Caring for Country

Overview

Year Level: Year 2
Subject: Humanities and Social Sciences (HaSS)
Strand: Geography
Duration: 48 minutes
Unit: Exploring Our World – Lesson 7 of 9
Lesson Title: Caring for Our Places
Australian Curriculum Reference:

• ACHASSK090: The natural, managed and constructed features of places, their location, how they change and how they can be cared for.
• ACHASSI035: Pose questions about past and present objects, people, places and events.
• Cross-curricular Priority: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures: OI.2, OI.5

Learning Intentions

At the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

• Explain why it is important to care for places in their community.
• Identify ways that local environments are conserved and cared for.
• Suggest actions they can take to help care for their local place.

Success Criteria

Students will:
✅ Contribute to a class discussion about environmental care
✅ Use visuals to describe how people care for places
✅ Create a “Care for Our Place” pledge with a practical individual action

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Materials & Preparation

Materials:

• A large printed map of the local area (e.g. school and surrounding suburb)
• Sticky notes or mini index cards
• Butcher's paper & markers
• iPads (optional) for photographing local areas
• Pledges template worksheet with space for drawing and writing
• Photos of local environment (e.g. parks, rivers, playgrounds, bushland)
• Printed caption cards (examples of care: tree planting, picking up rubbish, Indigenous fire management practices)

Set-up:

• Arrange an open circle space for discussion
• Pre-stick photos around the classroom with numbered tags for reference

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Lesson Sequence (48 minutes)

⏱️ 1. Welcome and Warm-Up (5 mins)

“Our Place” Brainstorm

• On the interactive whiteboard, display the heading “Our Place”.
• Ask: “What places in our neighbourhood do we love and use?”
• Record student responses: parks, footy ovals, beaches, school, gardens, etc.
• Prompt with images of local areas if needed.

Teacher Note: Celebrate all responses – even places like grandma’s backyard or fish and chip shops!

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⏱️ 2. Guided Inquiry: Who Cares for Places? (10 mins)

• Using a local map and photo set, start a class dialogue:

  “Let’s look at all the parts of our community. Who takes care of these?”

• Match photo segments to laminated caption cards (e.g. “Council worker landscaping”, “Aunty Mary’s cleaning day at the creek”).
• Begin categorising caretakers:
  People (volunteers, councils, Elders), Groups (clean-up teams, schools), Nature itself (cycle of regrowth).

Key Questions:

• Why is it important that we care for these places?
• What might happen if we don’t?

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⏱️ 3. Deep Dive: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Perspectives (8 mins)

Introduction to Traditional Care – “Caring for Country”

• Show a short printed visual of Indigenous fire practices or bush regeneration (without digital video).
• Ask: “How do you think First Nations peoples care for the land?”
• Briefly explain that for tens of thousands of years, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have managed land carefully – it's a relationship, not just a job.

Connect explicitly to the idea of sustainability and responsibility.
Reinforce: “Caring for Country” is a cultural way of life that teaches us to look after land, animals, skies, and waterways.

Optional Extension Activity: Students locate lands of Traditional Owners on a map of Australia.

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⏱️ 4. Group Activity: What Can WE Do? (15 mins)

Mini Gallery Walk – “Seeing Our Responsibilities”

• Regroup at four stations with displayed photos – each group gets one photo scenario (e.g. messy park, healthy garden, dry creek).
• Task:
  1. Identify the problem or example of care
  2. Discuss what actions made it better (or what’s needed)
  3. Write a sticky note solution:
     • “We could…” or “Next time I will…”

Each group shares their photo and solutions. Stick their notes on the whole class map near the location!

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⏱️ 5. Create “Care Pledge” (7 mins)

Individual Student Task:
Hand out a pledge template:

Today I will show I care for our place by… (draw + one sentence)

Encourage realistic, simple actions: picking up leaves, feeding the worm farm, reminding family to recycle.

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⏱️ 6. Reflect & Close Circle (3 mins)

Go-round: "One way I can care for our place is..."
Each child shares out loud (can pass if shy).
Collect pledge cards and display them on a “Community Care Tree” class display.

Let students know their ideas will help the class work together on a future action (foreshadowing next lesson).

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Assessment

Formative Assessment:

• Observation of student participation during class discussion and gallery walk
• Evaluation of individual pledge cards for understanding of personal responsibility
• Sticky note responses as evidence of application

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Differentiation

• Support: Provide sentence starters and choice cards for pledge activity
• Extension: Invite stronger writers to compose a Care Poem or create a comic strip of someone caring for their park
• Cultural Inclusion: Use local Aboriginal language words for land or water if known; if permitted, share a story from a local Elder

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Follow-Up Ideas

• Organise a collaborative clean-up or garden planting at school or in partnership with a community group
• Student-led campaign (posters, announcements) showcasing care behaviours
• Include older students as “Community Stewards” buddy mentors

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Teacher Reflection Question

Did students demonstrate understanding of collective and personal responsibility in caring for a place? How might this influence our school habitat projects or broader sustainability goals?

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Curriculum Links

General Capabilities:

• Critical and Creative Thinking
• Ethical Understanding
• Intercultural Understanding
• Personal and Social Capability

Cross-Curriculum Priorities

• Sustainability
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures

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Resources

Visuals/Images (locally sourced):

• Community garden
• Waterway
• Local bushland
• Rubbish bins and maintenance staff
• Traditional Indigenous bush practices

Templates provided:

• Care Pledge Sheet
• Sticky Note Thinking Frames
• Group Gallery Walk handout

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Teacher Tip 🪴:
If possible, hold the final lesson of this unit outdoors as a celebration and real-world application of the students' pledges.

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End of Lesson 7 – Exploring Our World
Next Lesson: Our Place in Action – Making a Difference