Primary Excursions for Term 4

Have you immersed your students in nature this year? We would love to help you with your next excursion and have a range of new and existing programs in a variety of subject areas to inspire, engage and enhance the learning of your students.

As an added bonus – all visiting teachers will receive 4hrs (BOSTES registered) field work professional learning!

Our NSW Environmental Education Centres are all staffed by trained teachers who have a passion for outdoor learning and specialist skills environmental and sustainability education.

Prices listed are for Public Schools only.

Stage 1

Program	Syllabus	Price
Reptile Recon.	Science & Tech – Natural Environment: Living World	$10/student
Past in the Present	History – The Past in the Present	$10/student
Where is Nessy (Incursion)	Science & Tech – Natural Environment: Living World	Flat Day Rate – $500 (max 60 students)

 

Stages 2 & 3

Program	Syllabus	Price
Aboriginal Education	History – First Contacts, Community and Remembrance	$15/student (includes Aboriginal Presenter)
Aboriginal Education (Incursion)	History – First Contacts, Community and Remembrance	Flat Day Rate – $900 (max 90 students, includes Aboriginal Presenter) Call Brewongle for Details
Barefoot Lawrence	History – First Contacts, Community and Remembrance	$10/student
Tawny Tragedy	Science & Tech- Natural Environment: Living World / Working Scientifically	$10/student
PhotoVoice (Incursion)	Visual Arts & Literacy	Flat Day Rate – $500 (max 60 students)
Art in the Environment (Incursion)	Creative Arts & Science & Tech: Living World	Flat Day Rate – $500 (max 60 students)

In addition to our day programs and incursions, we also have camp facilities and programs for school groups.

Please phone Brewongle on 02 45 79 1136 for further information or to have one of our staff present at your staff meeting.

Earthkeepers with Boronia Park Public School

Earthkeepers is an old world, mystical ecology program for Stage 2 students and some little munchkins from Boronia Park are now well on their way to becoming Level 1 Earthkeepers after completing our 3 day camp. We were impressed with their energy and enthusiasm and can see that they now have a broader understanding of how humans and natural systems rely on each other.

Thanks so much to our parent helpers and teachers Angie and Josh for putting in the hard yards over the three days to give the students the best possible camp!

Enjoy the photos and I hope that the students discover the final meanings of E.M. in their studies back at school.

If you would like to run Earthkeepers at your school please see the program details here.

 

Dipnetting!

Writers Camp 2015 is underway!

Our annual “Writers in the Environment Camp” for year 6 writers is into its 25th year and our 2015 students are in camp and busy exercising their creative juices already. We hope to have a few ‘Eco Mystery’ stories ready to publish on this blog by Friday as our young authors try to marry technology (iPads and iBooks) with their creative writing skills.

Students are currently engaged in workshops with our Writer in Residence – Simon French. Simon has been to every one of the 25 Writers Camps and we are so grateful to him for supporting this camp and giving up his time to share his skills with the students. Danielle Chew from Barnier Public Schools is also leading the students on the path to creating an eco-mystery by Friday. We hope they are all up to the challenge!

Let’s write!

An eco mystery

Our day begun with some ‘get to know you games’ that allowed students from so many different schools to begin forming some friendships and bonds.

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More updates to follow – so stay tuned!

Schools environmental project picture competition

Before vege beds

During vege beds construction

After!

With great fanfare I would like to announce the inaugural “Schools who follow Brewongle’s blog photo competition”. The prizes will be huge (mmmmm…) and include free posting of your great shots on this blog….

One of my favourite blogs is written by an ex-lecturer of mine Ian Lunt. Last year he ran a competition of before and after ecological restoration photo’s. You can see the entries and winners here. This got me thinking on all the great sustainability and environmental projects that are happening in schools every year.

I would love to see before and after photographs or videos of any environmental projects you have happening in your school. I know there are plenty out there – especially all those schools who have participated in Climate Clever Energy Savers with us over the past years.

I have heard of school food gardens, bushland trails, bushtucker gardens, water recycling, bush regeneration, chicken pens, wetlands, bee hotels and many more in my discussions with teachers. I would love to showcase all these fantastic efforts by staff, students and parents on our website.

To enter simply send me your before and after photo’s/videos of any project that you have completed or are working on. I will then publish them and if my computer skills are up to the task we will all vote on our favourites. Please include a short description of the project. There are very few rules and entry is open to all schools and education facilities – including our Environmental and Zoo Education Centres of course!

Email your entries to: steven.body[at]det.nsw.edu.au

Be proud of the achievements of your school and help us showcase them to the world!

Mansions for the Arboreal and Airborne – Nest Boxes and Augmenting Tree Hollows

Imagine if trees in the Sydney basin were humans and we could age group them into babies, infants, children, teenagers, young adults and so on. What would be the age demographic near you? Here at Brewongle we have some teenagers, young adults and a smattering of adults, but very few grandparents. These thoughts entered my head today via an arborist who gave me pause to consider the different time scale that trees live by. In a human lifetime, a eucalypt tree may only just be entering young adulthood.

We humans have successfully removed most of the grand old gnarly, hollow bearing, life giving, shady, deep rooted, beautiful, wise trees from our parks, bushland, backyards and reserves. They have become mulch, firewood, houses and are often removed as ‘dangerous’.  They are now nothing but a shadow in an earthly memory. Many of us will never live to see our current trees grow to a grand old age where limbs are sagging and the tree has become a hotel for literally millions of living things. So where are my wistful ramblings leading you ask? Well, I do have a point….. and that is that due to our propensity for chopping trees, we are severely lacking in habitat spaces for many of our tree hollow loving native critters (over 300 species need hollows). Question is, what can we do about it? – especially in a highly urbanised city like Sydney? One immediate answer is to build replacement habitat. We are a hasty species compared to trees and other homeless creatures don’t have the time to wait for trees to form hollows on their own (100 yrs or more), so we can augment young trees with nest boxes and other homely developments for our furry and feathery friends.

Many schools, councils, landcare groups, government agencies and individuals have put up nest boxes in the hope of providing a home for a willing local species. Here at Brewongle we have a nest box trail that is in need of some maintenance and care. Today I attended a brilliant day organised by Greater Sydney Local Land Services (The old CMA people with a new name).  “Hollows for Habitat” showcased best practice in nest boxes and improving hollows for fauna habitat. I would like to share with you some of the best bits and give you food for thought if you currently have, or are thinking of installing habitat boxes. Here are some questions to ask yourself before buying, making and installing nest boxes:

• What is your target species?(what sort of tenant do you want in your box?)
• Are these species already in your area? If not how will they find your box? (“If you build it, will they come?”)
• Do you target a threatened, or common species?
• Is there food sources for your target species nearby?
• How does your box meet the needs of your proposed tenant? (ie opening size, number of bedrooms…)
• How will you exclude unwanted squatters (like brush-tailed possums)
• How long do you want your box to last (as long as possible?)
• How will you attach it to the tree without causing undue damage and allowing for tree growth?
• How high on the tree?
• What aspect will it be facing?
• How will you monitor who takes up your ‘for lease’ ad in the local wildlife gazette?

As ‘nestboxing’ (my term) seems to be an emerging science, many of these questions may be answered by trial and error. Here is some things I learned today.

• It may take a while for animals to take up your lease and move in on any sort of permanent basis. Be patient.
• Marine ply boxes do not last long. Lid failure is a major issue.
• Hardwood (timber mill offcuts are good) is longest lasting for box structure (maybe up to 25 years), but is heavy (causing sweat and swearing during installation)
• Openings facing the trunk reduce the chance of bees and possums excluding your desired species.
• providing bedding material (ie peat moss or dry mulch) and a ‘ladder’ (ie grooves in face plate) near entrance and inside will make it more attractive to prospective tenants.
• A hinged lid makes for easier monitoring. Rubber hinges can replace metal that will rust.
• Using strapping and tech screws to attach to the trunk will cause stress to the tree and will not last long.
• Two suggested attachment methods – wire around trunk with protective outer plastic coating (ie garden hose) and ziz zags in the wire to allow for stretching as tree grows. 2nd method suggested by arborists – drill right through the trunk and attach with a large bolt and nut.
• Ensure it is watertight and dry – drill any holes facing down so water does not enter
• A side opening can make for easier monitoring – especially bat boxes
• Avoid paint near entrance hole as many animals will chew on this.
• PVC boxes are lightweight, cheap and easy to install but are poorly insulated and will not withstand fire!
• Design your box for your species – there are now plenty of successful designs out there. Ask for help from local council or other agencies.
• Monitor how well it works! Use cameras, manual observations to discover species use. Data can easily be uploaded to the Atlas of Living Australia website so it benefits us all! They can help with species ID too.
• Think of ground hollows, aquatic hollows and perches and other coarse woody material on your site.

