Step by Step - Activity Instructions

Preparation:

Print and cut out the Tiddalik Story Stones or prepare three smooth stones with images from the story drawn onto them.

Tune In

Invite children to sit quietly together in a circle. Read aloud an Acknowledgement of Country. To find out what Country you are on, visit the AIATSIS Map of Indigenous Australia. Explain to the children that, ‘We do this to say thank you to Country. It is important to look after Country because Country looks after us’

Explain to the children that while we are sitting here, we will hear an old, old story. Share the story of Tiddalik the Frog as told by the Gurnai Kurnai people, and shared by Uncle Herb Patton.

Museums Victoria - Tiddalik - (youtube.com/watch?v=bs-qUWomHtM).

After hearing the story, ask the children what they think it's about. Explain to the children that the story explores the cycles of drought and flood in Gippsland, Victoria.

Display the 3 Tiddalik Story Stones that represent the main story events (beginning, middle and end). Show each stone to the children and ask them which part of the story they think it represents.

Ask the children to help place the stones in order of what happened in the story, modelling the use of positional and ordinal language, such as:

first, next, finally
in the beginning, then, at last
first, second, third

Ask students to look at the stones and retell the key elements of the story, pointing to the stones one by one as they do so.

Discuss with the children:

What would happen if we mixed the stones up and tried to tell the story?
What do we need to do to make sure the story makes sense? (Introduce the idea of sequencing and/or ‘beginning, middle and end’).

Find Out

Bring out the pre-prepared Story Blocks and explain to the children that we will tell a story. Remind them that the story has a beginning, a middle and an end. Roll the 3 blocks and line them up. Explain that this block is the beginning of the story, the second block is the middle of the story, and the third block is the end of the story.

For example:

Beginning: One day, Joey Kanagroo woke up bright and early! She had so much energy, she leapt out of bed dancing.
Middle: She decided that since she had so much energy, she would hop all over the bush and visit all her friends. She visited Echidna, Koala, Snake and Emu!
End: After so much hopping, poor little Joey was exhausted. She didn’t even eat her dinner, but tumbled into her bed and went straight to sleep.

Give the children time to play with the different sets of story blocks. Help them build their stories with a beginning, a middle and an end.

Learning extension: You could print extra copies of the story blocks so children can cut out the images and glue them on paper. An educator can write their story underneath and the children could colour their story in.

Take Action

Explain to the class that stories like ‘Tiddalik’ are used to share information between people. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples use practices such as Dreaming stories and songlines to share information about Country. If the songs and stories are jumbled up, then they won’t make sense! When we share information, we also need to make sure we present it in the right order so it makes sense.

Work with the children to identify processes that have steps. Some examples include:

Washing hands: 1 Turn the water on, 2 Wash your hands, 3 Turn the water off, 4 Dry your hands.
Tidying up: 1 Put all the pens in the tub, 2 Take the tub back to the trolley, 3 Put away your drawings.
Putting shoes on: 1 Put your socks on, 2 Put your shoes on, 3 Do your shoes up.
Planting trees: 1 Dig a hole, 2 Put the tree into the hole, 3 Fill the hole in, 4 Water the tree.
Starting the day: 1 Put our bags away, 2 Put our water bottle on the trolley, 3 Dit on the mat, 4 say our Acknowledgement of Country.

Use a camera to take photos of the children demonstrating each different step of the process. Print the photographs and either cut them out in preparation, or give your children the opportunity to work on their fine motor skills and cut the photos out. Give the children a large piece of paper and ask them to put the photographs in order. Encourage them to use positional and ordinal language when they are describing the process. Write down their directions next to each photo.

Hang the posters up where children can see them when they are doing that task (e.g. in the bathroom to remind children to wash their hands).

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