Inquiry into survival - September update

We recently did a thinking routine, Compass Points (see below), for our inquiry into survival. The purpose of this was to help us plan where to go to next in our inquiry. The children’s responses were really interesting and I encourage you to go through this with your child. In this way, you may come up with some actions that you can take at home or ideas for us at school. These actions might be doing research or getting out and about to make a difference in the world!

I would love to hear the responses and ideas of family members and I encourage you to get involved. These children are amazing!

N – what else do you need to know?	E – what do you find exciting?
· More about not stepping on animals · Where did the plants come from in the world? · I wonder why we have trees? To make paper? · Why do you need air? · More about animals · How nature works · More about water · If people are still cutting down trees · If sculptures might be built on animals homes · How the world was made · How do animals survive? · Why do people cut down trees and start bush fires? · Why did the Giving Tree want to get to a stump?	· Learning about the Merri Creek · There are so many plants in the world. · How homes help us survive and different animals have different homes. · The zoo and aquarium · Sea creatures are still alive · People planting native plants · Plants need water to make them grow · That plants are alive · Going to the Merri Creek · Finding animals’ homes · Fish and trees
W – what worries you?	S – What steps will you take?
· People cutting down trees · Why people make bushfires when they kill animals, like the Leadbeater possum. I worry that they will go extinct. · Animals dying · I’m worried about fairy penguins because seals eat fairy penguins · People hurting animals and nature · Dogs running up to me and biting me at the park · Animals breaking plants · Cutting down trees · People hurting animals with sticks · Dangerous animals · People starting bush fires and killing animals · The Leadbeater Possum · Animals eating rubbish/pollution	· Grow more native plants · Grow more plants and flowers. If we grow them everywhere, the world will look prettier. · To save animals · Save wild life · Watering plants  · Put decorations on the terrace · Stepping carefully · Picking up rubbish · Stop electricity, oil and plastic; and save Ring Tail Possums · Planting seeds to grow flowers; planting seeds for the birds to get; and asking people not to cut down trees · Get my family to use recycled toilet paper · Try not to cut down trees

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Visit from the Brunswick Fire Brigade

This is what we learned:

• When there’s a fire you have to crawl on the floor and cover your face so you don’t get burnt or covered in smoke.
  CRAWL DOWN LOW AND GO GO GO 
• When the fire alarm goes off you have to go outside. 
• If you are stuck inside when the fire people come, don’t hide or you might die. You have to talk to them and call out “I’m over here” lots of times in a loud voice because they can’t see through the smoke, they can only hear you. 
• If we catch on fire, we have to:
  STOP, DROP, COVER YOUR FACE AND ROLL 
• Don’t play with matches, candles or lighters. 
• You can only call the fire brigade if you are honest. 

Our homework is to:

• Find out how many smoke alarms you have in your house. 
• Find out where the smoke alarms are. 
• Decide on a meeting place with our families. They said it’s a good idea to meet at the letter box or somewhere at the front of the house. 
• Learn your address 

The Story of Rosy Dock

“Survival” inquiry group.  Philosophy, 19th September.

• I saw her planting two Rosy Docks at the start of the book. She should have only planted one. 
• But that would still make more than one Rosy Dock because it’s got seed pods. 
• So she should have planted zero. 
• I think I know why every single one came (ie why there were so many). She only planted two and maybe the seed pods can plant more, so maybe the seeds dropped into the ground and when it rained they grew. 

Do you think we have the right to introduce or bring plants or animals into another country? Why/why not? 

• Sometimes we bring some animals to kill other animals, like animals from other countries. But sometimes it doesn’t work. It did kind of work with cats and mice. 
• No, because if you bring other plants to Australia and they spread, they might get all the sun and all the other plants get the shade and they might get sick or die. 
• We shouldn’t bring other plants from someone else’s country because then they might feel sad and if lots of people take stuff from other people’s country then their place might not have anything. 
• Sometimes you can, if they’re good when you bring them, like apple trees. 
• I think we should bring animals that don’t eat other animals, just some, because if the other animals don’t have anything to eat they might die. 
• Some people have some things that belong to other countries and they have babies and they might be heaps of them and they’re giving away them, and that’s how some countries share their things, like our elephants –we share our elephants with other countries. And like the Western Wombat and the Hairy Nose wombat. So we can share animals with all countries, but if they’re dangerous, we’ll have to test them out and see if they will eat them or not. The woman in Rosy Dock didn’t test it – she didn’t know if it would spread. 
• But she brought it from a different country and it was already tested because it was somewhere else. It was in her garden in a pot. 
• It was in a pot, so it couldn’t spread. If you have a big clump of sand from the country, you can test to see if it spreads in that clump of sand. 
• Maybe it only spreads if it’s in sand. 
• When you plant the Rosy Dock in a pot it can still spread because the seeds can drop and they’ll be in the sand and they’ll go everywhere. 
• Maybe the Rosy Dock is the only plant that can spread. 

We then watched some videos about rabbits, feral pigs and cane toads in response to the children’s comments about bringing animals to our country.

Merri Creek Bushwalk

20 September.

Below are some photos that children took and quotes taken from them during reflection time.


