Hopalong: YEAR 2 - HPE - Engage

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.

Engage - Identify and practise emotional responses that account for own and others’ feelings

Theme - BUSH TUCKER

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 and why he got lost from his ‘mob’.

As a class, read the book:

  • Lucas, D. E. & Searle, K. (2003). Walking with the seasons in Kakadu. Crows Nest, NSW : Allen & Unwin – Teachers’ Notes

Ask students questions about the story and how the main characters know what bush foods to find and eat.

View the following video clips:

and/or read a selection of books, such as:

  • Button, J. (2008). Joshua and the two crabs. Broome, WA : Magabala Books
  • Jensen, N. & Leffler, D. (2012). The sugarbag. Broome, WA : Magabala Books
  • Lucas, D. E. & Campbell, C. (2007). Waterlilies. Palmerston, NT : Waterlily Publications
  • Ishiguchi, P. (2001). Crabbing at high tide. Broome, WA. : Magabala Books
  • Adams, J. (1993). Going for oysters. Norwood, S. Aust : Omnibus Books
  • Adams, J. (1990). Pigs and honey. Norwood, S. Aust : Omnibus Book
  • Ingram, M. (2013). My family likes bush tucker. Australia : Oz Publishing Pty Ltd
  • Stavrou, L. & Forge, J. (2012). Napangardi's bush tucker walk. [Northern Territory] : Lyndall Stavrou and Jann Forge
  • Herps, K. & Herps, C. (2013). Bush tucker takeaway. U.S. : CreateSpace.

Discuss with students their experiences of learning about what foods to eat and who helps them to explore new foods safely. Ask students to consider who teaches them how to cook foods, and when to eat different foods. Have students list foods that are:

  • eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner
  • their favourite foods
  • their least favourite food
  • foods that are good for them
  • foods that are bad for them

Bring to school a selection of seasonal fruits and vegetables. Share fresh little samples of these foods, adhering to dietary requirements of the students.

Discuss which of the fruits and /or vegetables students know and eat regularly. Where possible, sample, sniff and handle any of the fresh fruit and vegetables that are not familiar to students. **Teacher note: Students do not have to eat new foods, they can simply explore them with their hands and investigate how they smell when crushed, mushed or broken. As students explore foods, prompt them with questions, such as: Do you see any flowers on the stem? Do you think this is the leaf or the fruit of the plant? Does this fruit remind you of something else you eat? Does it smell like anything else you eat?

Crushing and smelling fresh herbs is particularly effective and can also be a good way of introducing bush plants easily. Herbal choices could include sage, thyme, rosemary, and rocket. New fruits could include slivers of pear or apple, mango or finger limes, quangdongs, pigface, dried bush tomatoes, etc. Try to source a chunk of honeycomb in wax. Be sure to identify foraged plants with an expert, and be aware of allergies such as to tree nuts, ground nuts and legumes such as broad beans.

Develop a chart that lists the descriptions for each herb, fruit and vegetable. Ask students to classify the herbs, fruit and vegetables into:

  • tastes of the foods: sweet, sour, salty, bitter or savoury
  • colour of the foods: white, green, yellow, orange, red, purple, blue/black
  • textures of the foods: soft, smooth, grainy, crunchy, dry, wet, etc.
  • Ask students to consider whether each of the fruits and vegetables grows above ground below ground.

Have students pose questions through using a KWL chart:

  • What do I know?
  • What do I want to know?
  • How will I learn about the topic?

Divide the class into small groups, and have them find images and information about a selection of seasonal fruits and vegetables or bush tucker found in the local area. Once the information is sourced, have the groups design and create a poster to hang in the tuck shop area, alerting other students to locally found fruit, vegetables and herbs.