learning Framework involves young people
connecting and contributing to their world when educators include
sustainability in their daily routines and discuss the impact humans can have
on our natural environment.
How they are learning
As our students are in Prep, they like to learn kinaesthetically, or hands-on. As a class we
will do a walk around the school every afternoon for a week and pick up any
rubbish, food scraps or waste we find.
We will then bury
different pieces of waste, including banana peel, muesli bar wrapper, plastic
pop-top, a sock and a paper bag. As a class we will predict how long these
items will take to break down. Each Monday afternoon we will dig up the items
and record the results. After six weeks we will discuss why the banana is
breaking down quicker than the sock, why the plastic pop-top has not changed at
all and why the paper bag is starting to disintegrate.
We have bins set up in the corridor
near our school office and in our main courtyard where our students are able to
sort waste correctly into paper, plastic, tin and glass. Our class also has a
bucket outside our door where students put their food scraps, to go to the
groundsmen’s compost bin. Our students will learn that these materials need to
be separated and recycled correctly as they break down differently.Peppa Pig is a favourite cartoon of
our class, therefore our students are able to watch this short video on Peppa
Pig recycling:
How parents/carers can
support their child’s learning
What we do models correct actions for our children, therefore it is a great responsibility for parents and carers to
instil these sustainable ways of living into their children; our countries
future. All parents and carers are urged to view the following video about
waste and the importance of recyclinghttp://www.coolaustralia.org/take-action/sustainability-in-your-class-all-you-need-to-know/3/. Encourage children to create homemade
birthday cards using items in the recycling bin. Use jars or containers to
store crafts, toys and hair clips, or even as pot plants.
Everyday practices such as these will teach children to conserve resources and think critically and creatively about
whether an item really is rubbish.
As citizens of Australia, it is
vital our students learn about our countries history and begin to build
knowledge from an early age; one of the main reasons Grade one Tehan are
participating
in this unit regarding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
(ATSI) Histories and Cultures. The Ministerial
Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs in The Melbourne
Declaration, state that the role of education in Australia involves building a
society that is not only culturally diverse, but also “values Australia’s
Indigenous cultures as a key part of the nation’s history, present and future”
One of the
Cross-curriculum priorities (CCP) in The Australian Curriculum Assessment and
Reporting Authority (ACARA) is ATSI Histories and Cultures. Through Humanities
and Social Sciences we integrate this CCP as we explore and investigate the
lives and cultures of the first Australians. The outcomes we hope to achieve
through this unit, is that our students will experience “different ways of belonging
with people, country and communities” as mentioned in the Early Years Learning Framework, thus teaching them to be respectful members of society in
Australia.
ØHow they are learning
Beginning with
a reading of Tom Tom by Rosemary Sullivan, the teacher will encourage students
to use their inquiry skill of
questioning to discuss what is different in Tom
Tom’s life from their own, for example, how does Tom Tom get to school? How do
we make damper? Why does Tom Tom never have shoes on?
Focussing on pages 17 and
18 of Tom Tom, the class will discuss one of the staple foods of Indigenous
Australians, damper.
The teacher will show the following video of young
children making damper in Nullagine, Western Australia http://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/155611715844/ngurra-yarrkarlpa-martu. Our students will then cook their own damper using the
cooking room instead of a fire and coals. The red-tailed black cockatoo will be
of interest to the students in our class, as we do not have them in Tasmania.
Students will be able to paint the cockatoo, just as Tom Tom does in the book.
Dr Tyson
Yunkoporta developed a theory to teach ATSI histories and cultures
holistically, kinaesthetically, visually and socially. This theory; the 8 ways
Aboriginal pedagogy, focuses on learning through culture, not about culture, just
as we are doing through the painting and damper activities in our classroom.
The following video further explains how teachers use this theory in their
planning, implementation and assessment:
ØHow parents/carers
can support their child’s learning
The teacher has several copies
of Tom Tom, which will be lent out to students. Parents and carers are
encouraged to discuss the different aspects of Tom Tom’s life and perhaps share
stories with their children, of outback Australia or Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander peoples they may know. Parents and carers are also invited to
the classroom as assistants when we have our damper making day. Recipes will be
sent home with each child if they wish to try it again at home.
