The teacher read the dreaming story, 'Gidja' to the children. They discussed what the story was trying to tell them. They particularly looked at whether or not the story featured the three things they had learnt were included in every dreaming story. These three 'ingredients' for a dreaming story are, 

• teaches about laws of the land 

• includes their spiritual beliefs 

• teaches about the laws of living. 

The children decided that the story was trying to teach them that Aboriginal people believe once you die, you are reborn into your next life. They also discussed that the story told them to respect the land, by including wildlife details. The children decided that the main law of living conveyed through the story was to respect life.

Instead of retelling the story orally or rewriting, they talked about the various ways Aboriginal People passed on these stories to their children and how they are maintained. They learnt that the stories are passed on orally, through song, through dance and also through art. They decided to retell the story of 'Gidja' through the art of dot painting. They looked at many pieces of traditional Aboriginal Art for inspiration and also talked about traditional colours. They discovered that Black, White, Orange, Brown, Yellow and Red are the traditional colours of Aboriginal people because they were found in the environment. They made these colours by grinding ochre.

After creating their pictures, they found that even though Red is a traditional colour, Aboriginal people would prefer that they were the only ones to use this colour because it actually symbolises blood. The colour red is sacred to Aboriginal people.

Year 3A