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Pullenvale Environmental Education Centre

Name: .................................................................. Date of Visit: ...........................................................

Teacher Resource Booklet 2019

Ramble ‘n’ Play

Ramble ‘n’ Play Teacher Resource Booklet

This booklet is for the sole use of the teachers attending Ramble ‘n’ Play. It is not for resale.

First published in 1998 byPullenvale Environmental Education Centre250 Grandview Road, Pullenvale Q 4069

Phone: (07) 3374 1002 ABN: 93 405 052 919Email: [email protected]: www.pullenvaeec.eq.edu.au

Facebook: Pullenvale Environmental Education Centre

All rights reserved.2019 Edition

Copyright © The State of Queensland, Education Queensland 1994

Copyright protects this publication. Except for purposes permitted by the Copyright Act, reproduction by whatever means is prohibited. However, limited photocopying for classroom use is permitted by educational institutions that have a licence with the Copyright Agency (CAL). Any enquiries should be addressed to the Copyright Officer, Studies Directorate, Education Queensland, PO Box 33, Brisbane, Albert Street Q 4002.

AcknowledgementWe acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we work and learn, and pay our respects to

elders past, present and emerging, who mentor and inspire us.

Our Vision

Speak and Act with Respect

to Self, Others and Place

Connected Teachers Growing

Connected Learners

Welcome to yourRamble ‘n’ Play

Teacher Resource Booklet

This booklet has been created to support you and your students in your Ramble ‘n’ Play Storythread Experience.

A Storythread is a story about a place to enable your Students to explore an exciting and empowering real-life blanket (shared) role!.

It contains a step-by-step guide to the TEN ESSENTIAL STEPS with resources and activities to assist in both your planning and teaching.

Simply choose the activities that best meet your needs and the needs of your students. It is not expected you will complete all of the activities in the booklet.

For more information please visit our website www.pullenvaeec.eq.edu.au.

Program materials are also available to download at

www.pullenvaeec.eq.edu.au

Gathering Student Feedback

on Learning

Throughout this booklet there are a number of highlighted activities (marked with a Symbol)

ON

These activities have the potential to provide teachers with feedback and evidence about

students’ learning and their understanding of the knowledge, values and actions (the ‘Big Idea’) being developed throughout this Storythread:

Nature Kids spend time in their place.

‘Nature Kids’ play sustainably in a variety of inside and outside play places, and

share their observations and ideas with others.

This learning links directly to the central ideas of the Australian Curriculum and nominated C2C

units.

TIME-FRAME

STORYTHREADSEQUENCE

TEN ESSENTIAL STEPS Required for a Successful Storythread

Experience

PAGENO.

Term:

Weeks:

CHAPTERONE

Become Nature Kids and Engage with the

PEEC Story

(Pre-excursion)

1. Enrol the Students as Nature Kids ...................

2. Actively Engage the Students, as Nature Kids, with the PEEC Story Harvey the PEEC Bear. Activities are centred around the following key Experiential Teaching Tools: ..............................

• Story, Drama, Games and Play ..................28-35 • Attentiveness in Nature ..............................36-43 • Deep, Reflective Responding.....................44-46

3. Use the Role of Nature Kids and the Story as a Context for the Curriculum. ................................

4. Receive the Invitation to Visit PEEC and Step into the Story as Nature Kids ...................................

5. Prepare for the Excursion as Nature Kids ..........

12-23

25 - 46

47-55

56-58

59-64

Term:

Weeks:

CHAPTER TWOStep into the PEEC Story and Apply the Knowledge, Values

and Actions of Nature Kids

(Excursion)

6. Attend the excursion at PEEC as Nature Kids: .. • Overview of the Excursion Day

• Transport Times & Arrangements • Health, Safety and Wellbeing Policy • Curriculum Risk Management Policy

66-69

Term:

Weeks:

CHAPTERTHREE

Conclude the PEEC Story and Reflect on

the Students’ Journey as Nature Kids(Post-excursion)

7. Conclude the PEEC Story as Nature Kids ........

8. Reflect on and Celebrate the Students’ Journey as Nature Kids ..................................................

72-75

76-80

Term:

Weeks:

CHAPTERFOUR

Respond to the PEEC Story as Nature Kids and Make Life Better

in Your Place(Culminating

Activities)

