Mathsmob

Aboriginal Perspectives Through Integrated Units

Maths with the Mob Early Stage 1

© 2001 Copyright Board of Studies NSW for and on behalf of the Crown in right of the State of New South Wales.

This document contains Material prepared by the Board of Studies NSW for and on behalf of the State of New South Wales. The Material is protected by Crown copyright.

All rights reserved. No part of the Material may be reproduced in Australia or in any other country by any process, electronic or otherwise, in any material form or transmitted to any other person or stored electronically in any form without the prior written permission of the Board of Studies NSW, except as permitted by the Copyright Act 1968. School students in NSW and teachers in schools in NSW may copy reasonable portions of the material for the purposes of bona fide research or study.

When you access the Material you agree: • •

• •

• •

to use the Material for information purposes only to reproduce a single copy for personal bona fide study use only and not to reproduce any major extract or the entire Material without the prior permission of the Board of Studies NSW to acknowledge that the Material is provided by the Board of Studies NSW not to make any charge for providing the Material or any part of the Material to another person or in any way make commercial use of the material without the prior written consent of the Board of Studies NSW and payment of the appropriate copyright fee to include this copyright notice in any copy made not to modify the Material or any part of the Material without the express prior written permission of the Board of Studies NSW.

The Material may contain third party copyright materials such as photos, diagrams, quotations, cartoons and artworks. These materials are protected by Australian and international copyright laws and may not be reproduced or transmitted in any format without the copyright owner’s specific permission. Unauthorised reproduction, transmission or commercial use of such copyright materials may result in prosecution.

The Board of Studies has made all reasonable attempts to locate owners of third party copyright material and invites anyone from whom permission has not been sought to contact the Copyright Officer, ph (02) 9367 8289, fax (02) 9279 8484.

Published by Board of Studies NSW GPO Box 5300 Sydney 2001 Australia Tel: (02) 9367 8111 Fax: (02) 9367 8484 Internet: http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au ISBN 1 74099 001 3 2001624

Maths with the Mob An Integrated Kindergarten Mathematics Unit Aim This unit illustrates how teachers can incorporate Aboriginal contexts across a variety of key learning areas.

The unit provides opportunities for students to investigate integrated mathematics and visual arts activities through exploring Aboriginal lifestyles and perspectives using currently available resources.

The unit enables teachers to introduce mathematics concepts through a variety of aspects of contemporary and traditional Aboriginal culture. In addition it is possible to introduce HSIE content that leads into the mathematical activities.

The HSIE content in this unit can be expanded at many points to make up a comprehensive Aboriginal studies unit.

Key learning areas Primary focus Mathematics Creative Arts Mathematics ES1.1 Asks and responds to mathematical questions using drawing, making, describing, acting, guessing and checking and retelling.

(Teaching units Length 1 p 111, Graphs 1 and 2 pp 104–105 Mathematics K–6) ES1.3 Sorts and describes objects in terms of their features such as size and shape.

(Teaching units Numeration 3 p 197, Space 3D 1 p 53 Mathematics K–6) ES1.4 Uses everyday language associated with time, temperature and position.

(Teaching units Position 1 and 2 pp 96–97, Time 1 p 176 Mathematics K–6) ES1.5 Explores two-dimensional shapes and three-dimensional objects, describing them using everyday comparative language.

(Teaching units Space 2D 1 and 2 pp 53–54 Mathematics K–6) ES1.9 Manipulates groups of objects by combining and separating.

(Teaching units Addition 1 p 211, Temperature 1 p 167 Mathematics K–6) Creative Arts Visual Arts VAES1.1 Making VAES1.2 Making Music MUES1.1 Performing

3

Secondary focus

English TES1.1 TES1.2 TES1.4 RES1.7 WES1.9

English Personal Development/Health/Physical Education Human Society and Its Environment

Talking and Listening Skills and Strategies Language Structures and Features Context and Text Producing Texts

PDHPE DAES1.7 Dance GSES1.8 Games and Sports SLES1.13 Safe Living HSIE CCES1 CUES1

Change and Continuity Cultures

Developing relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families (Link to contents) The process of developing Maths with the Mob (Link to contents) Learning Sequence 1 (Link to contents) Learning Sequence 2 (Link to contents) Learning Sequence 3 (Link to contents) Learning Sequence 4 (Link to contents) Key resources (Link to contents) Additional resources (Link to contents) Supporting experiences (Link to contents) Using Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islands resources to build integrated units (Link to contents)

4

Pointers from our experiences of developing relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families These are some ideas that may help teachers develop two-way relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families in their schools. These relationships are critical for children’s learning, especially in the early years of schooling.

• Make yourself available to talk about school, both formally and informally. This may mean placing yourself outside the classroom at home time or before school.

Offer information about yourself before you expect the family to do the same.

• Take note of the friendship/acquaintance networks between different families as well as the children’s networks. Talking to one parent may make it easier to develop a relationship with another parent.

• Show your commitment to Aboriginal studies. Send home work samples that have specific Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander content. This can give you a nonthreatening entry point to talk about Aboriginal studies. For example: – Did Jim show you the Torres Strait Islander flag he made? He seemed excited that the class was making them. Did I get the tone of the colours right?

– Look at Rachael’s recount of watching the football on the weekend. I couldn’t work out what team it was.

• Take the first step and be prepared to follow through with an Aboriginal studies idea on your own but casually make space for family members to contribute. For example: – Next week we are making Johnny Cakes from this book. What do you think of the recipe? I thought you might like to give us a hand. (If the family member says they have never had them, offer some personal information about whether you have or not.)

• Inform yourself about Aboriginal popular culture as this may enable you to talk with parents and children about topical issues. A good source is Deadly Vibe magazine or the Koori Mail newspaper (see Additional Resource list).

5

The Process of Developing Maths with the Mob First we selected a range of resources about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander life.

We considered the importance of using both contemporary and traditional stories and images, and resources that offered representations of urban and rural contexts. We then examined each text, brainstorming ways they could be used to meet outcomes in Mathematics and/or other key learning areas.

We selected the mathematics focus that had the strongest links to the Aboriginal resource we had selected and to Aboriginal culture. For example, if the maths activity could also include ideas about extended family or sporting heroes all the better.

Then we developed three activities that explored and reinforced the key maths concept. We tried to ensure each concept was introduced with an Aboriginal focus (that linked to HSIE outcomes) so the students were clearly learning about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture. This context setting allowed us, in our role as teachers and, importantly, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, to continue talking about aspects of culture as the children worked through the activity.

The teaching/learning cycle we tried to follow was: • introduction of the resource and its Aboriginal/Islander focus • introduction of the mathematical concept and language • modelling the specific mathematical language activity • practising the language and exploring the concept in a hands-on activity • reinforcing the mathematical concept and HSIE content.

6

Learning Sequence 1 HSIE CCES1 CUES1

English RES1.7 TES1.1 TES1.2

Mathematics ES1.4

English TES1.4

Activity 1.1 Introducing the idea of Aboriginal family You will require a copy of A is for Aunty. (See Key Resources.)

Introduce the book as a recount of an Aboriginal woman’s childhood. Discuss the author Aunty Elaine Russell, and look at her photo on the back page. Select a few pages to discuss, compare and contrast with the students’ lives (the letters E, G and O will be the focus of the maths activities). Discuss the meaning of ‘Aunty’ and ‘Uncle’ in Aboriginal communities. See ‘A’ and ‘U’ in the book.

Read ‘My Mob’ big book from Big Mob Books for Little Fullas.

(See Additional Resources.)

Discuss the use of the word ‘mob’ by Aboriginal people to describe family and encourage children to describe their own ‘mob’, drawing on the idea of extended family.

Get children to draw their ‘mob’ (or those that live in their house).

Work sample (link to my mob work sample.jpg) Activity 1.2 Modelling positional language Prepare an overhead transparency of the illustration for the letter E, and some counters.

