When B-Boy comes to stay overnight, Little J becomes envious of the attention he is getting from everyone. Out walking on Country, Nanna, Little J, Big Cuz and B-Boy find an injured joey. Uncle Mick, a Search and Rescue officer, tells them how to care for the joey that they name ‘Hopalong’. The children feed and look after Hopalong until Mick finds him a place in a wildlife shelter.

Elaborate - Represent and communicate observations and ideas in a variety of ways

Theme - HABITAT

As a class, revisit Little J’s story within episode 7, ‘Hopalong’, and ask students to recall what type of animal Hopalong was and how the family rescued and cared for it.

As a class, explore a selection of the habitat images on the following website:

• Wildlife image galleries for schools, Urban Ecosystems

Ask students prompting questions to identify images that are familiar to them and resemble their local area. Have students identify the details specific to each ecosystem, e.g. types of trees, grasses, flowering plants, water course, soils, leaves and their shapes, etc.

Introduce information about how Aboriginal peoples managed the land:

• Aboriginal Fire Management
• Aboriginal Land Care
• Protected areas
• Indigenous Culture
• Aboriginal Culture and History

As a class, discuss the difference between land that is left in its natural state (bushland) and land that has been developed by outside influences, such as, cleared park land, urban estates, etc.

Place four pieces of cardboard on the floor and top these with four hoops. Divide the class into four groups. Each group is allocated a hoop. Into a hat/bag are the ecosystem titles: Forest, beach, grass plains, desert. Each group selects one ecosystem to investigate and build within the hoop.

Students can collect images of different plants, rocks, animals, etc. and/or draw and paint them to build their representative ecosystem. They can add actual objects such as pot plants, soil, etc. Groups should label the specific elements that support a description of the ecosystem.

Invite each group to give a short presentation about their ecosystem and have the groups explain the decisions they made to include certain elements, and exclude others.

Optional activity:

Develop a narrative story about an animal, bird, insect, reptile, spider that lives in their ecosystem.