Note the zig zag wire to allow for tree growth – also the ‘ladders’

It was inspiring to hear of many councils who are attempting to retain dead trees and ‘dangerous’ trees in the landscape and augment them with artificial, chainsaw made hollows. This was really interesting and is also a way to speed up the decay process that makes hollows. A dead tree may be pruned, then artificial hollows created by an arborist. We had a demonstration by a very skilled arborist on a cut stump.

Creating the cavity

The chainsaw cuts required

Removing the insides

The cosy hollow with rough edges

Screwing down the face plate

Entrance hole to new hollow

Start a “Revolution” – watch this with your students

We are big on project based and authentic learning here at Brewongle EEC. A new film called “Revolution” that is available to watch online may help spark student driven environmental projects in your school.

“Revolution is an exhilarating and hard-hitting full length feature film from award-winning Sharkwater filmmaker Rob Stewart. Not only does it shed light on crucial environmental topics and how we can save the planet, but he shows how past world events have taught us what we need to do to save the future”

“Revolution is not just about the environment—it’s a film about hope and inspiration. It’s a call-to-action with an uplifting message that tells us it’s possible to alleviate the damage already done. It’s time for a Revolution!” – Movie promotion material.

I have never been asked to review a film before and I was a little chuffed when an email from the filmmakers popped into my inbox asking for my appraisal. Just let it be known that I am no film critic, just a humble green blogger! Watch Revolution and see what you think. Oh and just so you know – I watched it twice it was so good. You can view it here (you will need to rent or buy):

• http://ykr.be/hn62dkp6v

The best (and worst part) of this film is that it is all true. It will arm you and your students with knowledge of many of our global problems and especially how our oceans are changing due to climate change. You will travel from the Galapagos Islands to New Guinea, Madagascar, Canada’s Tar Sands to the White House. I was particularly inspired to learn about the skills of a little known cephalopod called the Flamboyant Cuttlefish (it has 8 arms, a beak, serrated tongue, tentacles and is smarter than a cat. Oh and it can also change it’s colour in an instant and is impervious to ocean acidification).

I would challenge you all to watch this movie with your students, friends and family. Brilliant cinematography and incredible ocean scenes are woven through the personal and global story by the director Rob Stewart.

Revolution is an adventure story that pretty much covers the huge mess we are making of the planet. It is in no way a doom and gloom movie though and the film left me uplifted and filled with promise for a better future. The power of the young people in the film is hard hitting and the interview with a young man called Felix Finkbeiner (yes that is his name!) is not to be missed. Here is the full interview with Felix.

This film will move your students, encourage discussion and I hope it will drive them to take action. There is a whole stack of education resources to go with the film and you can follow the links below to find them and others on the Revolution website.

Ocean Acidification

Deforestation

Climate Change

Overfishing

Save the Humans

 

Schoolyard Science – Real-Life Scientific Enquiry

Science and Technology are inherently linked. In the case of citizen science, technology has quite literally opened up a world of information. In particular, technology has bridged the divide between little Jimmy Smith in Year 5 and Professor Ignatius D. Pardalote, a global expert conducting research on the intricate feeding patterns of the Powerful Owl (Ninox strenua) in Dry Schlerophyll Woodland Communities in Eastern Australia. This link is beneficial for both parties:

1. Professor Pardalote can now ask Jimmy about the intricate feeding patterns of Ninox strenua in his backyard or schoolground; and
2. Jimmy Smith now has a very important job of recording and analysing data which will help save the Powerful Owl from extinction.