• Teacher models positional instructions and students place counter on OHP. – Put a counter on the boy/girl near a bush.

– Put a counter on an emu near a tree.

– Put a counter on a boy between two other boys near some flowers.

Students practise making positional instructions.

Activity 1.3 Practising positional language Prepare individual photocopies of the letter ‘E’ illustration and give each student 3 counters.

Barrier Game: • In pairs, children sit back to back, and student A asks Student B to place their counter in 3 positions while putting their 3 counters on their own card.

• Compare and swap roles.

Activity 1.4 Reinforcing positional language • Students cut and paste 3 figures onto a scene and use positional language to describe this to the assessing teacher.

Optional Activity • Use this image as the basis of a phonics lesson on ‘E’ – E is for emu.

7

Learning Sequence 2 HSIE CCES1 CUES1

Mathematics ES1.4

Mathematics ES1.9 PD/H/PE DAES1.7 SLES1.13 Creative Arts MUES1.1

Activity 2.1 Night and Day talk Select image from the letter ‘O’. Discuss what is happening in the picture in relation to time of day, outside cooking, sleeping in a barn or a shack, being in the country. Encourage children to relate their own experiences of cooking outside, camping, camp fires and being in the bush/on farms.

Optional Activity Read Gidja and/or Fire Stick Mountain as examples of traditional corroboree and Until the Fire is Out as an example of the way camping is a contemporary form of gathering family and community for cultural maintenance. (See Additional Resources for references.)

Activity 2.2 Day and Night Brainstorm and record in 2 columns what children do at night and in the day. This may also include experiences from A is for Aunty and the children’s parent’s experiences.

Activity 2.3 Investigating Light in the Dark Children use torches in a dark space in the school to investigate shadows, role-play camping at night, power failure in the home, or being the Bullanji People (from Gidja) before the moon was created.

Activity 2.4 Investigating the Camp Fire Pairs of children are given two cards each that add up to a ‘countable’ number. They are instructed to collect sticks that equal the total of their numbers. They then collect sticks and construct a model campfire with cellophane and torchlight.

Optional Activity Children act out and sing ‘Until the Fire is Out’ from Aunty Wendy’s mob CD. Link to sound bite of Aunty Wendy’s Mob CD ‘Until the fire is out’ and scanned image of the cover of the teacher’s book (teachers book cover.jpg) Teachers who have the facilities can make a real fire and investigate temperature and safety issues.

Optional Activity Read Big Mob books Johnny Cakes, and ‘S is for suppertime’ in A is for Aunty. This activity may include cooking Johnny cakes. (See Additional Resources for references.)

Distance Education website: Stage 1 Unit of Work Fire Fire http://www.lmpc.edu.au

8

English WES1.9

Mathematics ES1.1 WMES1.1 WMES1.4

Activity 2.5 Writing about Day and Night Children individually write and draw about an activity done in the day and in the night.

Link to worksheet 2 Activity 2.6 Representational Graphs about Day and Night You will need one clothes peg per child per chart.

Link to sample of chart. (number chart.jpg) Teacher poses a question and children place their peg under ‘day’ or ‘night’ heading on the 2-column chart.

Sample questions: • Do you like to go out in the day or the night?

• Would you like to have a campfire in the day or in the night?

• Would you like to cook and eat Johnny cakes in the day or in the night?

• Do you like to watch TV in the day or in the night?

As the children place their pegs teachers stop and discuss mathematical questions using terms such as more, less, equal, guess, compare and count.

Learning Sequence 3

HSIE CCES1 CUES1 Creative Arts VAES1.2

Activity 3.1 Shapes in the Environment and Art Choose a picture from A is for Aunty, for example ‘F’, and make into an overhead transparency. Also make transparencies of 2 or 3 traditional style Aboriginal paintings with circles and straight lines as features of the landscape. These activities focus on Print 3 and Print 8 from Diversity: A Celebration of Culture (see Key Resources).

Contextualise the selected images as painted by Aboriginal artists.

