One night, Nanna teaches Little J, Big Cuz and Levi about the star constellations through stories of the past. At school, Ms Chen encourages the students to investigate the evidence of dinosaurs. Little J and Levi set out to find evidence of dinosaurs themselves, happening upon the fossil of Diprotodon, also called Wombat Rex.

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 - TIME

After viewing Little J & Big Cuz, Episode 2 ‘Wombat Rex’, engage students with the following activities to support their understanding of continuity and change of, and about, living things; place and space; and perspectives.

Stories from the past

Have the class write a letter to parents and/or carers/guardians asking permission to retell a family story, or to bring a favourite toy, image/object from home to share with the class. The students could bring cultural stories, historical stories of grandparents or extended family, or personal histories about the child themselves. If possible, these stories could be accompanied by photographs from family albums or objects. Alternatively, if students are displaced from their home, include researched stories about an event or person from history or imagined stories about an image/object from a museum, gallery or library.

**Teacher note: Be aware that Aboriginal students and/or Torres Strait Islander students may not be allowed to view images of people who have died.

Either in their small groups or during class discussion, question students to help them analyse what these stories represent about the past. Ask questions to prompt initial exploration of what they know about these stories. Students’ reflections may be shared orally or scribed. Some areas to explore might be:

• when the event/s in the story took place?
• where the event/s took place?
• who was involved in the event/s?
• what occurred?
• why this story is important?
• how and for whom the original story was told?

Assist students to understand that stories may be represented in many ways, for example, through speech, body gestures, print, pictures, dance, song and puppets.

Ask students to sort and order the stories into time frames: long past, recent past, or present. Discuss the terms ‘past’ and ‘present’ and have students suggest meanings for each term.

Access the ABCME My Place, website, click on the timeline side bar navigation to 2008, Laura.

On the website, demonstrate for students how to access the personal stories of the characters, the Community tree (genealogical display of related characters), and the timeline navigation bar to change the era/time and character. In the ‘Explore (character’s) house’ access the kitchen, bedroom, and backyard for each era.

Discuss with the class, what evidence is presented through the website about how technologies changed over time and how people lived in the different eras.