On Wednesday Tracey Muir from Nature Conservancy came to our room to tell us all about macro-invertebrates and explain how we would be sampling for our very own macro-invertebrates during our excursion to the Montessori Wetlands on Wednesday morning (9:05 to 10:25). Write a comment below this post to tell me what you learnt from her visit.
Thank you to parents who volunteered to accompany us and I will contact you on Monday to confirm times. Make sure you bring wet-weather gear (if it looks like showers on the the day), gumboots or spare shoes and socks in case they get wet, and warm clothes. It is such a fun event – we can’t wait!
PS: Tracey told us about an app you can download if you want to have some fun as a family, sampling and recording your macro-invertebrate finds. It’s called “Waterbug” and it gives you pictures, videos, scientific facts etc. It’s well worth a look.
Violet, Keira and Inji were our journalists on our excursion to the Margaret River Weir. They did a great job and this is what they wrote… Great job, girls! 🙂
On Monday the 5th May all the Year 3s went to the Margaret River Weir to learn about Australian animals and their habitats. When we got there the Year 3 classes split into three groups: Emus, Possums and Kangaroos.
The Possums:
When Ange took us to the Margaret River Weir, I learnt lots about the Margaret River and also about all the animals in the river. Tracey told our group “The Possums” about all the different types of trees. There were lots of them! Their names were Karri, Jarrah, Redgum, Banksia and Peppi. Before we went on to the next activity, Tracey told us to find gumnuts that had beak marks on them. I found a couple.
The Kangaroos:
Tracey took our group down a beautiful bush path in the forest. She told us interesting facts about the trees and plants. She also told us how Aboriginal people used to get Redgum off the trees and made a special drink out of it. Tracey also told us how Cockatoos love honkey nuts. The nuts come off the Marri trees. Cockatoos live for up to 50 years. They mate for life and can have one egg every year. It takes three years for a chick to learn how to eat Marri gumnuts and leave the nest.
The Emus:
Genevieve took our group “The Emus” to the middle of the bridge. She told us interesting facts about the lamprey. For example, they can travel to Antartica until they find a river they like. She also told us about the wetlands and the fishladder. This is a wall of stones that has lower pools so that the lamprey can climb up it with their suckers to get through the weir to have their babies in quiet waters. The lamprey uses its sucker to hold onto the whales and sharks and suck their blood. Genevieve told us about the mussels that live in the river. The mussels have a hook so they can move around.
After the three rotations, we came back to the starting point and got into our class groups. Then we walked through the streets back to school. When we got back, the classes talked about the Margaret River Weir and what we had learned.
Many thanks to the Cape to Cape Catchment Group (Tracey Muir) for her leadership of this educational project and Rotary MR for their sponsorship. (and of course our very own Ang for her presentation of the Aboriginal view of using the river). 🙂
Enjoy this slideshow and remember what a great day it was! This excursion was the final event for our inquiry Our Patch – Past, Present and Future and our end of year fun day! 😎
Journalist Sasha has been hard at work writing about what we’ve been doing. Some very interesting facts here, Sasha!
On Monday the 28th May, Room 6 went with Tracy to Rotary Park. Tracy taught us about a few animal HABITATS.
These are the animal habitats that we learnt about:
The Carnaby’s Cockatoo lives in large hollows of trees. They wander in flocks and feed on seeds, nectar and insect larvae.
The Water Rat nests in logs or tunnels in river banks. It feeds on small creatures and mussels.
The Phascogale lives in hollows of trees in woodlands. They forage in the tree canopy. They eat insects and small animals.
The Quenda lives in heaps of leaves and dense, scrubby plants. They dig in the ground for fungi and insects.
The Honey Possum feeds on nectar and pollen. They need shrubs with lots of flowers. They lives in tree hollows, birds nest and balga skirts.
The Ringtail Possum is found in peppermint trees. They live in tree tops and make homes in the canopy or hollows.
Room 6 also learnt a few facts about the animals:
Honey Possums need nectar to survive!
You can tell if a Quenda has been in your garden because its hole that it digs is a shape of a triangle.
A Phascogale taps on the bark of a tree when it is scared.
Thank you to Tracy for coming with us and I think everyone loved the visit to Rotary Park.
We are so lucky to have two really good journalists. Thanks, Mitchell, for this report on our Wetlands excursion with Tracey. 🙂
On Tuesday 13th September the Year 3s visited the Margaret River Wetlands with Tracey Muir from the Cape-to-Cape Catchment Group. The purpose of the visit was to investigate the macroinvertebrates that live there. They collected samples and were able to closely examine the individual tiny creatures.
Tracey also told them what habitats the macroinvertebrates use to keep themselves safe, such as:
• Logs and trees
• Rocks by the shore
• Pits in the sand at the bottom of the water
Other creatures that they found while collecting samples included tadpoles, fish, spiders and various insects. This showed that the wetlands is home to many more creatures than just macroinvertebrates, so it must be a healthy environment for animals to live in.
The Year 3s thoroughly enjoyed the trip and it was another very educational visit hosted by Tracey.
On Wednesday Tracey Muir from Nature Conservancy came to our room to tell us all about macro-invertebrates and explain how we would be sampling for our very own macro-invertebrates during our excursion to the Montessori Wetlands on Wednesday morning (9:05 to 10:25). Write a comment below this post to tell me what you learnt from her visit.