This experience is about creating music with the clap sticks made of wooden sticks which was collected from my on-country visit. Children painted it, did the dot art and once prepared we incorporated it for our music session in the classroom. Also added the Indigenous song “Ngaya, Naba” with the sound of clapstick which I recently learned from my kinder teacher. The picture attached shows where the inspiration started, resourcing natural materials and transforming it into the musical instrument.

Rationale:

When I listened to “Watershed” by Cass Lynch, I understood how each place holds the history of the people of that land, and on my country visit I experienced the sound and power of nature. Bringing in both into my experience, I planned an experience where children can make connection and develop deep respect to the musical history of first nation people and connect to the nature through their sense of listening and creativity (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing, being, and doing).

Followed my personal pedagogical practice of letting the children lead their learning (Observed children’s interest in exploring clapstick sound) and included Reggio Approach of use of natural materials – aesthetics.

EYLF Links:

Outcome 1:

·       Children expressed themselves confidently and developed a sense of belonging through connecting in a cultural experience.

Outcome 2:

·       Children built connections with nature and First Nations culture, fostering respect for Aboriginal perspectives and traditions.

Outcome 4:

·       Children’s involvement in a process of painting, experimenting, and performing showcased their active learning and creativity.

·       Children used critical thinking while engaging in discussion and suggesting musical movements and showed persistent learning.

Lesson Plan:

·       Invite children to sit in a yarning circle.

·       Introduce to the clapstick as a musical Instrument and introduction to “Ngaya Naba” song.

·       The link to the song is here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYW2MHmmp_0&list=RDnYW2MHmmp_0&start_radio=1

·       Enjoy the singing, music, and rhythm of song and sounds of clapsticks.

Implementation and Reflection:

I have been truly inspired by Allara’s “Wala is Life” music and singing that how she incorporated the sound of nature, showed strong connection to place, and its importance in our life. Keeping that in my mind, I extended my children’s interest in playing sound with the clapsticks. The implementation of experience amazed me, as most of my children engaged with great interest, and the way they repeated and learned the words of songs, actions, creating music all come in together so well. The best part was, when two of my children also suggested some of the steps when I asked their suggestion, which were:

“How about, if do one up, and one down”

“And, and, fast like this”

The process of making clapstick and doing music session was done over the two weeks of time where children were involved in each step. Following the slow pedagogy, I ensured that each child who is interested get the opportunity to engage in process, and throughout the week the sticks were available to them to paint and decorate. The following week, we started practising sound, followed by adding song to our music.

The experience came out so well that my kinder teacher suggested that we should do this as one of our annual concert performance songs. These clapsticks are going to be permanent resource of my classroom, and we are going to experiment more sounds with it. Also, I would like to generate more nature sounds with my children and will like to compose a song using the nature sounds in my future teaching practices. Again, inspired by Allara.

While reading the Reggio Inspired Atelier article, I deepened my understanding of how important it is to learn music through play, and the musical play brings in both aesthetic, and cognitive benefits at very young age.

I believe yoga is a great movement experience and including children’s interest (animals) into it will allow them to extend and follow on. I prepared some yoga cards (researched and resourced) and planned the movement experience focusing on children’s physical and emotional wellbeing.

Rationale:

The Animal themed yoga experience was an extended learning experience of AT2 creative response of performing nature’s actions. Recognising children build agency and self-esteem when they challenge and achieve success, I planned this experience to build on that strength. To support wellbeing and positive outcomes for all children, I added easy to complex position cards (EYLF Principles, Equity, inclusion, and high expectations).

Through this experience children will be able to extend their imaginative play (animals) into movement practicing balance and motor skills. Jan & Susan (2018) also state in their article,

“They have an inbuilt spirit of inquisitiveness and creativity and are intuitively sociable, loving the adventure of doing. Modern child psychology explores the ideas that children learn by doing and engage their bodies to see, hear and touch what interests them.”

Using animal movements, will be like telling a story through body movements, and didgeridoo breathing exercise is a form of showing inner strength and connection to the country. Through developing a belonging to the world around them children will nurture respect for traditional land and owners (Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing).

EYLF Links:

Outcome 1:

·       Children took pride in showcasing their abilities building upon self-identity and resilience.

Outcome 2:

·       The NAIDOC theme Australian animals’ yoga cards embed cultural awareness and respect for Indigenous people.

Outcome 3:

·       Through yoga children build physical and emotional wellbeing through body movements, stretching, and connection with breath.

Lesson Plan:

·       Use the yoga movement card for reference or create your own yoga poses.

·       The NAIDOC theme cards have references to Australian animal poses and the Didgeridoo breathing practice. Another set of cards include different animal poses.

·       Attaching the link:

https://www.twinkl.com.au/resource/us-a-183-yoga-movement-cards

·       Suggested to do in a small group to provide children more space for movement and make it more enjoyable for them and for educators easy to supervise and assist.

