This lesson plan summarizes a lesson on an Aboriginal Dreamtime story about Tiddilak the Frog. The story teaches about floods and droughts and the importance of balance. Students will learn about Aboriginal traditions, the effects of too much or too little water, and how the animals in the story work together to solve a water crisis. They will read the story, discuss it, and complete activities to assess their understanding. The lesson incorporates multiple subjects and aims to develop students' cultural awareness, problem solving, collaboration and critical thinking skills.

1. Lesson Plan Format
Class: Year 1 Date: 9th September, 2012 Time: Start: 9.15am -10am
Stage : 1
Lesson Topic: The Aboriginal Dreamtime story of Tiddilak the Frog, (Wet and Dry Unit), concentrating on floods and droughts and
Key Learning Area: Human Society & its environment! beginning to look at the importance of water, how we need a balance in life. The following two lessons would look at water
conservation and the inequity of it locally and globally.
Recent Prior Experience
This lesson is under the Wet & Dry Environments strand. It is recommended in the syllabus that all teachers from Early Stage 1 to Stage 3 should experience the work of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Incorporating this, students have previously learnt how Aboriginals have interacted with their environment, along with oral traditional stories passed through the generations, otherwise known as Dreamtime stories.
The chosen Aboriginal Dreamtime story for the class today is versatile and thematic from a HSIE viewpoint; as it is a story that parallels skills & ideas in HSIE, such as collaborative problem solving, inquiry based
learning activities, active participation in raising issues & critical thinking with regards to water, the lack of it, as well as too much of it; the impact it has on land and the life it supports/destroys; all supporting HSIEs
values and attitudes of Ecological Sustainability, Intercultural understanding and beliefs and moral code.
The story of Tiddilak the Frog is figurative as it concentrates on life before water (drought) and after water (flood) – the animals join forces in a shared effort in solving their water crisis. Students understand that a wet
or dry environment is also a home that provides food and shelter for many different animals and wildlife that have adapted to its natural surroundings. Integrated Key Learning Areas include: Science LTS1.3
Identifies and describes the structure and function of living things and ways in which living things interact with other living things and their Environment. English (Reading, Talking & Listening) RS1.5 identifies
elements such as main characters, setting and events in a variety of literary texts, shows empathy with characters in stories. HSIE/CUS 1.3 Identifies customs, practices, symbols languages and traditions of their
family and other families and HSIE/CUS 1.4 Describes the cultural, linguistic and religious practices of their family, their community and other communities and Creative Arts (VAS1.1) makes artworks in a particular
way about experiences of real and imaginary things.
Syllabus Outcome(s): Indicators: By the end of this lesson children will: Assessment:
Relationships with places Recognizes that Aboriginal people have interacted positively with the environment for a (T) Assesses: through engagement and active participation
long time. & (S)’s self management.
ENS1.5 Compares and contrasts natural and
built features in their local area and the ways Express feelings and values about places that they and others feel are important. -through accurate understandings of the story. There was
people interact with these features. a water shortage, water is necessary for survival; it is also
Will remember the seasons and what type of whether creates a flood or drought. a part of the cycle of nature the wet and dry seasons.
ENS1.6 Demonstrates an understanding of
relationship between environments and They will know the devastating effects of flood and drought to all living things. -through their investigations and conclusions, answers to
people PMI charts, Venn diagrams and contribution as group
They will know the difference between a wet and dry environment. Eg: swamp, arid land. leader, scriber, presenter.
They will understand the importance of water for sustainability. -through contribution to the final comparison group poster
of a wet & dry environment.
Safety Issues to consider: Resources required for this lesson:
o Work stations ready before students o Swasbrook, Elizabeth. (2000) Aboriginal Legend Plays: Introducing Aboriginal Culture through Drama. Western Australia: Prim-Ed Publishing.
arrive.
o VIDEO - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpZ29kUCQWM. Retrieved 13/04/2011. 7 Feb 2009 ... A story about thirsty Tiddalik! (This a different video to the
o Mention that this is a nurturing and one on the blog, it would be good for children with hearing problems as it has the sub titles on it)
safe environment we all must feel
comfortable in for our creative o Pictures of trees in flood and drought situations, PowerPoint slide, videos, PMI, Venn diagrams, facts on frogs, drought and flood with trees and Aboriginal
abilities to flow. poem and the Story Tiddilak the Frog.
Carolyn Cavell – HSIE Assessment Page 1

