Tasmanian Museum and At Gallery Excursion TMAG

A big thank you to the eleven parents who made this excursion possible to the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, as without a ration of one adult to every five students we couldn't possibly have managed it with nearly sixty students in our double unit. And now with the mandatory "Working with vulnerable children id" this will become increasingly hard to achieve as from next year due to the costs involving such checks. So we are very grateful. This excursion tied in very closely with both our history unit on Aboriginal nations in pre and post invasion and also our current geography unit. It was followed up that very afternoon with a powerful role play about the decimation of the original owners of the land called "From Gumnuts to Buttons" back at school during the double lesson in the afternoon. It was a fantastic day with a great talk given by Ms Judy Hunter in The "Go Away, Go Away' gallery and then the free ranging part of the excursion under close adult supervision. The kids were concentrating hard, and the adults too, on finding and rewarding about their mysterious objects. I only have a smattering of photos as I was securely attached to my group. Jacque forwarded me a few photos, so here is what we managed between us:

Study of Aboriginal Nations in Tasmania, pre Invasion

In this introductory lessons our children across the grade 3-4Coote/Klonaris unit were grouped into Aboriginal Nations. The object of this lesson was for the kids to understand that each nation in Tasmanian had its own unique way of life largely driven by their surroundings and affiliations with their immediate environments. They learnt how the Aboriginal People used the land, were environmentally aware and how they traded with each other to gain the necessities of life.  They had to choose items from a hands on display which they thought they would have used in their nations and explain what the objects they chose were and how they were utilised. Teamwork and consensus of opinion were put into practice beautifully by the students during this double lesson. All this work was followed up with a further four lessons in the classroom and a visit to the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. I would like to thank you to Judy Hunter with her support and expertise during this unit. More photos of stage two to come showcasing the kids working on their group drawings in preparation for the very powerful From Gumnuts to Buttons session which followed our visit to the relevant galleries at TMAG.

There will also be some photos put up about our morning exploring the museum soon. But right now I'm off to Melbourne to visit my son. Hope everyone received the artwork sent home today.