Experience Engage Enable
T: Telephone02 9816 1298
| Location | Field of Mars Reserve, Pittwater Road, East Ryde Wallumedegal Country |
| Bus access | Supply bus driver with Field of Mars Reserve bus information No bus entry into Field of Mars Reserve. |
| Cost | 2023 DoE $27 per student - GST free 2023 Non-gov school cost $37 per student - GST free, minimum charge $600 |
| Risk assessment | |
| Tracks | View the YouTube track overview videos. |
| Welfare | Participants will be bushwalking during the day in rugged terrain. This excursion may not be suitable for people who have recently been unwell. |
| Bring | Backpack, medication, low-waste food, water bottle, sunblock, raincoat, hat, sturdy shoes, mask. Students wear reusable name tag and sports uniform. Please bring paint smocks. |
| View | |
| Supporting resources | Invertebrate Explorer - available free from Apple Books. |
| Bin access | All student waste to be taken home by students. |
| Parent/carer helpers | Optional one to two parents per class, no siblings. Closed shoes essential. |
| Medical or special needs | Notify EEC staff prior to excursion. Students, staff and visitors must not attend if unwell, even with mild symptoms. |
| Extreme or wet weather | Days predicted to be above 35ºC, high winds, extreme bush fire danger and dust storms may result in the excursion being modified, postponed or cancelled. |
| Cancellations | Cancellations with less than three school weeks' notice will incur a $500 administration fee. This does not apply to cancellations due to weather, fire danger or COVID-19 restrictions. |
Time |
Class A, B |
Class C, D |
9.45 - 10.15 |
Introduction, recess and toilets |
Introduction, recess and toilets |
10.15 - 10.30 |
Canvas preparation |
Canvas preparation |
10.30 - 11.45 |
Bushwalk |
Invertebrate hunt |
11.45 - 12.00 |
Canvas preparation |
Canvas preparation |
12.00 - 12.30 |
Lunch |
Lunch |
12.30 - 1.15 |
Invertebrate hunt |
Bushwalk |
1.15 - 2.00 |
Painting and gallery walk |
Painting and gallery walk |
2.00 - 2.15 |
Pack up and depart |
Pack up and depart |
Students go on a bushwalk and conduct a hands-on investigation by collecting invertebrates in the Field of Mars gardens to observe their features and their environment. Inspired by their invertebrates students make artworks using watercolours, monochrome scratch art, scientific artworks all culminating in the creation of an eye-catching painted canvas of an invertebrate to take home.
Inquiry questions
Fieldwork
Bushwalk
The focus of the bushwalk is for students to observe the different places in the natural environment in which invertebrates can be found. The bushwalk will traverse a variety of environments from the moist vegetation found along the creeks to the dry woodland along the slopes of the reserve.
Many invertebrate species will remain hidden during the walk so particular emphasis will be placed on looking for animal evidence such as tracks and sounds.
The needs of invertebrates in their environment and the important role of invertebrates in the bush will be emphasised. Students will undertake a variety of sensory activities and create artworks inspired by the interconnections between invertebrates and their environment.
Invertebrate hunt
The focus of this session is for students to work cooperatively to conduct an investigation, using simple equipment, to explore and answer the question: What invertebrates live in bushland?
Students will work in small groups to search for and collect leaf litter invertebrates in the gardens around the education centre. Collected specimens will then be examined using magnifiers.
Invertebrate art
Students examine the features of one or two chosen invertebrates using a range of magnifying equipment, paying particular attention to detail including numbers of legs, sections of the body, colour, shape, structure, texture and patterns found on the invertebrate.
After careful observation and study of an invertebrate, students will create an artwork on canvas. This will involve the use of a variety of media including rollers, pencil, brushes and paint. Upon completion the canvases will be displayed for a short exhibition in the afternoon allowing students to appreciate and evaluate their work.
Creative Arts K-6 Syllabus (2006)
Outcomes
VAS2.2 Uses the forms to suggest the qualities of subject matter
A student:
experiments with techniques in painting, drawing, photography, digital and video to create particular effects to suggest such things as close-ups, middle distance and long distance views, mood and atmosphere, light and dark suited to how subject matter may be interpreted
Science and Technology K-6 Syllabus (2017)
Outcomes
A student:
Content
Students:
collect data and identify patterns to group living things according to their external features, and distinguish them from non-living things
Creative Arts K-6 Syllabus © NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) for and on behalf of the Crown in right of the State of New South Wales, 2006
Science and Technology K-6 Syllabus © NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) for and on behalf of the Crown in right of the State of New South Wales, 2017
address
Field of Mars Reserve
Pittwater Road
East Ryde NSW 2112
telephone 02 9816 1298
We’d like to acknowledge the Wallumedegal Peoples of the Darug Nation, the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we stand and pay our respects to Elders past and present.
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