Designed in conjunction with ACARA curriculum 2016-17

Education Worksheets

Stage Two

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Foreword For over 40 years, Featherdale Wildlife Park has been welcoming visitors and

introducing them to the incredible fauna of Australia.

Featherdale has come a long way from its humble beginnings as a small

poultry and plant nursery, with a dedicated team of zoo keepers now caring

for over 1,700 individual animals from over 200 different species.

Featherdale is strongly involved in the captive breeding programs of

numerous endangered species including Yellow-footed Rock-wallabies,

Spotted-tailed Quolls, Koalas, Plains Wanderer, Bilby, Regent Honeyeaters

and Woma Pythons.

Featherdale was the first facility in the world to breed White-bellied Sea-

eagles in captivity and second in the world to breed Wedge-tailed Eagles.

Featherdale’s highly successful Koala breeding program has not only been a

significant contribution to knowledge of the species for research and

conservation, but has also resulted in a large, healthy and genetically viable

colony of Koalas at the park.

Featherdale is dedicated to education, having provided a comprehensive

array of education materials for schools since the early 1970s. Each

Education Kit has been specifically designed to meet the ACARA Science

curriculum as well as integrating key learning areas from English, Geography

and HSIE.

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For the Teacher

General Information

Welcome to Featherdale

Wildlife Park!

Our Wildlife Park is a great place for learning. Our Education team

aims to support student learning by providing resources to assist

classes to have educational and enjoyable experiences at our

park.

This worksheet will provide a range of activities which may be

undertaken by your students during their visit to the park. A map

and suggested order of activities is provided to give a logical circuit

to travel during the visit.

In planning, please consider whether:

You would like your class to regroup for lunch, animal feeds or

exit at the end of your visit. If so, relay times and meeting

places to students and supervisors.

If you have booked a hands-on education lesson, ensure your

students quietly wait outside the ‘Learning Burrow’ 5 minutes

prior to your lesson time and have had the opportunity to use

the bathroom and eat something before entering.

If your class is not booked for hands on lesson involving an

education officer, we will attempt to meet your class at the

entrance on arrival at the park. At this meeting the group will be

welcomes and given some information about the park to assist

their visit. General behaviour expectations will also be outlined.

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Pre Excursion

Contact Featherdale’s Education team to organise a pre-excursion visit if you

have not visited before. Discuss your needs (VERY IMPORTANT)

Apply to principal or school activities coordinator to run an excursion that

meets curriculum requirements.

Make an excursion booking with Featherdale’s Education team, ensuring that

any special requirements have been discussed.

In the week leading up to the excursion, have students work on the

Pre-excursion worksheets provided by Featherdale.

Motivate students and ensure they understand the purpose of the

excursion and encourage a range of questions during the lesson.

During Your Excursion Enjoy the park activities and animal encounters with your students

Ensure students are supervised at all times and enter the Farmyard and

Kangaroo Country in small groups (no more than 10 at a time).

Encourage observation skills that lead to a higher level of thinking.

Use questioning techniques that stimulate a quest for knowledge.

Please ensure students are calm and respectful of other visitors and the

animals in the park, and do not display any behaviour that may stress the

animals such as yelling or hitting enclosure walls or glass.

After Your Excursion

Discuss the day and if there are further questions please do not hesitate to

email back for a reply. We love to reply and get feedback from schools and

students.

Look at projects to illustrate learning’s on the day. Some options may be: o Setting up a terrarium in class

o Setting up an aquarium in class

o Building a worm farm or a garden using recycled materials

o Building an animal enclosure out of craft items to reflect needs and wants

(food, shelter, water, enrichment etc)

o Setting up some animal signage on a classroom wall reflecting endangered

animals, conservation issues, Australian animals and the like.

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SCIENCE OUTCOMES

A student:

describes that living things have life cycles, can be distinguished

from non-living things and grouped, based on their observable

features ST2-10LW

describes ways that science knowledge helps people understand

the effect of their actions on the environment and on the survival

of living things ST2-11LW

CONTENT

Living things can be grouped on the basis of observable features

and can be distinguished from non-living things. (ACSSU044)

Students:

sort objects according to whether they are living or non-living

identify some features of living things that distinguish them from

non-living things, e.g. reproducing, growing and responding to

stimuli

identify and use patterns in the observable features of living things

to group them, by using tables, diagrams or flowcharts

research ways that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

classify some plants or animals

Living things have life cycles. (ACSSU072)

Students:

observe first-hand one animal or plant as it grows and develops,

and sequence the stages in its life cycle

identify ways that the environment can affect the life cycle of

plants and animals

Living things, including plants and animals, depend on each other

and the environment to survive. (ACSSU073)