9. Lead the Students to Create an Nature Kids’ Plan for Their Place. ..................................................

10. Support the Students to Take Action for Their Place as Nature Kids. .......................................

82

83

Our Favourite Resources and References 84-86

CONTENTS Welcome 1

Gathering Student Feedback on Learning 2

An Overview 4

Ten Essential Steps 5

Guiding Questions 6-7

Key Storythread Materials 8

Teacher Checklist 9

Ramble ‘n’ Play - Introduction4

Ramble ‘n’ Play Storythread: An Overview

Shhh!!!! Teachers’ Eyes OnlyChapter OnePre-excursionBecome ‘Nature Kids’ and Engage with the PEEC Story

A letter from the teachers at Pullenvale Environmental Education Centre (PEEC) arrives addressed to the students. In response to the letter, the students take on the ‘blanket role’ of Nature Kids then receive a copy of the PEEC storybook Harvey the PEEC Bear. They begin their journey by thinking deeply about the characters in the story and how they model what it means and what it doesn’t mean to be an Nature Kid. The story is set at PEEC where Harvey, the newly arrived second-hand Op Shop bear, is having a little trouble fitting in and becoming part of the PEEC team.

The students’ growing understanding of what it means to be an Nature Kid then becomes the reason for them to engage in their own research, deepen their understanding of curriculum content inside and outside the classroom, and develop the knowledge (head), values (heart) and actions (hands) they have identified as being important for Nature Kids. When a second letter arrives inviting the students to step into the story for an exciting day of inside and outside play at PEEC, they begin preparing for their excursion.

Chapter Two ExcursionStep into the PEEC Story and Apply the Knowledge, Values and Actions of ‘Nature Kids’

The Nature Kids begin their day at PEEC by meeting Harvey who shares his experiences getting to know PEEC’s inside and outside play places. The students spend the next part of their day having fun exploring respectfully in Harvey’s backyard at PEEC and taking part in guided play-based discovery activities. After lunch, inside and outside nature play continues in PEEC’s Reused Play Place. This sustainable play place was created from “pre-loved” materials just like Harvey!

Chapter ThreePost-excursionConclude the PEEC Story and Reflect on the Students’ Journey as ‘Nature Kids’

Back at school, the children recap the excursion day and then conclude the story by communicating with the fictional characters the Tiny Teddies. They reflect on and celebrate what they have learnt about themselves as Nature Kids and the insights, knowledge and understanding they have gained.

Chapter Four Culminating ActivitiesRespond to the PEEC Story as ‘Nature Kids’ and Take Action to Make Life Better in Your Place

The students respond to the Ramble ‘n’ Play Storythread by brainstorming all of the ways they could, as Nature Kids, take action to make life better in their place. They then create an Nature Kids’ plan for their place and work together to implement one, or a number of, achievable, student-led environmental project(s).

The Big Idea Nature Kids spend time in their place.

‘Nature Kids’ play sustainably in a variety of inside and outside play places, and share their observations and ideas with others.

Ramble ‘n’ Play - Introduction 5

Ramble ‘n’ Play TEN ESSENTIAL STEPS: An Overview

CHAPTER ONE – BECOME Nature Kids AND ENGAGE WITH THE PEEC STORY

1. Enrol the Students as Nature Kids Receive the letter from the teachers at Pullenvale Environmental Education Centre (PEEC), work

together to begin establishing the key knowledge (head), values (heart) and actions (hands) the students will need to take on the role of Nature Kids (their real-life ‘blanket role’), and then enrol the students as Nature Kids (pp 12-23).

2. Actively Engage the Students, as Nature Kids, with the PEEC Story Receive and read the PEEC storybook Harvey the PEEC Bear and use a selection of the activities

provided to think deeply about the characters in the story and how they model what it means and what it doesn’t mean to be an Nature Kid (pp. 25-46).

3. Use the Role of Nature Kids and the Story as a Context for the Curriculum Respond to the story and the students’ need to gain the knowledge (head), values (heart) and

actions (hands) identified as being essential to Nature Kids by teaching required areas of the Australian Curriculum inside and outside the classroom (pp. 47-55).

4. Receive the Invitation to Visit PEEC and Step into the Story as Nature Kids Receive the invitation from Harvey to visit PEEC for an exciting day of nature play, and step into the

story as Nature Kids (pp. 56-58).

5. Prepare for the Excursion as Nature Kids Prepare for the excursion using the activities provided in this booklet (pp. 59-64).

CHAPTER TWO – STEP INTO THE PEEC STORY AND APPLY THE KNOWLEDGE, VALUES AND ACTIONS OF Nature Kids

6. Attend the excursion as Nature Kids (pp. 66-69).

CHAPTER THREE - CONCLUDE THE PEEC STORY AND REFLECT ON THE STUDENTS’ JOURNEY AS Nature Kids

7. Conclude the PEEC Story as Nature Kids Recap the excursion day and then work together as Nature Kids to write a letter or email to the

fictional characters the Tiny Teddies (pp.72-75).

