How Healthy is our Margaret River?

IMG_3028 (Small)

Tracey Muir works for the Cape to Cape Catchment Group.  (We are working out what ‘catchments’ are.)

IMG_3035 (Small)

When Tracey Muir visited our class she talked about the things that make a river  ‘catchment’ healthy or unhealthy.  She showed us just how many things can end up in the river – making it sick or unhealthy for all the fish and creatures who live in it.

IMG_3040 (Small)

We saw just how important it is to do things like

  • wash the car on grass so the detergent is absorbed into the ground, not into the stormwater drain

  • put rubbish into the bin so it doesn’t wash down the drains and into the river

  • use less fertiliser on the garden (chemicals) so it doesn’t get into the river water

  • appreciate and enjoy the beautiful river we have in Margaret River so that we can keep it that way!

IMG_3047 (Small)

Thanks, Tracey!  🙂

Animal Tracking at Rotary Park

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.    

Did everyone enjoy the trip? 🙂

Enjoy the slideshow.

Animal Tracker Slideshow on PhotoPeach

Written by Sasha Hughes

Learning about the Margaret River with Tracy

Sasha has taken on the job of writing as a journalist for Dolphinkids all about Tracy’s visits to us.  She’s done a great job with this piece of writing.  Well done, Sasha!  😎

 

On Monday we had a lady who works for the Cape to Cape Catchments Group come and visit us. Her name was Tracy. She told us that the Margaret River is 60km in length. Tracy also showed us a model that she put water on to show us how the water ran down the hills to the river.

 

She told us to keep rubbish from falling on the ground because it might rain and run into the river. So don’t leave your rubbish on the ground. Pick it up and put it in the bin. That includes finding rubbish too. She said to try not to put fertilizer or other bad things on the lawn before it rains because the same as rubbish, it will get washed into the river and the river will become dirty. 🙁  If that happened you would not be able to swim in the river like you can at the moment. 🙁  It was very interesting and fun at the same time while Tracy was here. I can’t wait till next Monday with Tracy.

Did everyone else enjoy Tracy’s visit?   🙂

Written by: Sasha

HEALTHY WETLANDS

Another thoughtful summary from our journalist, Sofia, on Tracey’s visit to talk about our macroinvertebrate excursion.  Great job, Sofia!  🙂

On Tuesday the 6th of September we had another visit from Tracey from the Cape To Cape Catchment Group. First Tracey talked to us about macroinvertebrates. Macroinvertebrates are not microscopic, but they are small; small as in you can just see them with your own eyes. Macroinvertebrates are insects without a spine and they keep the wetlands healthy.

After that Tracey told us about some of the things we need to keep our wetlands healthy. Some of the things she suggested were things that gave macroinvertebrates homes or food. I would like to list some of the things that we need in our wetlands to keep them healthy. Here they are:

• Trees (to give shade and block out the sun) • Sticks (so the animals can make their homes) • Sedges and Rushes (provide food) • Rocks (give homes)        

The reason these things are needed is what these things do.  For example, the trees give shade and block the sun. It’s good to have a healthy environment in the wetlands because they are very important for the environment. Wetlands are important because they provide water sources for animals. Animals like fish and birds need the wetlands to survive. They also prevent flooding by holding water. In my opinion, I say wetlands are good to have because they keep lots of things like the macroinvertebrates healthy. We should do something about keeping our wetlands like they are. It’s best if you keep the environment how it is and not add anything to it or take away anything from it. We should keep our wetlands and macroinvertebrates healthy forever.  Everyone enjoyed Tracey’s visit and learned a lot.

Sofia  

LIFE IN MARGARET RIVER

Tracey and John visit 001 (Small)On Tuesday 14th June the year 3’s were visited by Tracey Muir from the Cape to Cape Catchment Group. Tracey presented a review of what they had learned so far, and showed a power point presentation called “What would it have been like to live in Margaret River in …..?

The students made a PMI called Life In Margaret River and had to choose the time period they would have liked to live in the most.  The choices were –

Before 1826 – Aboriginal

• Hunt, gather and trade for all food
• Make and trade for all clothes and food
• Make own simple shelters
• Move with the seasons
• Live in balance with nature

Early Settlers

• Hard lives, had to survive off the land
• Little knowledge of the land and lacked tools
• Had to cut down lots of trees

1940’s and 1950’s

• Most people were farmers and lived very simply
• Lots of dairy farms
• Small schools
• Played outside and swam in the river
• Not many luxuries, most people were poor

Present Day

• People have more things – cars, computers and X-boxes
• Buy things from the shops easily
• Travel to Perth or overseas more frequently

The power point helped most kids decide which time period they would like to live in.  It was a fun activity that got your brains working, thinking about how different things used to be.

by Mitchell 😎