Taking care of our place is a geography incursion program focuses on the ES1/S1 topics, People live in places and Features of places. The focus of this program is to develop a caring attitude towards the environment and emphasise ways students can contribute to environmental quality at home and at school by undertaking simple actions.
Key inquiry question
- What are places like?
- How can we look after the places we live in?
- What are the features of, and activities in, places?
- How can we care for places?
Key syllabus outcomes
- Identifies places and develops an understanding of the importance of places to people GEe-1
- Communicates geographical information and uses geographical tools GEe-2
- Describes features of places and the connections people have with places GE1-1
- Identifies ways in which people interact with and care for places GE1-2
Integrating the Sustainability Cross Curriculum Priority is a feature of the program.
Skills outcomes
- observes, questions and collects data to communicate ideas STe-1WS-S
On the day activities
During the incursion, students will:
- locate their school on a google map,
- listen to a story, and learn an accompanying song, about sustainable school management practices.
- watch a demonstration of a storm water model to understand the effects of playground litter on local waterways
- investigate the school buildings and grounds in order to identify and tally positive and negative ground and resource management practices
- use iPads to photograph school sustainability features and create an environmentally friendly message
Pre visit and follow up resources
Pre visit activities
Activities prior to the delivery of the program will help prepare students for the day as well as link the program to the class program. These could include:
- Introduce terms associated with the environment, such as: habitat, pollution, litter, rubbish dump, recycling, drought, stormwater and waste.
- Exploring school gardens as habitats for birds and native animals.
- Explain to students the importance of caring for the school and home environment.
- Identify some ways people can change the environment that can have a positive or negative impact.
Follow up activities
- Practice the song to perform on an assembly
- If possible, establish a class garden, worm farm or compost bin, or have a fund-raiser to purchase a bird bath or have a frog pond installed.
- Introduce a new way to allow the class to reduce their impact on the environment, e.g. low waste lunch
- Organise a school grounds working bee with parents
- Identify a special place in the school playground to discuss an ongoing plan for continued care of that place
- Discuss students’ responsibility to help with and care for the environment and roles that could be introduced e.g. energy monitors, recycling etc
- Compile a collage of student’s drawings of themselves caring for special places
- Create a school green team with fun activities S1 can get involved in.
Pre and Post visit resources PDF108KB
Cost
- DoE - $10 per student (GST free).
- Non Government School $15 per student (GST free). Minimum cost of $600.
Excursion program downloads
Download these documents to help with your excursion planning: