To connect to our families and history and build a collective understanding of who we are as a community, the children have been sharing artifacts from their family. This led to a discussion with the children around the importance these objects have to us – both as individuals and families.
Ronan’s Family Chair: “I think it was my mum’s mum and it’s very old. (Mum) chose it because it’s just a little bit old, I guess. In the old house it had to put it somewhere else, like in the room where we use to sleep. That’s where we had it in the old house. At my new house, it’s upstairs.”
Zoltan’s Dad’s Special Encyclopedia: “It was from my dad’s brother. It’s a special book to my dad’s brother and my dad likes it so much because it’s his favourite Sesame Street book. At the end of the book there is a question. There’s actually two questions. I don’t know the questions yet.”
Oliver’s Dad’s Black Bear: “This teddy bear has a nose made from plastic. When my dad came to Australia as a kid Black Bear came too.”
Klara’s Special Placemat: “This is my dad’s placemat from when he was a 4 year old boy. He went to London with his mum and dad and got this placemat.”
Audrey’s Coin Purse: “Audrey’s artifact is a coin purse given to her by her Auntie who lives in the UK. Audrey treasures the coin purse as it was sent from the UK to her with British coins for her to spend when we visited my sister and Audrey’s cousin in 2022. Audrey loved her time in Brighton UK and holds wonderful memories visiting family.”
April’s Special Jumper: “It is a jumper that has been worn by Jonathan and April and it was replicated from a design that was created by Jennifer’s mum, not from a pattern, that was also worn by Jennifer.” Justin, April’s dad.
Our next step in our inquiry is to explore what makes something valuable to us. Specifically, why, over time and generations, special objects become sentimental and a piece of our history and culture.