ACARA SYLLABUS

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identify some factors in the local environment that are needed by

plants and animals for survival

outline the relationship between plants and animals, including that

plants are able to use light to make food, while animals must eat

plants or other animals to obtain food

investigate the role of living things in a habitat, e.g. plants as

producers and microbes (micro-organisms) as decomposers

gather information about some relationships between living things,

e.g. predator-prey, competitors and mutually beneficial

relationships

predict the effect of natural changes in the environment on some

relationships between plants and animals, e.g. drought and fire

describe some examples of how science knowledge helps people

to understand the effect of their actions on the environment and

the survival of living things (ACSHE051, ACSHE062)

GEOGRAPHY OUTCOMES

A student:

examines features and characteristics of places and

environments GE2-1

describes the ways people, places and environments interact

GE2-2

examines differing perceptions about the management of places

and environments GE2-3

acquires and communicates geographical information using

geographical tools for inquiry GE2-4

CONTENT

Students explore the climate, natural vegetation and native

animals of places in Australia and Asia. They examine the

importance of natural vegetation and natural resources to the

environment, animals and people and learn about the ways people

value environments, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

Peoples. Students identify sustainable practices and recognise

that there are differing views on how sustainability can be

achieved.

ACARA SYLLABUS

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OUTCOMES CONTINUED

Based on Bloom’s Taxonomy of learning skills we have prepared a

set of topics to discuss and make learning as colourful and

rewarding as possible back in class. These topics can be discussed

even if the school has not had a lesson.

The Six thinking skills include:

Knowledge

List 5 Australian animals that are endangered

List 5 Australian Animals that are extinct

Comprehension

Make a cartoon strip showing the life cycle of the Koala.

Application

Design a reward poster for a sighting of an Eastern Quoll in the Sydney area.

Eastern Quolls have been extinct on the mainland since 1964.

Analysis

Use any environment or habitat (re application) and discuss with the class

what would happen if some of its environment or habitat changed. Talk about

the changes and how they affect the wildlife.

Synthesis

Australia has many feral animals with most found in our desert environments.

List ways one could control the effects these animals have on our many rare

desert species –Bilby, Bettongs, Northern Hairy Nosed Wombats etc?

Evaluation

Debate the positive and negative aspects of using fire to control plants and

animals in the desert.

ACARA SYLLABUS

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Is it living? Just a bit of revision to make sure we know all about living things.

What can living things do and what do they need?

Circle the living things and circle the words inside the box that all living things

do?

Run on batteries

Grow Swim

Change Break

Talk Move

Have Young Fly

Shelter Chips

Game boys Air

Water Food

Toys Phones

Living things also have needs.

Circle all the NEEDS of living things.

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There you are. You have classified two living things!

How are animals and plants different! As humans we like order and structure. Think about how a kitchen is set up or how a

group of books are organised. They are all arranged in a way that allows anyone to find

things easily. Look at your own bedroom. Is your wardrobe tidy! Are your shoes together

and tee shirts all in the same pile? Organising the living world is called classification. The

way we classify living things is by looking at the way they move, how they feed, what

senses they have and their life cycles.

Plants and Animals are living things. They are different and that sets them apart. Match

the sentence to the living thing by drawing a line to either the plant or the animal.

I stay put and grow in soil. That means I have to

get everything I need where I grow and live.

I need to move around and find food. I may feed on

meat or other plants. I have a mouth, teeth or

beak to help eat and digest the food

I make my own food.

I have eyes and ears for seeing and hearing. I

feel things through my skin or fur and I have a

nose for smelling.

I am covered in fur. Some living things like me are

covered in skin, hair, scales, and even feathers.

I have a covering of bark, have leaves

and stem coverings that can be

smooth, coarse, hairy or hard.

I move from place to place by

myself. I have legs or limbs to help

me move around.

I respond to the outside world by moving towards the sun.

Some of us close our leaves when they are touched!

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Body Coverings

Living things have different body coverings that make them all look different and allow them

to live a certain lifestyle. Some are always warm while others need to find warmth.

Wombats are covered in _____________________ to keep them warm.

Echidna’s have _________________________ on their back to protect them from predators.

Tawny Frogmouth’s have ______________ that allow them to fly.

Snakes have _____________ _on their bodies that are replaced

throughout life in a process called shedding or sloughing.

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Movement Movement allows animals to escape from predators, find food and seek new shelter.

Describe the movement of the following animals below.

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Animal Food Families

Owls have very sharp claws, strong feet and a sharp beak

to tear up mice, rats and small mammals.

