Transformation: YEAR 1 - HASS - Elaborate

Little J finds a Hawk Moth caterpillar on the Tar vine in the backyard that he names ‘Sausage’. He wants to take it to school but the caterpillar has other ideas and disappears underground. Nanna teaches Little J the story about the Yeperenye caterpillar of the Arrente people from central Australia. Sausage finally returns to give Little J a further lesson on life cycles. Sissy wants to perform a dance for the school with Big Cuz, but Big Cuz feels ‘shame’.

Elaborate - Present narratives, information and findings in oral, graphic and written forms using simple terms to denote the passing of time and to describe direction and location

Theme - SEASONS

After viewing Little J & Big Cuz, Episode 10 ‘Transformation’, ask students to identify parts of the story focused on time and continuity in the individual stories about each character.

As a class, read/view the story Germein, K. & Bancroft, B.  (2002). Big rain coming, Big rain coming: Weather watching - Science (VicDET) (pdf)

Discuss the story, including why the people are celebrating, and what the rain means for the people, the birds, the animals and the land. Ask students if they have experienced drought where they live, and what they imagine a ‘long drought’ would be like, and what it would be like if a drought broke after a long time.

Suggested resources to explore the concept of drought in Australia

Encourage students to explore how the changes in weather and the seasons are causes for celebrations and festivals linked to harvest and food. For example,

the First Nations people of the West Coast of Canada celebrate and gather when the salmon are running, because food is plentiful.

the Japanese have a festival to celebrate the planting of rice.

All over the world, seasonal festivals mark the important days of seasonal change when food sources are started, planted or harvested, such as Goodies from Greece for a New Year feast in 1983 (video).

Explore a local Aboriginal festival or celebration and/or Torres Strait Islander festival or celebration when and where a food source is linked to it. One such food source would be the Yeperenye caterpillars found in this episode. Suggested references:

Working in groups, ask students to source information about bush food from the local area and create a three-dish lunch menu to celebrate an ‘Australian Seasonal Festival’, where student groups include bush tucker in the names (and ingredients) of each dish. Refer to the websites, Bush Tucker Recipes or Outback Chef, and/or source bush tucker from a local distributer.

Invite a local Aboriginal Elder or recognised representative and/or Torres Strait Islander Elder or recognised representative, or a local restaurateur who uses bush tucker in their restaurant’s menu, to visit the school to demonstrate and teach students simple and safe recipes using (local) bush tucker. Students can vote on which foods to introduce as a bush tucker food choice in the school tuckshop menu, and they should be able to justify their choice in respect to the seasons.

Ask each group to create an invitation, inviting their parents/carers, school staff or others, illustrating and labelling the bush tucker they use in their menu. Also, introduce students to local bush flowering plants and try to use wattle, Lilli Pilli, myrtle, acacia, grevilleas, bottle brush, etc. to decorate the tables and platters if they are in season.

Each group should be able to explain their choices of menu, bush foods and plants, and interpret how these objects represent local Aboriginal peoples and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples culture, food and language.

Record the food festival in a short digital presentation, blog post or poster about the festival, including images.