8. Reflect on and Celebrate the Students’ Journey as Nature Kids Reflect on the students journey as Nature Kids and the insights, knowledge and understanding they

have gained (pp. 76-80) by creating a Speak and Act with Respect poster

CHAPTER FOUR – RESPOND TO THE PEEC STORY AS NATURE KIDS AND TAKE ACTION TO MAKE LIFE BETTER IN YOUR PLACE

9. Lead the Students to Create a Nature Kids’ Plan for Their Place Brainstorm with the students all of the ways they could, as Nature Kids, take action to make life

better in their place and then create an Nature Kids’ plan for their place (p. 82).

10. Support the Students to Take Action for Their Place as Nature Kids Support the students in carrying out one or a number of the environmental actions on their Nature

Kids’ Plan (p. 83).


Ramble ‘n’ Play: Guiding QuestionsCreating a Purposeful and Meaningful

Storythread ExperienceFor many years, the teaching team at Pullenvale Environmental Education Centre has worked in partnership with classroom teachers to plan teaching and learning experiences that bring together our Storythreads and the curriculum. Over this time we have developed a set of Guiding Questions.

1. Which areas of the Australian Curriculum are you aiming to teach through the Ramble ‘n’ Play Storythread Experience? What other classroom activities essential to this term would you also like to incorporate? For example – the students, as Nature Kids, must engage with the content of the Science, English and HASS curricula, and the school’s social-emotional learning program will focus on identifying the skills they need to engage with others as Nature Kids such as listening and teamwork.

2. What other knowledge and skills would you like your students to gain from taking part in this Storythread Experience? How can taking on the role of Nature Kids help them achieve this? (See pages 14 - 15 of this booklet for some suggestions.)For example – you may have identified that your class needs to improve their ability to listen to one another and work cooperatively, and you may wish to develop their skills as curious learners through inquiry-based learning. As Nature Kids they will need to ask questions of and become more attentive to the world around them, and then work together to solve an environmental problem and communicate their findings.

What might this look like during your Storythread Experience?Chapter 1 – ESSENTIAL STEP 1:Lead the students to identify your required knowledge, values, actions and skills as essential to becoming Nature Kids as you are creating your Role-on-the-wall profile at the very beginning of the term.

Chapter 1 - ESSENTIAL STEP 2:You can also identify additional areas of learning as you begin investigating the PEEC story.

Chapter 3 – ESSENTIAL STEPS 7 & 8:The students will need to gain additional knowledge and skills as you respond to the excursion day (e.g. letter writing).

3. How can you collect evidence of student learning at key moments in their journey to become Nature Kids? For example – use Nature Kids visual journals, create a class learning journey, record video blogs, or communicate via discussion boards.

What might this look like during your Storythread Experience?Chapter 1 – ESSENTIAL STEP 1:Collecting this evidence can become an essential component of the students’ journey to become Nature Kids. A class set of art journals could arrive as part of the package from the PEEC teachers, the students could respond to their experiences in nature through the creation of video blogs, and a discussion board could be set up to communicate with the other prep classes in your school.

Ramble ‘n’ Play - Introduction 7

4. Where in your schoolgrounds could the students take part in attentiveness sessions as Nature Kids? For example – an area of bushland, a garden or even under a single tree.

5. How could you use your schoolgrounds to teach the curriculum? For example – the schoolgrounds could be used for science investigations, to gain inspiration for writing through observation, or as subject matter for art.

What might this look like during your Storythread Experience?Chapter 1 - ESSENTIAL STEP 2:As Nature Kids, it is essential the students are given the opportunity to explore the schoolgrounds and develop the skill of attentiveness.

This is a skill that can enhance the students’ abilities in all areas of the Australian Curriculum including Science, English, HASS and the Arts.

6. How could you draw on existing local expert knowledge to help your students become Nature Kids? For example – who are the real-life Nature Kids in your school or community? (They might even be adults!) These could be school staff members, parents or volunteers with a local environmental group.

What might this look like during your Storythread Experience?Chapter 1 – ESSENTIAL STEP 1:Creating a list of real-life Nature Kids helps to contextualise the role for the students.

Chapter 1 – ESSENTIAL STEP 3:Your local experts can be brought in to assist in teaching the curriculum e.g. a parent who is an environmental scientist may share their knowledge by taking the students for a walk in the schoolgrounds.

