Connected Classrooms
Years 1-2
Resources
Perth NRM:
Education Resources, including videos and activity worksheets on Noongar names for animals, family, and numbers can be found here:
Sharing Knowledge
For EAL/D students:
Are there any welcoming songs in other cultures/ languages.
EAL/D considerations in Two-way Science
• Build visual word banks wherever possible
• Encourage students to hear, say, and practice words. EAL/D students will need to oral language repetition to become confident in using new vocabulary.
• When looking at comparisons, remember to model comparative language -er, -est
• Longer, multisyllabic words cause confusion. Encourage the awareness of syllables, the root of each word and the role of affixes in scientific vocabulary.
• When writing longer observations, rhetorical conjunctions are key. Have these displayed, in use, around the classroom (e.g. As a result…)
• When asking students to produce something, always give them a sample of what you are expecting, both the structure and the tense that you expect. Different countries, use different text structures and different verb forms.
• When discussing a hypothesis, students will be using conditional verb forms. These should be modelled. If a happens, then, I think b will happen… NB – there is a great Teacher video on hypothesis in TESMC resources.
• Write key words wherever possible and explicitly mention spelling, pronunciation and a clear, simple meaning wherever possible. Recast where needed for use of this vocabulary in context.
• For more information, consult the Progress Map
https://watesol.org.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Early-Childhood.pdf
the EAL/D Learning Area Annotations
https://docs.acara.edu.au/resources/EALD_Learning_Area_Annotations_English_Revised_06_05_12.pdf
and the EAL/D Elaborations
https://tesol.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/60238-EALD-elaborations-Full-Version-Complete-v2.pdf
Noongar Language Centre:
Language teaching resources are available here:
https://noongarboodjar. com.au/education-and-training/for-teachers/
Bookshelf:
• The River (Sally Morgan and Johnny Warrkatja Malibirr, 2021).
• The Art in Country (Dr Bronwyn Bancroft, 2020) and /or The Art in Animals (2021)
• Silver Leaves (Gladys Milroy, 2022).
• Big Fella Rain (Beryl Webber, 2017)
• The Busy Tree (Jennifer Ward & Lisa Falkenstern, 2009) This book relates well to the classroom installation of a tree. It is American; but students can suggest similar animals that we have in Australia. It also explains concepts such as oxygen production, climate change and global warming in simple language.
Incorporate a Welcome to Country song into events and assemblies:
Resources to learn and play Wanjoo by Gina Williams or The Acknowledgement Song by Jemma King are available online. Wanjoo is in Noongar language: Wanjoo Wanjoo Kwobardak Koorda / welcome welcome beautiful friends.
Create a Culturally Inclusive Space
Create a yarning circle space inside and/or outside the classroom and practice using this model to take turns speaking (wangkiny) and listening (djaliny). See https://www.yarning.com.au/what-is-yarning for more information.
Create a performance item
Create and perform a dance based on ‘All the things that live on a tree’. Use movement, singing, and music to represent the ways the different species coexist. Collect feathers, leaves, bark, and other materials from boodja to make costumes or hats for the performance. You may like to practice this to perform at an assembly or event.
Care for an area of the school
Students can put their skills and learning to use by caring for an appropriate area of school grounds. They can plant native undergrowth species to create habitats for invertebrates and birds, ensure the area stays clean, install, and monitor water baths, place their bee homes and help with decorating other installations such as cockatoo nesting boxes. They may like to observe animal life in native garden areas and compare this to built or introduced gardens in the school grounds.
Create a display
If students are caring for a garden or bushland area, they may like to install a display nearby collating ‘Life in our Garden’ and including images and descriptions of the various plants and animals they observe in that space. Monitor closely for evidence of new residents!
Host a morning tea
Have students write and decorate invitations to Aboriginal elders, and/or important elders in their own lives, for a morning tea at school. Students can choose a piece of Learning on Country work to share with the group, talk about their Habitat Model, take the elders on a tour of their native garden, or present their performance item. Invite the elders to share knowledge about the local area.