NAIDOC WEEK, celebrated in the first full week in July each year,has become an important conduit in moving towards spanning the cultural differences between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. The current celebrations have grown from mainly unsupported activism during the early 20th Century, through the 1938 Day of Mourning, National Aborigines Day to the present NAIDOC WEEK observance.
What’s on in WA for NAIDOC WEEK? Check out the activities at the PROGRAM of EVENTS on the Perth NAIDOC WEEK website.
The theme for 2008 is “Advance Australia Fair?” and the focus city is Canberra, wherethe National NAIDOC Awards will be announced at a ceremony on Saturday 12 July. Awards are given in various categories including Sport, Scholarship, Art, Youth and Lifetime Achievement. Previous winners include Ernie Dingo, Mark Bin Baker, Kyle Vander Kuyp and Anthony Mundine.
The NAIDOC WEEK website gives students and teachers a good background to the week, ideas on how to celebrate the week plus some fun activities to complete. Studies incorporating NAIDOC WEEK,
utilise outcomes of Culture and Active Citizenship in the Society and Environment Curriculum and values of Respect and Cultural Understanding can also be applied.
This weekend [June 27th 2008]marks 128 years since the Siege of Glenrowan which saw the ultimate capture of Australia’s most well known outlaw - Ned Kelly. History records Ned as a criminal - indeed he had murdered three policemen and committed several offences, but there are many who see him as a “freedom fighter”, standing up for his beliefs against authority and defending people who had no power. Australians often back the underdog in lopsided confrontations- perhaps the Ned Kelly story and the Glenrowan siege was the beginning of this social peculiarity.
The argument surrounding Ned Kelly’s role in Australian History is one which can be long debated and never completely decided. Students and teachers can investigate Ned’s Life and times through web links, literature and film.
Other useful resources include “Black Snake“ by Carole Wilkinson and “Ned Kelly’s Jerilderie Letter“ which is shortlisted for this year’s Eve Pownall Information Books Award for the 2008 Children’s Book Awards. Teachers’ notes and information are available here. The Jerilderie Letter Soundscape download recreates the scene of the letter handover through voice, sound effects and music.
Ned Kelly on film can be explored through the Australian Screen website which houses several clips of historic footage of the Kelly Gang story and includes teachers’ notes on the clips.
The Games of the Beijing 2008 Summer XXIX Olympiad are fast approaching. From August 8th to 24th the best athletes in the world will compete for the highest accolades in sport before an international audience of millions.
The Olympic Games provide students with an interesting variety of topics to investigate from the many sports played to advances in sports science and technology, as well as controversies such as drug use and political issues. Games organisation and the preparations required of the host city also extend students experience across many learning areas.
The People’s Republic of China is hosting the Olympics for the first time. Study of this ancient land with its fascinating history, culture and geography will reward students with an interesting background to the Olympics. Teaching and classroom resources to assist this study can be found at China in the Year of the Olympics.
For further ideas, the CMIS Olympic Games page has topics relevant to Beijing 2008 as well as the Ancient Olympics, future Summer and Winter Games, previous games and the Commonwealth Games.
All over our big, brown land people want to know how to save water or make more effective use of the water we currently use. Even in the middle of winter we can experience the effects of little or no rain to improve the water storage of our dams.
The exhibition Just Add Water tells stories of Australians and our relations with water. In an exciting and interactive space, people will be able to engage with the topic on a social, scientific and ecological level, as well as an emotional one. This timely exhibition encompasses a subject that impacts on everyone.
The touring exhibition from the National Archives of Australia will be on show at the WA Museum, Perth from May 29 - July 31.
Downloadable Student Resources are also available from the Just Add Water website.
What better way to celebrate the Year of the Frog than with the discovery of a new frog.
A PHD researcher with the WA Museum discovered the Southern Sandhill Frog in the dunes near Kalbarri Western Australia. New-frog-discovery - PDF from the WA Museum.
It appears that the Southern Sandhill Frog has lived in the area for more than five million years since diverging genetically from its cousin, the Northern Sandhill Frog.
It is interesting to note that there have been other discoveries of new species around the world which give some hope to frog survival.
The Lungless Frog in Indonesian Borneo, which gets its oxgen through the skin.
The Shrub Frog discovered in the evergreen forests of the Kakkayam Reserve Forest in Kerala, India
Teachers can use the CMIS Theme page on FROGS to explore the topic further.
Save the Children Australia aims to ensure that all children, regardless of gender, race, country of origin or religious belief have the means for survival, receive protection and have access to nutrition, primary health care and basic education.
Shocked by the suffering of children during the Balkans War, Eglantyne Jebb became a pioneer campaigning for worldwide safeguards for children. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by the United Nations in 1989 and now ratified by nearly all countries worldwide, has its roots in her pioneering work.
Eglantyne was also the first to introduce the idea of sponsoring a child in a foreign country and using celebrity endorsements, getting the likes of famous playwright George Bernard Shaw on board.
Read Eglantyne Jebb’s inspirational story in the online book
An estimated 158 million children aged 5-14 are engaged in child labour - one in six children in the world. Millions of children are engaged in hazardous situations or conditions, such as working in mines, working with chemicals and pesticides in agriculture or working with dangerous machinery. They are everywhere but invisible, toiling as domestic servants in homes, labouring behind the walls of workshops, hidden from view in plantations.