They are a

_______________________________________________

Wombats have flat teeth which are good for

chewing grass.

They are a

_____________________________________

Echidnas have a long sticky tongue and a long, thin

beak to catch termites and ants. They are a

__________________________________________

Shingleback Lizards like to eat fallen

berries, roots from grass, snails and slugs.

They are an

____________________________________

What food eating group do these four animals fall into?

Remember that:

Herbivores eat vegetable matter which includes grass.

Carnivores eat meat

Omnivores eat meat and vegetables

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Living things must use energy from the sun to live and move. Animals get

their energy from the food they eat. Plants and animals are part of the food

chain. The basic food chain usually follows this path-

PLANTS, BACTERIA, FUNGI – INSECTS - SMALL ANIMALS - LARGE ANIMALS.

Number the pictures to their order of Food chain.

Food Chain

Did you know that

reptiles are solar

powered!

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Animal Senses

Animals have senses too!

Animals can see Smell, Hear, Touch and Taste.

Predators use their senses to find food while prey use their senses to detect and escape

capture.

What senses do you think these three animals use to find their food (prey)?

Circle all the senses used and explain how they use these senses to find their food.

An Echidna

Touch Hear Smell Taste See

Did you know that the little

penguin is only the size of a

regular ruler!

A Bearded Dragon

Touch Hear Smell Taste See

A Little Penguin

Touch Hear Smell Taste See

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Most animals have two parents. Some animals start their lives growing

inside the bodies of their mothers. They are born alive and usually look like

their parents. Some animal mother lay eggs. Their babies grow in the egg

and later hatch out.

Draw a line to match each parent to its young.

Growing and Changing

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EGGS

LIVE

BIRTH

Where do I come from?

Draw a line from the animals, based on whether they lay egg.

Did you know that not

all lizards lay eggs?

The shingle back Lizard

give birth to live young!

Animals as living things are born in one of two ways. Some are born when the

mother lays an egg, which has a shell to protect the baby inside, while other

animals give birth to live young.

Match the animal with the way it has young.

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Lifecycle

All living things have a life cycle. They are born, they grow up, they reproduce

and they die. Different groups of living things have different kinds of life

cycles. The life cycle of an insect is very different from the life cycle of a

mammal or a reptile. Below you will see the life cycle of a Kangaroo.

Describe the lifecycle pictures in the boxes below.

HINT: You might find the answers in one of our walk in areas.

Did you know that the Tasmanian devil is

the size of a cooked grain of rice when it’s

born!

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Living things need shelter!

Some animals like to live in different environments to shelter, breed or to find food.

What Featherdale animals would you find in the following environments or habitats?

Wet Environment

Cool Environment

Dry Environment

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The First Australians

The first or as we sometimes call them indigenous or aboriginal Australians arrived

about 50,000 years ago. They learnt to live in a difficult environment, but over the years

they became very skilled in the art of hunting and gathering of food. Some aboriginal

families even *farmed special edible plants, like yams and plants that produced seeds

to make a kind of bread! We now also know that some aboriginal peoples, especially on

the coast lived a settled life and did not wonder about the bush or desert like we once

thought .Some First Australians even built amazing traps to help them catch large

animals and fish. They passed these skills on, from generation to generation.

Draw a line from the description to the picture.

It was the woman’s job to gather small

animals and plants to feed the family.

Special digging tools were used to dig out

root vegetables which were then crushed

and thoroughly washed in water.

It was the men’s job to hunt animals.

They worked in a group using weapons

and traps to catch kangaroos, wallabies,

wombats, emus and galahs. Coastal

communities also made nets and fished.

First Australians also used fire to clear

small areas of vegetation. This burning

allowed many native plants to regrow

quickly which meant they would seed and

fruit much faster. This allowed them to

collect, eat and store food sooner than if

plants grew normally.

*Teacher’s notes -To increase awareness of how wonderful our indigenous culture is

I recommend you read a book called Dark Emu: Black Seeds by Bruce Pascoe and

discuss it with the class. This book gives some excellent new insights into

indigenous culture and debunks some of our previous held misconceptions about

their hunter gathering and nomadic lifestyles.

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Human Impacts

Water and trees are two of the most important resources on Earth.

They both have an important role in the environment’s health and the creatures

that live in them.

Name 3 positive ways we use

water:

1. ___________________

2. ___________________

3. ___________________

Name 3 positive ways we use

trees:

1. ___________________

2. ___________________

3. ___________________

Humans change environments. Humans cut trees, misuse water and pollute. If

we change habitats and environments by misusing these important resources

(water, plants, soil) what do you think would happen to the living things that

make their home in these special places?

