Little J dreams of being an acrobat in a circus when he grows up. With the help of Jacko and B-Boy, he practises circus tricks in the backyard after school. Uncle Mick, a search and rescue officer, comes to school to talk about his work. Little J uses his circus skills to demonstrate a search and rescue procedure.

Explain - Create and participate in games with and without equipment

Theme - GAMES

After viewing Little J & Big Cuz, Episode 3 ‘New Tricks’, engage students with the following activities to support their understanding about personal and social strengths, safety, search and rescue work.

Explain to students that to work as a team, Little J and Jacko had to trust one another, and communicate effectively. Write the terms ‘TRUST’ and ‘COMMUNICATION’ on the IWB/board for reference.

Ask students to think about how the school functions as a community. Direct their thinking to the hierarchy of people who make decisions at the school about how the school operates, e.g. the roles of the principal, the teachers, the grounds person, the administration officers, the school nurse, the liaison officers, the school crossing (lollypop) person, the Parents & Citizens committee, the tuckshop staff, students, etc.

Develop an inverted triangle chart or pyramid chart showing the relationship, as a hierarchy of decision making, in the school. Ask students to label, or highlight, who in the school is responsible for safety procedures. The response should show that everyone is responsible.

Divide students into smaller groups and introduce a KWL chart. Each group selects five roles identified on the chart and explain

1. what they know about the responsibilities for safety of each role
2. what they want to find out about the roles, and
3. how they will learn more about the role.

Invite each group to select two roles from their list and interview that person about what responsibilities they have in the school and the measures they take to ensure safety in the school. Have each group report back to the class and explain how the people they interviewed contribute to the teamwork within the school community.

Ask students, in pairs, to conduct a Safety Treasure Hunt. Students should list the safety equipment and safety procedures they find.

Host an emergency evacuation of the school, under teacher supervision.

Have the staff (Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) Officer or Fire Warden to take students through the whole evacuation routine and assign management roles to students so that they can manage an actual school evacuation (with the help of the assigned staff).

Students should be able to make announcements, put out signage, manage crowds, search buildings for stragglers, keep track of time, use check lists to account for all school population, etc.

Reflect on the experience by asking students to describe what they had to do in each of their roles, and how it felt to have the responsibility for so many people..

Explain to students that games also require hierarchies of responsibilities, communication, and trust between people that everyone should execute in their roles to work as a team. Select games, such as Wind in the Willows to play as the class:

• Building trust in the Classroom
• 10 Trust-Building Exercises for Kids and Teens:
• Trust games
• Trust-building exercises for kids

Access information on traditional Aboriginal games and/or Torres Strait Islander games.

• Have students form smaller teams to play at least two traditional games, such as:
  • Yulunga: inkanyi (other game)
  • Yulunga: tjapu tjapu (ball game)
  • Yulunga: pulyugge (ball game)
  • Yulunga: koolchee (target game)

Ask students to explain how trust, communication and teamwork is important in the games they played. Reflect on the success of the trust and communication strategies in all games.