In this interactive resource, 3 Plus U , users are invited to join Toshi, Kaia and Isabelle to explore all aspects of work in the modern world. Investigate issues including global work conditions, future freedom of choice, discrimination and freedom of association in the workplace.
The Child Labour theme page on the International Labor Organization website includes extensive print, video and audio resources to support teaching and learning programs. One example is included below.
Cameroon: The Challenge to Make Chocolate Child Labour Free - 11 June 2008 - There are over a quarter of a million children who work in the cocoa plantations of West Africa. It’s hazardous work, which exposes children to highly toxic pesticides. ILO TV reports from Cameroon, where the International Labour Organization has been working to eliminate child labour from cocoa production and help children return to school.
This interactive presentation: The Status of Children Around the World allows users to click on any of the major continents to view a detailed map of that region and information about its children. Users can also access extra charts and data about children around the world by clicking on th topic links.
Check out the Resource Centrefor resources, reports and articles from across the world on child labour.
The Girl Effect is a multimedia-rich website providing interactive, classroom-ready resources. Click on the LEARN, CHANGE, SHARE tabs to view videos and extra resources.
Embedded below is the Girl Effect video. (If you are using Internet Explorer 6 you will not be able to view the embedded video. Please use the link to access the video directly from the Girl Effect website.)
Foundation Day, 1 June, is a significant date in the history of Western Australia. On this day in 1829 the State’s first European settlers, on board the Parmelia, under the command of Captain James Stirling, had their first view of mainland Western Australia.
Foundation Day commemorates the date in 1829 when there was a meeting of cultures; one that has evolved from this land over tens of thousands of years, another brought to this land from across the waters by free settlers seeking a new promised land to call home. Over the years these have been joined by further arrivals from all corners of the world. Each group contributes elements of its rich heritage to forge our unique, vibrant Western Australian identity and culture.
The Celebrate WA website has extensive links to materials and resources to support units of work about Foundation Day. Resources available for download include:
A majority of Western Australian schools will celebrate the creation of the Swan River Colony around the date of Foundation Day June 2nd.The re-establishment of WA Week to coincide with Proclamation Day on October 21st is also a good time to celebrate this great state.
The CMIS Western Australia theme page has links to many different aspects of life in WA to assist teachers and students.
WA Week was re-launched by Celebrate WA in October 2007 to provide citizens from all regions and sectors with an opportunity to celebrate Western Australian’s unique history, heritage and development and applaud individual and collective achievement and contribution.
The October date was selected to include the anniversary of the State’s Proclamation Day on 21 October 1890, which marked the transition of Western Australia from a colony under British rule to self-government.
WA Week 2008 will take place from 20 - 26 October 2008.
Your school, (through the P&C) can participate by holding an event during the week.
The Government of Western Australia has provided a WA Week small grants program for eligible groups and organisations to hold a project or event during WA Week. The program is managed by Celebrate WA. On the website there is also a PDF list of suggested activities.
WA Week Small Grant applications will open 19 May 2008 and close on 27 June 2008.
For futher information contact Celebrate WA on 9481 8066
National Archaeology Week aims to increase public awareness of Australian archaeology and the work of Australian archaeologists both at home and abroad, and to promote the importance of protecting Australia’s unique archaeological heritage. Held from the 18th to the 24th of May 2008, this exciting nationwide program of events and activities will include public lectures, seminars, exhibits, demonstration excavations and displays.
In Western Australia a “live dig” is taking place in Pioneer Reserve, opposite Fremantle Railway Station. The site is to be investigated for its archaeological and interpretive potential, giving an insight into 19th century commercial port activity and leisure past-times in the 1920s and 30s. Expert consultants will be available at the site to answer questions.
Pioneer Park was home to the Uglieland Fun Park from 1922 to 1936, run by the charitable Ugly Men’s Association to alleviate suffering in the community after World War I. City of Fremantle Heritage Planner Vanessa Collins said “This project intends to peel back some of the layers to reveal and communicate the area’s rich and varied past”. Check out your state for events in your local area; Meet the Archaeologists; Take the Quizzes! Perhaps you school has a site for students to investigate like a real scientific study.Classroom activities can be linked to related CMIS themes topics such as Ancient Worlds and Shipwrecks
The CMIS Evaluation Blog is published by Curriculum Materials Information Services (CMIS), Department of Education and Training, Western Australia. It is designed to provide news about current events, resources and research to assist staff in schools to become aware of the most up-to-date, relevant resources for learning and teaching. The CMIS Evaluation Blog is supported by 3 specialist blogs: Fiction Focus, Primary Focus and Technology Focus.
NAIDOC WEEK, celebrated in the first full week in July each year, has become an important conduit in moving towards spanning the cultural differences between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. The current celebrations have grown from mainly unsupported activism during the early 20th Century, through the 1938 Day of Mourning, National Aborigines Day to the present NAIDOC WEEK observance. 
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celebrations, curriculum resources, reconciliation | Tagged: Aboriginal peoples, Australian Identity, NAIDOC Week | 
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