2. LESSON SEQUENCE
INTRODUCTION
Timing (T) The interconnectedness of the Aboriginals and their relationship with the land Students read this poem together; the ideas in it represent
(10) and their respect for it reiterated in this poem from previous lesson to remind Aboriginals spirituality, respect and oneness with the land. (S)
students. understand cycles of renewal, knowledge from revelation and
experience.
. The land owns us; we don’t own the land.
The land owns us; we don’t own the land. So we are about to embark on another journey with a dreamtime
We are part of the land. story that talks about the wet and dry seasons. The students will
From the time we are children we learn the have to figure out what the story is about and investigate it further.
songs and stories about the land.
For thousands of years, these songs and
stories have been part of the people’s oral
tradition and beliefs.
(T) Reads the book Tiddilak the Frog another traditional dreamtime story, an oral A story book is part of inquiry learning along with active participation
tradition passed down through the generations and it is trying to tell us something. in brainstorming with the teachers scaffolded questions.
Sometimes it is a moral or something you can learn from. Let’s see what we can
learn by investigating the story ourselves!
Story is read and (T) brainstorms through questioning with students: Students are currently on the floor answering and brainstorming T’s
questions. T writes their answers on the whiteboard or IWB in two
What problems arose in the story? What is a serious problem with this water separate columns, showing the drought and the flood aspects.
shortage? How did the animals return the water? Who suggested the frog laugh?
What was happening to the animals without the water? Who were the first creatures
to try and make Tiddilak laugh? Can anyone remember how the problem was
solved? All the animals worked cooperatively with ideas to make Tiddilak laugh so
he would spill out the water.
Students write on IWB what they think might happen to the drought stricken plains
in one column, in another column what would happen once Tiddilak has splurged
the huge amount of water out. (He has replenished or refilled). Are the
consequences good or bad?
DEVELOPMENT
(35) Activities for learning and investigating: To think logically, critically and creatively. I
have 3 workstations to reach the children on different levels - which may need a
double block of HSIE. They all come together and share their knowledge and
research and pictures which will be part of a big class poster of the wet and dry
season from Tiddilak’s world. There will be a black line drawn down the middle to
show the stark contrast.
Carolyn Cavell – HSIE Assessment Page 2

3. Group 1: LAND and VEGETATION
Have pictures of floods and droughts and (T) will provide a paragraph of information
on flood and a paragraph on the effects of drought to land and vegetation. Students
in this group (gifted) read through and the put on a PMI chart & write the impacts
on TREES. The differences/similarities.
After their discussion and writing exercise, they will draw and colour in a number of
trees that are drought affected and a number of trees that are flood affected.
Looking at their information and pictures, (these pieces of artwork will be stuck on
final group class poster).
Group 2: THE FROGS JOURNEY!
Let’s follow online what happens to the frog in the wet season and where does he
go in the dry season? (T) provides interesting facts to this table about frogs; for eg:
Frogs were used by Indigenous Australians during times of drought as a source of
water. How they burrow underground during dry periods and absorbed large
amounts of water.
Students use a Venn Diagram to map out what happens in the dry and wet seasons
to this frog, what are his movements, how does he adapt and so on.
Group 3: ABORIGINAL WEATHER PATTERNS and importance of the
elements.
These groups have a chart of Aboriginal weather symbols and they take an
educated guess on what these symbols mean. Then they compare with the correct
answers. This group draws pictures of clouds (where rain comes from) and (picture
of a large sun), which is also needed for growth. Their parts of the poster are the
elements of the weather, which will also be a part of the big wet/dry poster. The
importance of water for all of us. Create annotated drawings to illustrate the
environmental indicators of wet/dry seasons.
CLOSURE
(10) (T) Shows the video of Tiddilak the Frog – so the story is consolidated, Students move back quietly to their desks and wind down ready to
environmental issues discussed. They may make other discoveries, or see things watch the 5-minute video of the story they have read and discussed
from a different perspective. today. The video allows the students to bring their knowledge and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y3Ta5xcKV4. discussion of today’s activities this will consolidate their
understanding and perhaps they will learn and see things differently.
All students in the second lesson get their leader to get up and read what they have
discovered in a news style forum. (T) mentions that water is important but we all need things in
balance. Too much of anything is not a good thing. Too much sun,
After all 3 groups discoveries share their knowledge and stories, a GIANT poster of means drought, too much water means flood. Next lesson we will
a wet and dry environment on Tiddilak will be collaboratively done for next lesson. talk about water conservation and what we can do to preserve it.
The students can add their drawings and symbols to the painting!
Carolyn Cavell – HSIE Assessment Page 3

4. Carolyn Cavell – HSIE Assessment Page 4