·       Present the cards, show the movement, and ask children if they would like to try.

·       Encourage them for each effort and appreciate for what they are achieving. As showed in the Lake Cowal Bird Dance that how they are communicating through their movement and stretching their body. Let children also communicate through their own unique movement.

·       End the session with calming breathing exercise as this helps children to calm and  build connection between mind and body.

Implementation and Reflection:

Day 1, when I implemented the activity children were excited to look at the yoga visual cards, and they all imitated the animal movement based on their abilities. They were proudly showcasing me what they can do. Their enthusiasm and active participation were evident through them asking what we are doing next.

On day 2, we extended the experience with the challenging game, let’s see who can do this movement, and the best moment was when one of the children challenged me and asked me –

“Ms. Manisha, look can you be tree like this?”

“And see, the flamingo.”

We did yoga session 3 times last week and loved to see how children like to engage and revisit the experience and extend their understanding of movements. Tried with a bigger group but children do not have enough space for movement. I think for bigger group, outdoor open environment will be great.

I believe in my future practices documenting their voices, using their pictures to create a reflective journal, and use them to revisit their learning will create a powerful tool for me as a teacher to plan future experiences and simultaneously can-do ongoing reflection and improvement.

The experience is inspired by “We are going on a bear hunt”, I took from this story of how children love the imaginative and sensorial drama. Incorporating it into my experience, I wrote a story through which children can experience the different elements of nature. It will be great way of revisiting, recreating moment and adding new knowledge after our nature walk experiences.

Rationale:

The story I wrote is based on both my imagination and experience of walking in woods by myself and going on a nature walk with my children. I was truly inspired by the Sensorium Theatre Webinar and learned how adding the sensorial elements enrich the story experience for children of all abilities. Also, how adding our experience into small narratives, and forming a story, using simple props helps make connection between story and keep audience captivated.

The new concept I learned was Body Percussion, and creating sound with simple body actions was amazing, so added simple sounds of stomping, thumping, and walking using hands and drums.

The experience will provide a space to children to co-construct meaning through rhythm, movement and shared knowledge. Using props, body percussion, and peer interaction will allow rich learning within their Zone of Proximal Development.

EYLF Links:

Outcome 4:

·       Throughout the experience children will be using creative thinking, imagination, and exploration.

Outcome 5:

·       Children will explore multiple modes of communication (verbal storytelling, visual props, body percussion).

Lesson Plan:

·       Materials Required: The drum, printout of story, natural materials collected from the nature walk, such as leaves, sticks, gumnuts. Rocks, tray, water, and duck figurine to create a river scenario. Some puppets: birds (I used cockatoo, and eagle), you can use more or different and modify the story accordingly.

·       Invite a group of children on mat (big or small whatever suits you).

·       Explain them what we are gathering for and show them the materials they collected from nature outside to recollect memories and build connection.

·       Then you can start the story on beats of drum, using props, adding drama to your tone, and make believe as they are on the nature walk. I imitated and added different beats for each movement using hands and drum (Body Percussion). Adding the link of video below that really inspired me and can be used as a reference:

https://www.sensoriumtheatre.com.au/our-services/early-years/

Implementation and Reflection:

I was able to implement this experience only for one day before writing this reflection but going to continue this in my classroom as the outcome was amazing.

In morning, I did with the small group of children, and they were captivated, and I felt so good as an educator that I was able to deliver this program. They were quick learners - learned the rhythm and beats of drumming and wanted the hands-on of drumming which they did soon after session. Two of children loved that how we can fly the eagle(puppet), whereas one liked the softness of cockatoo. It was sensory rich experience, and one of my child who is very sensorial and have short attention span, was sitting there for full story telling.

Later, in afternoon when children were bit anxious, I got the drum and props out and ask if they want to do again, and this time the bigger group joined me in. We did a bit of modification this time, and instead of using props, just used drums, and pretend that we are on a nature walk, and every time we stop, we look out of the window and to spot what we see, and it was a big hit. They spotted clouds, dancing leaves, sun, tree with no leaves, and so on.

I was aware of drumming, sensorial, and storytelling with different tones but the best thing came out after learning this unit was how to add all this element together to create a complete dramatic storytelling session. It was an amazing learning journey, and I was able to redefine my knowledge of drama, music, and movement.

It was great to see my sensorial children already benefitting the experience like this, what another key learning was that how it can benefit the children with hearing difficulty and deaf. I have no child in my classroom now, but I know if in future, how to help them.

Also, this unit taught me about deep listening, power of silence, recognise the drama in each small movements, music and sound a natural healer (for all abilities), again the dance and drama has no boundaries it comes innately. The art is within us, and in my pedagogical practices, I will focus on embedding simple nature elements, sound, drama, and art which benefits children's holistic development as well respect for diverse culture.