On Thursday October 29, Year One had the pleasure of meeting some special Rangers.
In our Integrated Studies, Year One is learning about Australia, the connections people have to it and how we can care for it. To help us with our learning, four Rangers came to College to teach us a few things. First we met Ranger Brad, Ranger Bridgett, Ranger Jade and Ranger Sarah. They taught us about native and invasive animals. Each ranger held up an animal that had been preserved through taxidermy. We learnt that echidnas, ringtail possums and fruit bats are native animals. This means they are only found in Australia. We also learnt that the echidna has adapted to a variety of different climates and can survive in a lot of different places. Ranger Bridgett taught us about invasive animals like foxes and how they can impact and destroy habitats of native animals. They taught us about national parks and how it is important to remember our past and present history.
After our introductory session we split into four groups to explore the habitats and learn about Australia. One group looked for bugs and learnt about why insects hide and how they camouflage. Here we used plastic containers to catch the insects. We found that at Thomas Hassall there is a wide diversity of bugs which is healthy. Another group made habitats using leaves, branches and bark. Ranger Brad used the taxidermy echidna to try out the homes. Here we learnt about the importance of habitats for native animals. Another station involved a mini Olympics to test our knowledge about what we have learned. The students loved racing against each other. Another group looked at the importance of water. Students were given a clean tub of water. Oil was poured into it to see the effect oily things have on the ocean. We were then given pelican feathers to place into the water. This helped us to see the impact pollution in our waterways has on birds. We also learnt that if sunscreen is not absorbed into our skin before we swim, it just washed off in the water. Finally we all came together to build some possum houses that we can place around the College to help protect baby possums from predators such as cats, foxes and feral animals.
We had an excellent time thanks to Ranger Jamie Tours and we can’t wait to continue our learning journey of how people connect and interact with the land.
Miss Ashleigh Hackfath
Year 1 Team Leader