Prep/One's visit to the Sustainability Learning Centre

On Friday 26th June the class was privileged to take part in an amazing guided walk through some of the beautiful native bush on Mount Nelson.  The highly informative and interactive walk was skillfully presented by Jenny Dudgeon and all the children were enthusiastic and excited about their discoveries. Using their explorative tools (magnifying glasses, specimen containers and plant identification charts) the children were encouraged to use their senses of hearing, touch and sight to explore the surroundings and form opinions about what they found. Discussion opportunities encouraged the children to think carefully and listen to the ideas of their friends when deciding what factors contributed to the state of items they found.  For example, the children talked about what may have caused the death of the blue-tongued lizard. How did the bricks and concrete slab get into the bush and how long may they have been there? What was in the muddy water? Why did the tree fall over and why was there charcoal on the trunk? 

Below are some photos taken during our outing. 

    After looking at all the clues we decided that the lizard was probably killed by a vehicle in the bush.

                               

    

     We looked at the bark on the trees for clues to possum and other animal activity.

                                 

    The snake skin was quite different to the lizard skin.

     We  were able to find possible animal homes underneath a fallen-down tree.  Scats were good clues to the types of animals that lived here.

   We all lay on our tummies (thankfully the ground wasn't too muddy!) and closed our eyes to listen carefully to the sounds we heard around us in the bush. Crows were definitely the most common bird call, and nearby road works provided some machine sounds. 

                                   The plant identification charts were very interesting and useful.  We  could identify blackwood trees, banksias, sheoaks, acacias and different types of eucalypts.

     Taking water samples was interesting and one of us even caught a mosquito.

      We discovered a range of different types of fungi.

    We compared the size and number of buds that we found.

  

     Looking carefully at the bark of trees showed us some interesing insect activity.

                               

    Splashing in the mud was certainly a highlight of our visit!

                                

    With gumboots on we were all keen to splash and squish our way through the mud.

                                   

    Walking through the sheoak forest was very peaceful. We  enjoyed looking at the unusual leaves,               that we could pull apart and push back together!

                                    

    Happy and tired, we all travelled back to school, looking forward to our next opportunity to explore     our beautiful native bush together.