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Endangered Humans share the earth with many other living things. Unfortunately, some of

the things people do, have caused many of those living things to become

endangered: that is, in danger of becoming extinct or dying out.

Explain why the following animals are endangered in the wild.

HINT: Look at the signs when visiting these animals at FWP.

Koala

Tasmanian devil

Australian Bustard

Southern Cassowary

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Lesson Project

During or after the lesson fill in this report about an animal

Use park signage if your excursion is self guided

Animal

Habitat

Diet

Lifecycle

Special information

Draw me

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Lesson Project

During or after the lesson fill in this report about an animal

Use park signage if your excursion is self guided

Animal

Habitat

Diet

Lifecycle

Special Information

Draw me

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Lesson Project

During or after the lesson fill in this report about an animal

Use park signage if your excursion is self guided

Animal

Habitat

Diet

Lifecycle

Special Information

Draw me

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Lesson Project

During or after the lesson fill in this report about an animal

Use park signage if your excursion is self guided

Animal

Habitat

Diet

Lifecycle

Special Information

Draw me

Sign Project

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Sign Project

Make your own sign with an endangered animal from the park

Example

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Glossary

Air: What we breathe into our lungs.

Breathe: When a living thing inhales air.

Burrow: A large hole underground that often serves as someone’s home.

Camouflage: When an animal becomes invisible in its home or habitat. It blends in.

Carnivorous: An Animal that eats another animal. Eating only meat.

Constrict: A method of killing prey by squeezing until the animal cannot breathe any more.

Covering: The outside of an organism or animal. Coverings include fur, feathers, scales, skin.

Deforestation: When trees and vegetation are taking down and habitats destroyed.

Diet: What an animal eats.

Difference: A thought or way that is not the same.

1. Eggs: An oval or round object laid by a female bird, reptile, fish, or invertebrate, containing a developing

baby. The eggs of birds are enclosed in a chalky shell, while those of reptiles are in a leathery

membrane.

Endangered: An animal that is disappearing in the wild

1. Environment: The surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal, or plant lives.

Eucalyptus: A variety of Australian tree. It is the dominant plant species in Australia.

Extinct: An animal that no longer exist on earth.

Feathers: The body covering of birds.

1. Food chain: A group of organisms that each dependent on the next as a source of food.

Fur: The body covering of many animals mostly mammals.

Habitat: A place where plants and animals live or where they are commonly found.

Herbivorous: An animal that only eats plants or vegetation.

Indigenous: An individual that is native to the country.

1. Lifecycle: The levels of change in the life of an organism from birth to death.

Live birth: An animal that is born alive.

Living Thing: Is something that breathes moves, grows changes, eats and drinks and has babies.

Marsupial: A mammal with a pouch.

Movement: How an animal gets from one place to another.

Nocturnal: Animal that sleeps during the day and has breakfast at night.

Omnivorous: An animal that eats both other animals and plants.

Predator: An animal that hunts another animal. The hunter is the predator, the hunted is the prey.

Prey: An animal that is hunted for food.

Purpose: The reason why something is done.

Protect: To keep safe or away from getting hurt.

Scales: The body covering of reptiles and fish.

Shed: When an animal (reptiles and invertebrates) loses its old body covering for a new one.

Shelter: An area where an animal can stay protected from danger.

Slither: The way a snake or python drags itself on the ground.

Slough: When a snake or python start to lose their outer layer of skin. Sometimes called shedding.

Spikes: The hard spines or quills on an echidna.

Venom: A dangerous substance that snakes inject from their fangs to kill food items (prey) quickly.

Water: What an animal drinks.

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Thank you for visiting

Featherdale Wildlife Park.

We hope you had a fun day with all the animals!

Draw a picture of your favourite animal at Featherdale.

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ANSWERS

Page 7

1. Grow Change, Move, Babies, Food, Water, Shelter and Air.

Page 9

1. Animals

Page 11

1. Insectivore, Carnivore, Herbivore, Omnivore

Page 12

Page 13

1. Touch, See, Hear

Page 14

Echidna-Taste, Hear, Smell, and Touch-To seek out termites and dig them

out.

Bearded Dragon-See, Touch, and Smell-To seek out insects and eat them.

Little Penguin-Sight, Smell, Touch- To find fish, chase them and swallow

whole.

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Page 15

1. Eggs- Little Penguin, River Turtle, Python, White bellied Sea Eagle,

Frilled necked Lizard.

2. Live birth- Possum, Shingle Backed Lizard, Tasmanian devil, Fruit Bat,

Koala.

Page 19

1. Oxygen, Homes, Paper, Shade

2. Shower, to hydrate, to make food grow

3. All living things would die