Play I Spy for shapes, straight and curved lines (including repetitions such as concentric circles and stripes) in the picture, taking up opportunities to discuss similarities and differences in style and artist, intent and meaning. For example, Print 3 is a landscape that portrays secret journeys.

9

Mathematics ES1.5

Activity 3.2 Focus on Concentric Circles Each activity should be completed by all students, rotating through work stations.

1. Drawing concentric circles in the dirt or sand.

2. Dropping pebbles in a clear tray of water on an overhead projector (or in a pond, pool, bucket etc).

3. Students given 4 or 5 pre-cut circles of different sizes. They order them from largest to smallest, then glue them on top of each other.

4. Monoprint: students fingerpaint concentric circles on a table and lay art paper on top to make a print.

Creative Arts VAES1.2 VAES1.3

Activity 3.3 Painting 2D Shape Maps You will need ‘Print 3’ from Diversity: A Celebration of Culture (see Key Resources) or prints of your own with concentric circles; white art paper, coloured chalk and hairspray.

• Discuss Print 3 as a map of journeys (the circles representing a place and the straight lines the journey).

Discuss journeys that take place in the child’s life. Teacher recounts a journey of their own as they paint; eg ‘Yesterday after school I walked from the classroom to the staff room, then rode home in my spaceship.’

• Students paint a number of concentric circles using black paint, leaving some space between them for journey lines.

• Students add journey lines, let dry.

• Students add coloured chalk to emphasise concentric cirlces and lines.

In pairs, students recount their journey using their painting as a cue.

Teacher describes a brief account of the child’s journey as a talking and listening assessment.

English TES1.2

Link to work samples. (secret places work sample.jpg) (Turkey work sample.gif)

10

Learning Sequence 4 HSIE CCES1 CUES1

PD/H/PE GSES1.8 Mathematics ES1.1

Mathematics ES1.1

Mathematics ES1.3

HSIE CUES1 CCES1

Creative Arts VAES1.1

Activity 4.1 Select ‘G for games’ from A is for Aunty. Discuss the games shown in the book.

Questions that highlight Aboriginal perspectives: • Do you think all the people in the picture are Aboriginal?

(Discuss skin colour variations within the Aboriginal community.)

• Do the children play alone? (Discuss the importance of being with community/family.)

• Why isn’t there a television, video or Game Boy? (Discuss the absence of this equipment as historical rather than a feature of non-urban Aboriginal communities.)

Compare the games children play at home and at school. Make a list of indoor and outdoor games.

Activity 4.2 Games and Maths Students rotate through the following activities illustrated in ‘G is for games’: 1. Hopscotch – counting.

2. Marbles or bocce – measure with feet or hands using the terms ‘close’ and ‘closest’.

3. Skipping to 10.

4. Hoops – rolling hoop.

Activity 4.3 Graphing Games Preferences Prepare a wall chart with the different games represented.

Students draw their favourite activity on a sticker.

Place the stickers on the wall chart. Count and compare results.

Activity 4.4 Racing with Ordinal Numbers Refer to ‘B is for billycarts’.

Teach ‘first’, ‘second’, ‘third’, ‘fourth’ in the context of races.

Introduce the ‘Cathy Freeman Story’ from Big Mob Books for Little Fullas as guided reading.

Activity 4.5 Introduction to Doll Making Collect colour images of Aboriginal people with different skin tones.

Revisit ‘G for games’ and the previous discussion on skin colour.

Children compare and discuss their own skin colour.

Use posters and CD from Growing Up Strong kit by Wendy Notley to discuss skin colour, and/or listen to ‘There was a Man’ [he had a son whose skin was fair] to reinforce the idea of a variety of skin tones (see Key Resources).

Activity 4.5 Doll Making Order some wooden dolly pegs. Mix up 5 or 6 different skin tone paints.

• Children paint pegs different skin tones. Dry.

11

View and discuss ‘Print 2’ of wooden MIMI figures from Diversity kit (see Key Resources).

• Draw on faces with textas, or paint with toothpicks/ matchsticks.

• Decorate as desired.

