| Read the story My
Patch by Nel Smit |
Listen to the story My
Patch and look at the pictures. Make a list of the animals in the
pictures and mentioned in the story.
Why did the author choose her special place? What was there? Why did
she like it? What does she do on her patch? What plants did she find
there? |
| If there is bushland or
parkland adjacent to the school, take the students outside and let them
choose a patch approximately one meter square. |
Go out to a bushland or
parkland near your school. Take a piece of string four meters with you.
Choose a small patch of land and sit down in the middle of it. Mark the
perimeter by placing the string around the edges of your patch. |
| |
Notice where your patch is in relation to
patches chosen by others - whose patch is behind, in front of yours?
Notice the special features of your patch:
- Are there stones or rocks in your patch? What colour are they?
- Are there flowers, plants, small trees in your patch?
- Can you see any spider webs, insects or lizards?
Walk away from your patch to a communal place and then return to your
patch. How did you know it was you special patch? |
|
The emphasis on care would be care through protection
rather than cultivation. |
Back in the classroom draw your patch with
the things you noticed in it. This is your own map. Write down how you
might care for things in your patch. |
| |
Visit your patch once a week and notice
what changes have occurred.
Make a book entitled My Patch, put your map in it and write when you
return from your weekly visit. |
|
Emphasize to the students that they are being invited to
a place that is known and cared for by another person.
|
Invite a classmate to your patch and tell
them about the things you have noticed happening and changing.
Go to your patch and lie down with your eyes closed and listen to the
sounds around you. Identify the sounds that you hear. Back in the
classroom make a list of the sounds that would have been heard before
white people came. |
| |
Make a large class map showing everyone's
patch and how to get to the place of the patches from school. Create a
play dough or clay map of your patch and the location of everyone's patch. |
|
Make comparisons with Aboriginal occupation and invasion
by non-Aborigines, ownership, feelings, powerlessness, non-reciprocal use,
etc. |
Write a poem about your patch and how you
would feel if someone else took over your patch, stomped on the insects,
destroyed the spider webs and pulled out some of the grass and trees.
would you be sad, angry or happy? Why would you feel like this? |
