In the backyard, Little J finds a Hawk Moth caterpillar on the Tar vine that he names ‘Sausage’. He wants to take Sausage to school but the caterpillar has other ideas and disappears underground. Nanna teaches Little J the story about the Yeperenye caterpillar of the Arrernte 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’.

Engage - Engage in discussions about observations and represent ideas

Theme - TIME

After viewing Little J & Big Cuz, Episode 10 ‘Transformation’, engage students with the following learning activities to support their understanding about time, and seasonal change.

Take the class outside and stand in an open area where students can view an uninterrupted view of the sky. Ask students to observe and identify the features of the sky on that day, e.g. clouds, Sun, wind, rain, etc. Back in the classroom develop a chart of the observable features of the sky: sky colour, clouds (shape, number, colour), Sun (position in respect to the horizon, clarity, strength) – remind students that they shouldn’t look directly into the Sun for a prolonged time, Moon (visibility), birds, length of shadows, etc. Observe and identify landmarks in the local area that indicate the compass points – North, South, East, and West.

Complete the same observations over a period of two to three weeks, and record the students’ observations each day. Have students pose questions about what the data reveals, and how the sky can reveal information about the weather, climate (location), the seasons, and how humans and animals live.

In the classroom, gather information about what students already know about the sky and explain more specific information about the Sun, e.g. what the Sun is, how it appears to moves across the sky (directions), how the atmosphere of the Earth distorts the Sun’s rays, and how the Sun appears to us.

As a class, read or view Aboriginal Dreaming stories and/or Torres Strait Islander Bipo Bipo Taim (Before Before Time) stories about the sky and its features, such as:

• Mowaljarlai, D. B. & Lofts, P.  (2004). When the snake bites the sun.  
• How the Clouds Were Made – Dreamtime Story (The First Rain Cloud) 
• Where Rainbows Come From – Dreamtime Story (The First Rainbow) 
• The First Sunrise
• Gnowee (a story of the sun)
• Wuriupranili (a story of the sun)

Discuss with students how the stories reveal a different understanding about the day-sky and its features. Have students draw their own perspectives of the day-sky and ask them to include as many features as possible. Invite students to share their artworks and explain what ideas they illustrated.

Ask students to observe ‘dusk’ (at home): direct their observations to the time day turns to night, such as (1) What happens to the Sun? (2) In what direction the Sun descends? (3) Where and when the Moon rises? (4) What are other visible night features, such as stars, clouds, bats? In school, collect the data that students observe and collate a chart comparable to the data collected on the sky during daylight.

Gather information about what students already know about the sky and explain, using props, how the Earth spins as it orbits the Sun, and how this orbiting creates day and night.

Re-watch Little J & Big Cuz, Episode 10 ‘Transformation’, and ask students to identify how Little J plotted the days and nights between finding ‘Sausage’ and the caterpillar emerging as a moth. Little J used a calendar. Discuss how calendars are divided into days, weeks, and months of the year.

As a class, read/view Aboriginal Dreaming stories and/or Torres Strait Islander Bipo Bipo Taim (Before Before Time) stories about the night sky and its features, such as

• ‘Moon Man Dreaming’
• Moon Creation Story
• Phases of the Moon
• How The Moon Was Made – An Aboriginal Dreamtime Creation Story 
• A shark in the stars: astronomy and culture in the Torres Strait
• James Miller retells the story of the Southern Cross 

Discuss with students how the stories reveal a different understanding about the night sky and its features. Have students draw their own perspectives of the night sky and ask them to include as many features as possible. Invite students to share their artworks and explain what ideas they illustrated. Compare the appearance of the two illustrations that the students completed for Day and Night.

Conduct the following Questacon experiment, Sun and Moon activity, (and have students discuss their observations about day and night occur.

Suggested teacher resources:

• Astronomy Basics – Australia’s First Astronomers
• Day Sky, Night Sky
• Earth rotation: night and day
• The Night Sky
• Unit 2: Changing lands and skies – Lesson 4: Daytime & night-time
• Sunset to Sunrise (ingwartentyele – arrerlkeme) (2006) 
• Indigenous weather knowledge
• Stories from the sky: astronomy in Indigenous knowledge
• Space
• Discover

Have students enter their data and research about time, and features of the sky during day and night into their science journal.

“A science journal is a record of a students’ observations, experiences and reflections. Each entry is dated and annotated by the student. Annotations may include written labels, drawings, diagrams, charts, small specimens, photographs, and graphs. Student engagement and learning is evident in the science journal.”

 Sourced from: Primary Connections, Linking science with literacy