Friday dawned bright and sunny – perfect for the annual Year 3 Bioblitz at Barrett Street Weir. Nature Conservation organised an engaging rotation of environmental activities for the afternoon, which included learning firsthand about indigenous culture, endangered Australian marsupials, reptiles, marron and the rules around fishing. Every activity had experts as presenters, people passionate about their particular field and most activities were interactive.
Students were asked to write about: their favourite activity and one thing they had learnt. I think their responses speak for themselves.
Edie, Room 4
My favourite activity was the reptile rotation. I liked holding the snakes as I like the feeling of them slithering on my neck. The smaller snake felt nice and smooth. The Blue Tongue Lizard was very smooth too. The little Bearded Dragon was very rough and he was very spikey.
Student, Room 4
My favourite rotation was the Nearer to Nature taxidermies because the animals they showed us were cool and then we went to a touch table where we could touch things. We could look at them with a small magnifying glass which was really interesting as all the things were real.
Tyla – Room 6
“OHH NO! They’re bringing out Alice the carpet python. Should I hold her? Will she bite? Her scales slithered across my shoulders. She was in full eye contact with my eyes. Her scales were glistening in the sun. I felt like Alice was harmless. The presenter told us that carpet pythons have sixty teeth or more. I’m so glad I went to the Bioblitz excursion at the weir.
Tilly – Room 6Wow! As we started to walk across the bridge, the water looked so good to swim in. It was fresh water. Across the weir we learnt how to welcome people to Country. We went down to the riverbank. Our class was in lines of two. Oh no! I was next up. I swirled the water then splashed it up. I scooped it up into my hands, put some in my mouth, then blew it out like a waterfall. That was my favourite activity on our Bioblitz excursion to the weir. I learnt that peppi seeds help toothaches and you can clean your hands with the leaves. I was really surprised.
We are so grateful to Nature Conservation for their partnership with our school, and to Rotary Margaret River for their financial support to make this possible, as it’s experiences like this that make learning so meaningful for our students.
Written, Photos and Posted by D. Veary; Year 3 Student writing
Canteen