We found a really interesting spider that didn’t look like a spider in a tree hole. It was crawling everywhere.

One tree looks brown and yellow and it looks beautiful, too.

I think that the one I’m pointing to, I see some dots and a line. I’m pointing at the tree blood.

I think that tree’s beautiful because I think it’s new and the people who planted that tree maybe cut a bit of the paper off it and that’s why I think it’s got tree blood.

It looks pretty beautiful because it looks like there are spots on the tree and it sort of looks like two eyes.

I was picking sticky weed because it’s killing the environment because other plants might be near sticky weed and they might be native because they might stick together. If it’s stuck on you then it spreads when you go to another place it spreads seeds.

I don’t agree with him because my dog goes along and sometimes he gets sticky weed on him and then it falls off.

I found some wood that felt like chicken.

I think it’s been there 4,000 years.

I found a mushroom and I don’t know why it’s yellow on top. It might be poisonous.

I’m not really sure how that stick got a hole in it. It looks really interesting. I’ve never seen a stick with a hole in it.

Maybe it’s got a hole because someone chopped a circle in it.

Maybe because an animal bit through it.

It looks like a stick that used to be in a tree and then an animal made it’s home in it.

Our Dance Performance - Wonderland Concert

The preps did an amazing job in our school concert yesterday. They were all extremely excited and justifiably proud of themselves.  Here are a few of their thoughts about their first foray into school theatre.

I was so proud of myself because I did so well in my first performance ever.

I wasn't expecting that place to be like that....because I thought you don't have to walk in through the door, you just have to stay there, it was quite crazy, and I didn't expect it to have pebbles for the ground. (cobblestones on the path)

I didn't think that there would be, like, two, like places with curtains, because like, I thought you would go out one place and go in the same place as you go out.  

I didn't expect that it should be, like a big whiteboard, to show you what's happening on stage.

I didn't expect that we were going to do a concert like we did.

What do you mean by that?

Because I've never done a concert and I didn't expect it to be like that.

What did you expect it to be?

I didn't think there was going to be as many people as there was.

Well, I was a bit nervous 'cos there was lots of people and I was really proud of myself cos I did really well in my first concert ever, and I was really proud that my family went.

I expected it to be like that because I've been there before

What else have you been there for?

Because my mum was selling some stuff to get money there...they were selling badges, for father's day.

I didn't expect it to be there...in that place.

I didn't expect there should be a big area where you could go in, I thought there was a door.  

I didn't expect, I thought the stage was gonna, I thought we had steps to be, to lead to the stage.  I wasn't expecting to just be on the stage, you could just walk on the stage.  And I didn't know why we had to go to the tape to sit on (bridge dance spots).

I thought, I didn't expect there should be a big black skinny carpet, I thought it was just a big sofa, like when the space figures just come on, so it could be slidy, or so it could be sticky so you could easily do the slide for the space figures.  When you do the slide you just skid and you stop so it's not very good.

Thank you dear families for the amazing work you did on the costumes and for coming to support the children.  

End of Term 3 - Friday spring clean

A couple of messages about Friday 21st September - last day of Term 3.

From Kirsty: 

We're planning to have a spring clean / plant rejuvenation this Friday (last day of term.)

If anyone can spare a couple of hours from 1.00pm onwards to:

• sweep 

• re-pot some plants 

• fertilise and mulch the pots 

• generally give the plants a bit of spruce up! 

And... if anyone would like to donate some new plants to replace some of the hanging baskets - and other pots - please bring!

Remember it's early break up on Friday - 2.30pm. But come and stay on for another hour to help, and perhaps we can have a drink at the end - on the tidy terrace?!!
See you there!
Kirsty

From Nerida:

Thanks Kirsty for organising this. It sounds fantastic! I would love to hang out for an hour or two after work with you all. If you would like to celebrate with drinks and food, bring something along. We also need some indoor plants, as the succulents weren't coping and have been moved outside onto the terrace. So, if you would like to donate something, indoor ferns or other suitable plants would be much appreciated. Thanks everyone!

Aths Day - postponed

Aths Day has been postponed till next term. (We were going to have Aths day for Prep to Year 3s on Thursday 20th September).  

So this Thursday we will be going on our Bush Walk. 

Kitchen Garden - watering plants

On Tuesday 11th September, we had Project Time both before and after recess and children could choose to do Kitchen Garden with Margaret in either or both of the sessions. 

Today Margaret helped us to learn how to know which plants need watering and which ones don’t.

Some clues that indicate dryness include:

• cracks in the soil
• ants living in the soil
• if you stick your finger in the soil, it feels dry

She then showed us a Moisture Meter which helps us to measure the moisture in the soil and more accurately know whether or not to water each plant.

Instructions for use:

1. Stick the meter in the soil, just part of the way in, somewhere towards the centre.
2. Read the meter:
   Red means that the soil is dry
   Green means that the soil is moist
   Blue means that the soil is wet

Plants that like being in dry soil include:

• succulents
• cacti 
• geranium

Plants that like lots and lots of water include: 

• Vietnamese mint
• bamboo 
• peas  
• lettuce

We then dug up some soil to transplant some Dieties, which are a native Flax Lily. They needed lots of water to recover from the shock!