Activity 4.6 Building 3D Settings Collect various building materials, eg lego, clever sticks, cuisenaire rods and environmental odds and ends – sticks, leaves etc.

• Put students in groups and tell them they are going to build a scene from A is for Aunty for their dolls to play in.

• Brainstorm and record students’ suggestions as to what their scenes might include – camp fires, river, trees to climb, houses, school, hopscotch etc.

• Students build in groups and tell their classmates what they have built, and show which things they have included that are from A is for Aunty.

•

Mathematics ES1.3

12

Key Resources Russell, Elaine, 2001, A is for Aunty, ABC Books.

This resource is an alphabet picture book that recounts an Aboriginal woman’s childhood.

Art Gallery of NSW, 2001, Diversity. A Celebration of Art and Culture.

An education kit for K–12 featuring 16 prints with teaching notes.

Notley, Wendy, Growing Up Strong, CD and teachers’ book.

Available from Wendy Notley, telephone (02) 9692 9641.

13

Additional Resources Berolah, L, Collins, L & Cristaudo N, 1996, Betty and Bala and the Proper Big Pumpkin, Queensland University Press.

Board of Studies, 1997, Big Mob Books for Little Fullas, Kit: Cathy Freeman’s Story Johnny Cakes My Mob Lofts, Pamela, 1992, How the Birds got their Colours, Scholastic Australia Pty Ltd. Notley, Wendy, 1997, Until the Fire is Out, Scholastic Australia Pty Ltd. Notley, Wendy, 1997, The Wheels on the Holden, Scholastic Australia Pty Ltd. Trezise, Percy & Roughsey, Dick, 1987, Gidja, HarperCollins Publishers.

Deadly Vibe magazine available from: Deadly Vibe PO Box 528 Strawberry Hills NSW 2010 or Freecall 1800 623 430. Many schools already receive this publication.

Check with your librarian before ordering.

Koori Mail newspaper available from: Koori Mail PO Box 117 Lismore NSW 2480

14

Supporting Experiences Aunty Wendy’s Mob – song, dance, language and drama show. To sing Until the Fire is Out. For bookings telephone (02) 9692 9641.

Excursion to NSW Art Gallery – for an Aboriginal Art workshop and tour, and to view Aboriginal art works in the Yirribana Gallery that illustrate concepts studied in the unit.

Excursions to local Museums and Art Galleries Performers and artists: Local Aboriginal performers and artists whose work relates to the the lesson ideas may be willing to come to the school.

15

Using Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islands resources to build Integrated Units Resource example: Betty and Bala and the Proper Big Pumpkin The strength of this resource is that it depicts contemporary life in the Torres Strait Islands which makes it a wonderful resource for teachers working with children with Torres Strait Island backgrounds.

Step 1

We read the text and identified the aspects that highlighted features of Torres Strait Islander culture. We decided that the distinguishing features of Islander life were: living on an island, transport on, to and from the island, beach culture, eating from the sea, tropical island food, family networks and island fashion.

Step 2

Then we reread the text to see how we could integrate these cultural features with any of the key learning areas. We made a chart identifying key outcomes that emerge from the activities.

HSIE ENES1 Patterns of Place and Location

Activities exploring islands eg building islands, visiting an island Activities exploring island transport eg making boats, floating and sinking

Mathematics ES1.5 Science and Technology Physical Phenomena HSIE SSES1 Social Systems and Structures

Mathematics ES1.6

Creative Arts

Activities exploring food on tropical islands eg fishing, going to the shops by boat, growing food, tropical fruits, coconut trees, recipes

Activities exploring Islander fashion and patterns eg hot and cool clothing, no shoes, patterns on dresses

Step 3

Investigate supporting resources and collect things needed to implement the activities.

Step 4

After a few activities and work samples sent home, we would approach any Torres Strait Islander families for input.

16

Worksheet 1 Cut out the 4 boxes and place them in the picture. Tell your teacher where you have placed them.

Can you describe the position of an object in relation to other objects Beginning

developing

17

achieved

18

19

20

21

22

23