Stronger Smarter

During Stronger Smarter time, our younger students have been reading the Dreamtime story The Rainbow Serpent. Students pondered the concept of how the Rainbow Serpent created our creeks, mountains and rivers. I wonder if Mount Canemumbola was made by him??

This week we had our term ending ritual of a 'check out', where students sit in a circle and check out with how they are feeling. Students used a variety of animal cards that displayed differing emotions.

Our older students finished off the term completing their cultural action plans. These plans were derived using the Uncle Steve Mam concept of the coconut tree. The roots of the tree are our heritage (or our values) that we want to instil in our cultural group. The trunk represents the traditions and rituals we will enact to display our values. Finally, the leaves represent our culture. Culture is what we will be able to see happening when we are enacting our traditions and rituals.

Students enjoyed brainstorming their traditions and rituals to put into place next term. Some included having music in every Stronger Smarter session, along with introducing walk and talk buddies to further enhance our connections and sense of belonging.

Students also acknowledged that the majority of the values they wanted to instil into Stronger Smarter were already embedded in our sessions. This exercise allows students to further develop their broader knowledge of the concept of culture and how it is a complex concept that can be simply explained and developed using a coconut tree.

Wishing everyone a very safe and warm holiday.

Taryn Riles

Strong and Smart Always

Mrs Taryn Riles I Stronger Smarter Facilitator