In short, citizen science engages members of the public to take part in scientific research studies by assisting to collect data about wildlife or natural areas. Robert Simpson states that citizen science can be best understood from understanding where it fits and what kinds of activities in entails:

“We are at the beginning of a citizen science renaissance online. After hundreds of years, beyond the purview of bug-collectors and bird-watchers (all very important work, I hasten to add), we are finally able to tap into the cognitive surplus – the population’s free time – and attempt truly distributed research.”

For us teachers though, it’s not about tapping into our free time – WE HAVE NONE! – It’s about taking our students outside and watching their eyes widen through binoculars as they lie on their backs and observe, or watching them channel David Attenborough as they quietly attempt to identify a bird species before it flies off. But in doing so, each and every one of them is engaged in a real-life scientific enquiry. You’re facilitating your students’ participation in a specific research project to enhance the range and depth of data available to researchers. Citizen science projects such as Birds in Backyards and School of Ants meet numerous outcomes from the new Science K-10 Syllabus, including Working Scientifically, Working Technologically, and the Natural Environment (Living World). In addition, collation and analysis of the data meets Mathematics K-10 Outcomes such as Statistics and Probability (Data) and Measurement and Geometry (Location).

School of Ants Surveys can be easily conducted in schoolgrounds.

Almost the best part of all for citizen science in schools is that all the hard work’s done! The aim of citizen science is to make data collection completely user-friendly. Those clever Professors have provided you with everything you and your students need to take part in the research. Some of them even create lesson plans and supplementary activities for your students!

For us EEC teachers, the best part of all is seeing students become aware of the world they live in and seeing them apply that awareness to action. Not only does citizen science add to learning outcomes for students and research outcomes for scientists, it starts little Jimmy Smith and his classmates on a journey of discovery to make a difference to the environment around them. They’ve found out the “What?”, now let them ask “Why?”… Why are there far less small birds than big birds in our schoolground? Is this a good thing? Why are there lots of one species but not many other species? And most importantly, how will we make our schoolground a better habitat for native birds and other animals?

How to Cook up a Bonza Eco-Mystery.

Photo from the WK Clifford – Australian Museum

So you take a feathery local species, like a Tawny Frogmouth, you mix in a crime scene, some suspects, plenty of hands on investigating and SHAZAM, you have yourselves an outdoor, eco-mystery challenge that never fails to grip primary age students.

Our Eco Mystery day – ‘The Tawny Tragedy‘ is one of our most engaging programs. Students eyes widen when they arrive at Brewongle to discover a crime scene complete with police tape and the chalk outline of the victim.

After reading the police report and discovering the food, water and shelter needs of the Tawny Frogmouth, the investigations begin.

Our ponds will be scoured for water bugs and tadpoles – are there are any water quality issues that may have killed Tawny? The forest and house areas are tested for health and possible food contaminents.

Weeds, feral animal prints and a habitat assessment will round out the day of mystery solving. Students are left to ruminate on their evidence and decide on a cause of death. A forensic police report arrives hot off the fax. Recommendations are sought by Brewongle staff to prevent this occurring in the future.

Could you replicate something like this in your school if you can’t visit us or your nearest Environmental Education Centre? This program is a fantastic example of engaging students in the outdoors. Students are required to use higher order thinking, problem solving and creativity skills. Literacy and numeracy are embedded and students emerge with knowledge and understanding of how an ecosystem works. Of course it also has all the syllabus links needed to fit in to the Australian Curriculum. Thanks to Barnier Public School for solving the crime!

Lost in a food forest

Image by Carl Warner

The term ‘food forest’ conjures up images of an abundant edible landscape similar to the chocolate landscape of Willy Wonka in the movie “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”. I think it is a wonderful term that should inspire us to create ecosystems of food in our schoolyards, backyards and community places. It has ended up in my vocab via a local Permaculture Design Course I am undertaking.

Permaculture is an Australian born philosophy of living. In my head it has meant organic gardening with plenty of hippy stuff thrown in. In reality permaculture is based in ecology, traditional knowledge and is dedicated to working with natural elements rather than against them.

It is truly all about sustainable living – and I think many of the teachings could easily be implemented in our school and backyard gardens.

When designing or creating our indoor and outdoor living spaces, Permaculture encourages close observations of natural influences like sun, wind, water, wildlife, soil and vegetation. Permaculture strives for a self contained, high yield system of growing food.

