Unit Overview

Unit Title
Indigenous Arts
Unit Summary
Creative arts is a rich unit helping students to understand the history and culture of the
Indigenous people. In this unit of work, the students will learn the meaningful practices of
the Indigenous people of Australia. They will explore the different forms of art that the
Indigenous people use and create their own Indigenous Artworks. Student

Outcomes Content

VAES1.1 Makes simple pictures and other kinds of artworks
about things and experiences
VAES1.2 Experiments with a range of media in selected forms
VAES1.3 Recognises some of the qualities of different artworks
and begins to realise that artists make artworks.
VAES1.4 Communicates their ideas about pictures and other
kinds of artworks.
VAS1.1 Makes artworks in a particular way about experiences of
real and imaginary things
MUES1.1 Participates in simple speech, singing, playing and
moving activities, demonstrating an awareness of musical
concepts.
MUS1.1 Sings, plays and moves to a range of music,
demonstrating an awareness of musical concepts.
• talks about significant features and relationships within
their artworks
• uses scissors to cut regular and irregular shapes from
papers and cardboards and assembles these in a variety
of ways by overlapping, repeating, layering patterns,
gluing, and sticking
• talks about pictures and other artworks they have seen,
noting what they are about and who made them
• performs simple speech rhymes and songs maintaining a
sense of beat and rhythm based on nursery rhymes,
children’s games and playground chants
• moves to music maintaining a constant beat
• performs music using body percussion, percussion
instruments and self-made sound sources
• sings songs developing a sense of beat, pitch, tone colour
and structure

Curriculum Links
Creative arts, History and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures

Year Level
Kindergarten and Year 1
Approximate Time Needed
4 weeks: up to 2 hours per week

Unit Foundation

Standards/Syllabus Outcomes
Creative Arts
Students will explore and produce artworks that are important in the Indigenous culture.
Students will use visual arts and music to understand the traditions of the Indigenous
community.
History
Students develop and understanding of the significance of Indigenous people in Australia.
They will explore the history, culture and traditions of the Indigenous people from
different tribes around Australia. With this understanding students will work towards
building a true connection allowing an emphasis on reconciliation between Indigenous and
non-Indigenous individuals.
Curriculum-Framing Questions
Why is Art important to Indigenous Australians?
Essential Question
What does art do to help the Indigenous Australians?
Unit Question
What is a digeridoo used for?
Content Questions
What is a boomerang used for?

What do the patterns and dots in Indigenous artworks

mean?

How long have Indigenous people been using art to

express themselves?
Assessment Plan

Assessment Timeline
Before Learning Activities While students work on After learning activities end
begin learning activities
• Think, pair share on • Observation on their • Quiz
their understanding understanding • KWL chart
and prior knowledge through their • Revising the success
• KWL chart creativity in their art criteria
• As a class creating a (photographs)
success criteria • Observing students
during their
performance
• Ensuring the success
criteria is met
Assessment Summary
By observing student understanding of prior knowledge on the KWL chart, a post unit
assessment will be completed to review their learning. Think pair and share will provide
information regarding student knowledge, before and after a task. This will be recorded
by the teacher, through a learning journal. Student assessment will be observed and
photographed through their creativity in their art, to understand if they have grasped the
content. Observing and taking notes of student ability throughout the performances will
assist in assessment. By implementing the student construction of a success criteria,
there is an emphasis on student regulation, in order to meet the assessable standards.
Unit Details

Prerequisite Skills
Students Prior Knowledge
Students will have to have prior knowledge of Indigenous dreamtime stories and art.
Teachers’ Professional Learning
Using existing information from MySchool, I will develop a statistical representation of the
school’s Indigenous population, to understand if the students are familiar with the culture
and background.

Teaching and Learning Strategies

This unit would be studied using creative arts, as it allows the students to delve into the culture
and participate by creating their own Indigenous art. Through creative arts, student will build a
strong connection with the traditions of the Indigenous people, which emphasises the
reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous individuals.
Teaching and Learning Activities
1. Teacher introducing the unit of work by asking students through a KWL chart what they
know about Indigenous art and what they would like to know. Play the YouTube clip “’I am
Australian’ in Yaruru language.” Ask the students to think, pair and share their thoughts
on this song. Do they like it? Why do they think it was created? Introduce them to the
Aboriginal flag, playing the video of the explanation of the meaning of the flag. Ask them
to brainstorm the flags colours. Model: Show the students the step by step process of
creating the flag. Guided: Allow students to help you with the placement of the colours of
the flag. Independent: Give students the coloured paper and allow them to create their
own flag, Year One should write about the colours on the back.
2. Introduce the boomerangs. Explain that traditionally, Indigenous people used boomerangs
for hunting, but they are now used for sporting activities or entertainment. Show them a
real boomerang, allowing them to pass it along to their peers. Using model, guided and
independent, instruct the students of how they must create their boomerangs, by
selecting a symbol, that they would like to talk about in a story and painting it in the
centre of their boomerang. Students then had to decorate their boomerangs with dot
painting. Once this had dried, students were to cut their boomerang out, ready to use it as
a prop in the next lesson.
3. Introduce students to the dancing and singing practice of Indigenous people, emphasising
the practical use. Indigenous people used dancing and singing as a form of communication
for funerals, description of animals or land, etc. Using their created boomerangs, as a
class we are to produce dance moves for the boomerang song. The students will sing
along to the song exposing them to Indigenous language.
4. Introduce digeridoos by playing an educational digeridoo video. Project Indigenous
symbols on the IWB and explain each symbol. Model, guided and independent while
creating a digeridoo with a symbol and dot painting patterns.
5. Play “How the birds got its colours”, emphasise the use of passed down stories. Ask
students to create a story using the symbols. Model, guided and independent. Fill in
the (L) of the KWL chart. Students to complete the small-simple quiz that teacher has
created on their learning throughout this unit.

Accommodations for Diverse Needs

Work explicitly with the emergent students for 10 minutes per
Students with Special lesson to ensure that they have grasped the lesson content.
Needs Utilise support staff to ensure that the student with autism is
comprehending the task and performing.
Students will be encouraged to challenge their learning by
extending the task, for example, during the boomerang task, the
Gifted Students
gifted students can utilise three symbols and created a story,
writing it on the back of their boomerang.
 Ensure to be sensitive to this unit of work, empathising with
Indigenous students. The Indigenous students within the classroom
Indigenous Groups
would be able to relate to their own experiences and help in
teaching the content.
Materials and Resources Required for Unit
Boomerang Art Teaching and Learning
Printed Material
‘I am Australian’ in Yawuru language
Technology
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrcUKgP_sks

Melody Street- Meet Nathan and his Digeridoo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8C-k6wYqT8s

Boomerang
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL3C3I-C56U
Cotton buds, paint, paint brushes and scissors
Supplies

Internet
Resources/
Communication
Tools

Other
Resources