Going+Further

**Going Further/Taking Action**   Students are required to undertake activities to challenge and extend their learning and to link what they have learned to their daily lives.

**Lesson One (45-60 mins) ENGLISH ‘Feelings’** As a whole group, ask the students to help brainstorm all of the people/living creatures who are affected during a bushfire (residents, animals, fire fighters etc.). Then have the students pair up to briefly discuss different feelings (fear, surprise, anger, happiness) and ask them to fill out the Feelings Worksheet (see teacher materials). Have the students individually read a short selection from the book, ‘ // A Bushfire Burned My Dunny Down // ’ (Tracey McGuire, 2004, ‘ // Phoenix Rising // ’, page 29-30). Ensure that any notes and worksheets are put in the students' Scrapbook. These mini lessons are the foundation to the last main task which is for small groups to create a ‘How I would feel if I were…’ poster. This poster should include 3 different people/living creatures who are affected during a bushfire and how they would feel during and/or after a bushfire. Allow students to be as creative as they like with the poster within the guidelines (I.e. must contain 3 different people/living creatures and their feelings). Display the completed posters on The Wall. This lesson is to encourage empathy and/or sympathy within students. It is also to display the efforts of students so that there is a pool of different ideas for all students to share. Whole group, pairs, individual, small groups. // Who is affected by bushfire? // // Is it important to talk about feelings? // // What feelings arise when people are involved in an emergency? // // How would you feel if you were involved in an emergency? //
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THINKING PROCESSES ‘Grief and Loss’** Students form small groups and talk about what 5 items they would take with them if there were a bushfire heading toward their home. Then ask the students to pick just one and explain to their group why they chose this item. Ask students to pick a time keeper, reporter and a recorder so that the discussion is constructive and meaningful. After this activity, have the whole class come together to share the one item they each chose and write them up on the whiteboard. The last part of this lesson is a whole group activity led by the teacher. The teacher is to explain that the one item they chose cannot be brought with them. But they survive. Give the class a few minutes silence to think about this. Allow for the students to make any comments about how they felt about this when the teacher said they could not take anything. Students are to listen to the teacher talk about how everybody grieves differently and that it is a normal and natural thing to go through when we lose something or someone. Ask students to write some thoughts about this lesson in their Scrapbook. Students need to critically think about what is important in life. Small groups, whole group. // What things are most important to you? // // How would you feel to lose your possessions? Your home? Or even a loved one? // // Is it okay to experience grief? // // Is there a right way to grieve? //
 * Lesson Two (45-60 mins)
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INTERPERSONAL DEVELOPMENT ‘How to Help People’** Extending on from the previous class, students are asked who they might talk to if they were experiencing some difficult feelings. Brainstorm as a class all the different people we could talk to about our feelings. Explain to students that it helps to talk or even write to someone. Next, divide the class into two groups, group A and B. Students from group A are to form small groups. Students from group B are to form pairs. Group A are to divide a large A3 sheet of paper into ‘things to say’ and ‘things to do’ if they had a friend or loved one who was experiencing grief or loss. Give them time to discuss ideas about helpful questions, comments, or activities they could initiate. Meanwhile, group B are to use the internet to look at the Kids Help Line website ([|www.kidshelp.com.au] ). Ask students to research what services the Kids Help Line provide, how they can be contacted and any other interesting points they find when they are looking at the site. After around 30 minutes swap the two groups over. Place any of the work completed over the course of this lesson in the students' Scrapbook. Explain at the end to the whole class that sometimes it is difficult to express feelings and simply knowing that someone is ‘there’ is all that they need until they are ready to talk. Students need to know how to help people who may be experiencing grief and who they could talk to if they are experiencing difficulties. Whole group, small groups/pairs, whole group. // What helpful things could we say to someone who is experiencing grief or loss? // // What helpful things could we do with/for someone who is experiencing grief or loss? // // Who can we talk to when we are upset? //
 * Lesson Three (75 mins)
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CIVICS & CITIZENSHIP ‘You Can Make a Difference’** As a whole group, initiate a discussion with the students about how the community spirit can be very strong after a bushfire. Talk about the kinds of things we already know about that we can do to help the community after a bushfire. Discuss with the students different kinds of events that the community organise (i.e. concerts, benefits, fundraising, donations). Try to get as many answers out of the class as possible. Next, ask the students to fill out the first two columns of the ‘KWL Chart’ (see teaching materials). As a result of this chart, find out from the students what areas they are interested in learning more about. Use the topics that the students find appealing to fill in the ‘Ideas for Action’ worksheet (see teaching materials). Form class into small groups so they can brainstorm ideas for possible projects at a school, local, Australian, and global level. The worksheet is set up so that students need to talk about what the issues are first, then the possible projects to overcome those issues, and finally to estimate a time frame for the projects. Next, have the students fill in the final column of the ‘KWL Chart’ so they can reflect on what they have learned in this lesson. Both the chart and the worksheets should be kept and filed in the students' Scrapbook. Finally, ensure that each student fills out a self reflection on the week's lessons and collect them for assessment and evaluation. Students need to know how they can help the community to build itself up again and that they can make a difference in their community. Whole group, individual, small groups. // Is there anything we can do to help the community after a bushfire? // // What kinds of things can we donate to people who have survived a bushfire? // // Who should we contact if we want to help the community after a bushfire? // // What kinds of events can be organised to aid people in need? // // I am only an individual; can I really make a difference? //
 * Lesson Four (45-60 mins)
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CIVICS & CITIZENSHIP 'We Will Remember Them’** Before the lesson begins, a short quiz will be conducted to gauge how much the students have remembered about the unit. After this, students will use all of the information they have learned over the course of the unit to construct their own memorial in the school hall. Inform students that remembering tragic events such as bushfires are important for future generations. Provide students with an outline of a life-size blank memorial in the school hall on which they can fill with thoughts, information, and any other loving ideas they think are important. Let them be as creative with the space as they feel is necessary. In order to use the short time span constructively, allocate small groups to specific areas of the memorial so that it is completely filled. When the project is completed, invite the rest of the school and the wider community to view the final memorial so that students feel that the process has been of significance. It is important that students feel they have made a real contribution to educating other people about the consequences of bushfires. To gather all the work students have learned and created into a remembrance site that can be shared with other students, teachers, parents, and the wider community. Whole group, small groups. // What kind of information would the public like to know about bushfires? // // What do we find at memorials? // // How will you remember the bushfires and the people affected by them? // // What is the purpose of remembering those we have lost? //
 * Lesson Five (45-60 mins)
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