Kornmehl
Terry Aizen – Director of Kornmehl
Aboriginal creations
Last term the Dolphins engaged in a shared Aboriginal artwork based on a story that that the children all wrote together. I wanted to share this beautiful piece with you all as it shows how capable and knowledgeable the children are about telling Aboriginal stories using Aboriginal symbols on stones and blocks. This was challenging as the children had to listen to each other’s ideas and negotiate with each other (because not all ideas fitted into the story!) and they had to think of the structure of a story (beginning, middle, end), waiting for their turn to contribute. Once the story was completed the children were invited to work collaboratively and illustrate the story through a shared artwork. The end result was just beautiful.
Here is their story:
“Once upon a time, there was a campfire (Kayla). Aboriginal people were sitting around the campfire (Liam), eating meat (Max). Sometimes they killed possums (Koben) for the meat (Alona). And they also killed the kangaroos to eat the meat (Rafi), but only killed the animals when they were hungry (Alona). The Aboriginal people used the animal’s fur to make clothes (Alona). And they also made blankets out of the fur (Cian). And they used the bones of the kangaroos to make the tools to build their houses (Phoebe). And they built little kind of spears for the children (Ari). They lived in the desert (Phoebe), where its very hot (Liam).
But there was a problem. There were no kangaroos in the desert (Liam). Another problem was the lakes were all dry and the animals didn’t have water to drink. (Phoebe). The animals can’t survive when there is no water (Kirra). One day, the Aboriginal people found a kangaroo track (Rafi). And the track led them to a tunnel (Max). They went through the tunnel and they saw a lake (Koben). And they saw some possums (Sam). And they saw kangaroos (Liam). They saw lots of animals drinking from the lake (Ari). The Aboriginal people felt so happy and excited (Zola), that they decided to have a party (Ari). There was fish in the billabong and the Aboriginal people decided to go fishing (Liam). And they caught fish with their spears. They caught salmon (Rafi) and they took it to their campfire to cook (Mika). And they had a corroboree around the campfire (Talia).”
Bush School
Zola: The bush classroom looks so good. I love this place!
Phoebe: I was feeling nervous about coming to Bush School today but I’m definitely not nervous now!
Bush School visits have started again this term and we are delighted to be able to take the children into nature to experience all its offerings, joy and tranquillity.
Last week on Thursday, the Dolphins headed off for their first visit to Bush School. Many of the children had been last year and so were eagerly waiting their turn to return to this beautiful space – for others it was a new experience all together.
The children have been preparing for their visits and have been discussing the rules for Bush School. We reminded the children about the orange ribbons tied to the trees that denote our boundary to keep us safe and how we are not allowed to go past them. We discussed what to do if they needed the toilet and how it was important to tell an adult because the toilets were out of the Bush School boundaries. A few years ago, the Starfish group made a book about going to Bush School. This was read to the children and also used as another source for discussion.
Some of the ideas included:
- How the children have to carry their own backpack with water bottle, fruit, hat and a snack inside.
- The importance of holding hands with their friends and adults as we walk together to the space. We all walk and stay together. We wait at the roads to cross safely.
- On arrival, we sit together and say Acknowledgement to Country, sing some songs and have a chat whilst an adult puts the ribbons around the trees and checks for rubbish etc.
- We drag sticks behind to move them from one space to another.
- We put all our rubbish in a bag and do not leave it on the ground.
- At Bush School we don’t use tapping sticks to gather together, but we make the sound of a ‘bird call’. We told the children when they hear this call they must stop and go to where the teacher is.
- We talked about some of things we can do at Bush School using pieces of nature e.g. leaves and pinecones to make pictures and patterns, dig for worms, play in the dirt just like at Pre-school, climb trees and so on.
On arrival at Bush School, we started off with our Acknowledgement to Country. This is the time to think about the people who have been here before us and taken care of the land:
Koben: About the Aboriginal people because they care for our land and they protected it for us. They did it with kindness and 
respect.
Phoebe: Some of the Aboriginal people died.
Alona: It was a long, long time ago.
Cian: The Aboriginal people looked after the trees.
Julian: We don’t want to kill the trees because they grow branches and fruit. Thank you for looking after the trees.
Liam: If we kill all the trees, we have no oxygen and die.
The children had the most wonderful time building a shelter with branches that were lying around after the rain. There was lots of teamwork and co-operation. There were ideas and imagination. It was lovely to watch.
Zola: That’s moss. Mummy’s friend is a scientist and I think she knows it’s moss. I think it’s a different type of moss because I haven’t seen this type of moss.
Miles: Bush School is my favourite place.
Liam: I like it so much. It’s fun.
Rafi: We can climb that big tree!
Talia: I’m not sure what I like, I like everything!
Julian: I love the trees because you get to climb on them.
Max: You can build houses with sticks.
Phoebe: I can spend the whole day here instead of doing activities!!
Mika: I like climbing trees and watching dogs play. I wish I was a dog and could do actions like them!
Sam: I like finding sticks, like this one that looks like a boomerang.
Cian: I like climbing the trees and seeing the mushrooms and I like dragging sticks behind my back and I like when I build houses with sticks.
Abi: We’re building a home up there. I like it! Even I hurt my knee. I’m having too much fun!!
Crazy Hair Day
Last week on Friday we celebrated Crazy Hair Day, raising money for Cystic Fibrosis research. The children and teachers all came to school with crazy hair styles and we all had a very happy and colourful crazy day! Thank you to all the families who gave so generously to this worthwhile cause. We raised $147.
