Room 227’s Blog

Have you ever wondered what a Billabong is?  What a Billy is? How to throw a boomerang?  How to make Damper?

Well, on Jan. 26th,  our class celebrated Australia Day.  And no, I’m not Australian.  However, one of our students, Heather, is from Australia, as is another of our Gr.5 teachers, Ms.Hahn, AND our wonderful Principal, Ms. Hoogland.  It was a terrific way to mix in something new and different and FUN into our learning.

Ms. Hoogland read a book called Wombat Stew and she taught us about some real Aussie talk.  What a great storyteller she was!  We also made traditional Damper, watched a video on youtube first to get an idea of what we were about to get ourselves into and then off we went…measuring, looking at fractions on our measuring tools, stirring and mixing, getting our hands dirty and kneading the dough.  Ridge’s mom helped bake the bread–which we very much appreciated, and it came back hot and smelling yummy.  It is a very dense bread–not very light and fluffy like we are used to.  It didn’t taste like much, so we added Golden Syrup, which is also a common topping in Australia.  Mmmmm…sugar syrup! You can also add jam or butter if you like. The video we watched is attached below.  Maybe you’d like to try making Damper yourself!

Ms. Hahn invited our class over to join her class in sitting in a big circle to learn the traditional Aussie song, Waltzing Matilda.  Ms. Hahn was a great host teaching us the song and what it means, along with passing around her own didgeridoo.  We all had an opportunity to try to blow into it–it definitely makes a funny sound and takes a lot of air to get it going!  In the pictures below, Lucas and Luis try their hand at playing the didgeridoo.  I’ve also included a youtube video of an Aboriginal artist from Australia playing the instrument.  Have a listen!   We had a kangariffic time!

Take a look at some of the photos from our celebration.