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Session 10 Life Above and Below the Swan/Canning River, Year 5 Rostrata Primary School, Claire Davenhall and Nikki Barnett

by Claire,

Session 10 - DATE 7.8.25

90-minute session in the classroom:

Warm Up (one photo)

We headed outside and sat in groups of 5 and looked at aerial site maps of the Canning River. Students think of as many physical changes as they can spot, write their observations on post-it notes and stick them on the map. Class discussed the impact on life above or below the water with all the physical changes along the river.

Main Activity (one photo)

Our main activity was researching endangered species and threats to their habitats. Each students choose one endangered or threatened species from the Swan and Canning Rivers. It couldn't be the same as the person sat new to them., because if we proectedct just one species, the others would die out. •Draw in its natural habitat.•Label the things it needs to survive.See the attached cheat sheet for a list of selected animals - choose a different one from the person sitting next to you. So when you share your ideas, you learn from each other.Below is an example:

Reflection with the students (one photo)

We needed to strengthen our stick animals from last week and then wrap a length of wool around their animal in the creative habits colours.

After the session: Planning with the Teacher

(refer back to your original Term Plan document, discuss successes, explore challenges and make changes.)

Some of the students questions what was endangered and was threatened to become endangered, we agreed that if it was threatened to become endangered it probably needed protecting. We gave student autonomy in the decision making.
They also noted that the cheat sheet included some species from the Swan rover in Tasmania… so we made a few changes based on their evidence and research. GREAT WORK very Inquestive!

Working with students

(what is emerging, what is engaging them/not, what’s making them curious.)

They are very inquisitive. They liked the research aspect, but i did notice some students struggled with regulating the internet sites they went on!
While some students are very talented drawers and produce lovely images. They were a few that struggled with getting starting and the fine motor skills. I directed them to choose images without backgrounds to start with and find simple drawing to copy (they were mych happier, but them needed more prompting to add in the details).
A good video to watch is Austin Butterfly to help them with being Disclipined.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_6PskE3zfQ

Ideas moving forward

(ideas for next session, future lessons, discussed with teacher, do you need the teacher to do anything before you return.)

I saw this and thought of our lovely students: https://www.acf.org.au/get-involved/wild-at-art-competition
Also I noticed they had used plastic sticky tape to hold the wool in place. Could we demonstrate some knots and how to tie the wool securely so we don't need to use plastic, as it's bad for the environment?

Resources

(do you need anything, who will source it?)

Claire - I will head into Remida and see what they have to make the river fabric. Nikki - Pop sticks, paper, pens, glue, Something to hold the sign up with, like paper weights... I'll have a think. We can lay out their images along the river and think about signs we can make as a call to action.
Ask students what we can do to improve…