"Welcome To Country" By Aunty Joy Murphy Wandin

From Miss Hailey Birchers Early Learning Beaconsfield: "One of our Kinder friends spoke of a recent camping adventure and seeing kangaroos. This led us to discussing Australian animals and our Acknowledgement of Country. As it was the beginning of the year for us, we were still very much discussing what we are acknowledging and this included what was in our community. Where we are located there are a lot of house developments alongside kangaroos and other wildlife. From this we had a craft activity On Country in our outdoor classroom using clay and native floral from the community around us. As a group we listened as Miss Hayley read the book ‘Welcome to Country’ by Aunty Joy Murphy. We then set to creating whilst Indigenous music played and we had our amazing loose parts to creative with. It was encouraged to name the Aussie animals being created and then we created a display in our indoor classroom for our families to see."

From Rose Park Community Childcare: "As the seasons change so too does the curriculum design in the Kuula room. Using the Kaurna seasons from the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM), educators are able to implement Aboriginal culture and histories into curriculum design, with a particular focus on seasonal indicators of change. With the season of “Wirltuti” (Wirltu-ti) upon South Australia, the educators of the Kuula room, recreated the journey from bush to sea as did the Aboriginal people on Kaurna land in warmer months. Around the yard we placed pictures that we could stop and talk about, with context to animals that we may find on country in the season of “Wirltuti”. Through dramatic play and coming together in learning experiences, we are able to provide a deeper level of understanding that other resources may not provide for this age group (under 2). Recognising the value of providing many lenses of learning, we incorporate First Nations story books, use natural resources that relate to the theme (in this scenario the beach), use visual media such as art and introduce mapping. What we observe in our seasonal curriculum design is an emergent program that ebbs and flows as the children and families take us on a journey of their own connection to country, throughout various months of the year. Children are aware of their environment and interdependence with the natural world."