To create a food forest, we need to harness the power of ecosystem interactions that occur in nature. In most of our food gardens – plants are taken out of their ecosystem role and planted in a very different habitat. What if we could harness the power of plant and animal specialisation to help in our food growing? Large scale monocultures and commercial production are the opposite of this way of growing.

Image from “Earth Users Guide to Permaculture” Rosemary Morrow.

Think of the different layers of vegetation that occur in a forest. We have ground covers, shrubs, small to large trees, climbers, fungi and the list goes on. The idea of a food forest is to replicate this with food producing plants. The Australian bush is a food forest for the knowledgeable and certainly provided abundant food for Aboriginal Australia for thousands of years.

The benefits for your soil, your belly and the creatures in your garden are tremendous. Consider stacking plants into vegetation layers, planting to protect from sun and wind, creating a microclimate in your garden and promoting biodiversity.

Slope, water retention, windbreaks, aspect, soils, mulches, plant selection, pest management, nutrient creation and retention and pruning need to be on your list of considerations.

Rosemary Morrow has written an excellent book on Permaculture design – “An Earth Users Guide to Permaculture” and can be purchased online at most book stores.

Get in touch with your local permaculture community:

Permaculture Sydney West

Milkwood

Blue Mountains Permaculture Institute

Under the Choko Tree – sustainable urban living

 

I rescued a yabby and other tales…

I feel like this is the time of year for a bit of connection to some real things in life! Nothing about Christmas consumerism, busy shops, parties, politics or school reports. Here follows a few cool things I have come across in a pictorial journal from my phone. All mostly extra-curricular….

Hawkesbury Earthcare Fair

The Hawkesbury Earthcare Centre’s spring fair was as lovely event filled with sustainability, good food, music and of course our kid friendly Blender Bike! It was hot hot hot and the smoothies we produced via pedal power were enjoyed by all.

Our recently rediscovered huge Port Jackson Fig excelled itself with fruit production this year and these little ripe morsels are quite tasty as far as bush tucker goes. Our local bird population feasted for weeks I think as there are none left now! These were a favoured bush food for the Darug people.

The Hawkesbury River

 

I managed a couple of early morning bike rides to Lower Portland before work – training for the Sydney to the Gong bike ride. This is a shot of our beautiful river in the morning mist.

Koala Scratchings?

The Great Koala Count saw me wandering over the Kurrajong escarpment looking for our furry little friends. The word must have been out in the koala community that I was coming – as I saw not a single one! About ten different people described koala encounters they had recently had around Kurrajong….. how come I missed out?

Me ‘n Costa

A recent weekend saw the launch of the Youth Food Movement in the Hawkesbury. A lovely wholesome event put on by UWS Food Sustainability Students. The YFM has grown from the vision of two amazing young women to have more than 13000 followers all interested in sustainable and healthy food production and consumption. The highlight for me was sitting next to Costa (from Gardening Australia) and having a good yack about all topics. Brilliant man (and a brilliant beard!).

A rejuvenating bushwalk on Sunday in the National Park behind my house gave me some hope amongst all the current environmental doom and gloom. Crystal clear rainforest streams, huge turpentine trees and an old, large yabby that I rescued from a trap (apologies to whoever had ideas of yabby stew for dinner.). The poor thing was all tangled up in string and had obviously been thrashing about trying to free itself. With the help of some broken glass I cut it free and sent it on its merry way.

A living waterfall

Tree roots cascaded down a small waterfall and had become the path for water – an incredible living system of moss, algae, roots and who knows what else. Brilliant. A powerful owl (Ninox strenua) gave me a disdainful look as I stumbled upon it roosting on a vine with a small mammal in its claws. What an huge, awesome creature who was not bothered by my presence at all.

Powerful Owl

I walked back via a recent hazard reduction burn and discovered plenty of regrowth. The photo below is interesting as it shows bush recovering from two burns. The left of the track was burnt last year and to the right was burnt about two months ago.

 

The last feature to make me jump was a delicious diamond python snake sunning itself on the road outside my house. It took a bit of noise from me to get it off the road and out of the paths of cars. It did nonchalantly slither off eventually.