Chapter 4 – ESSENTIAL STEPS 9 & 10:Your local experts could also be brought in to assist the students with their real-life environmental project to make life better in their place e.g. a parent who is an artist may help with an environmental art project.

7. Are there any existing local environmental projects or issues with which the students, as Nature Kids, could become involved? For example - regeneration of a natural area in or near the school grounds, the formation of an environmental club or the desire to become a more sustainable school.

What might this look like during your Storythread Experience?Chapter 4 – ESSENTIAL STEPS 9 & 10:The goal of the Ramble ‘n’ Play Storythread Experience is that by Chapter 4 the students, as Nature Kids, want to take action to make life better in their place and feel they have the knowledge and skills to work together to do so. They may become involved with an existing project within the school or local community or identify a project of their own.


Ramble ‘n’ Play: Key Storythread Materials

You have received the following SUPPORT materials: • This Ramble ‘n’ Play Teacher Resource Booklet

• Teacher and Visitor Passports

• The PEEC Storybook (Harvey the PEEC Bear)

You have also received the following Key STORYTHREAD Materials:

When to use these materials

ESSENTIAL STEP 1•• Letter from the teachers at Pullenvale Environmental

Education Centre (PEEC) inviting the students to become Nature Kids (see p. 13 of this booklet)

•• Role-on-the-wall icons (p. 21)•• PEEC posters (pp. 17 - 19)•• A template for the students’ Nature Kid name tags (p. 20)

• As you begin your Storythread experience.

ESSENTIAL STEP 2•• The PEEC Storybook Harvey the PEEC Bear•• Role-on-the-wall drawing for Harvey (p. 34)•• Attentiveness poster (p. 39)

• Shortly after the class has accepted their role of Nature Kids.

ESSENTIAL STEP 4•• Invitation from Harvey to visit PEEC for a day of outside

play (p. 57)•• PEEC Passport Page for the students to complete (p. 58)

• Approximately one to two weeks prior to the excursion day (you need enough time to complete Chapter One activities then prepare for the excursion).

ESSENTIAL STEP 5•• Excursion Day Checklist (p. 59)•• Pre-excursion Letter to Parents (p. 60)•• Excursion Day Letter for Adult Helpers (p. 61)•• Post-excursion Letter to Parents (p. 64)

• ASAP after the students receive the invitations

ESSENTIAL STEP 7•• Template for the students’ letter or email to the Tiny

Teddies (p. 74)•• Reply to the students from the Tiny Teddies (p. 75)

• Following the excursion.

ESSENTIAL STEP 8•• Template for Uncle Ernie’s Framework (p. 78)•• Speak and Act with Respect poster template (p. 80)

• Following the excursion.

Ensure you visit the PEEC Website! www.pullenvaeec.eq.edu.au

Ramble ‘n’ Play TEN ESSENTIAL STEPS: Teacher Checklist

1. Enrol the Students as Nature Kids (p.12).•¨ Deliver a package to your class containingthe letter from the

PEEC teachers, the PEEC posters and the students’ Nature Kids name tags•¨ Read and discuss the letter, then discuss the ‘blanket role’•¨ Lead the students to take on the role of

Nature Kids and hand out the name tags•¨ Get ready to join PEEC on a story adventure!

2. Actively Engage the Students, as Nature Kids, with the PEEC Story (p.25).•¨ Deliver the storybook Harvey the PEEC Bear to your class•¨ Read the story and use A SELECTION of the activities

provided to think deeply about the characters

3. Use the Role of Nature Kids and the Story as a Context for the Curriculum (p.47)

4. Receive the Invitation to Visit PEEC and Step into the Story as Nature Kids (p.57). Students receive: •¨ An invitation from Harvey•¨ PEEC Passport Pages from Harvey

5. Prepare for the Excursion as Nature Kids (p.60).•¨ Send home the Pre-excursion Letter to Parents •¨ Divide your class into GROUPS OF FOUR and recruit

ONE EAGER PARENT/ADULT HELPER PER GROUP (no more than EIGHT ADULTS please) for the excursion day

•¨ Send home the Excursion Day Letter for Adult Helpers•¨ Prepare your Nature Kid Role-on-the-wall •¨ Complete and return the students’ Passport Pages

to PEEC •¨ Prepare the Post-excursion Letter to Parents •¨ Return the Excursion Information Form to PEEC

6. Attend the Excursion as Nature Kids (p.66).

7. Conclude the PEEC Story as Nature Kids (p.72).

8. Reflect on and Celebrate the Students’ Journey as Nature Kids (p.76).

9. Lead the Students to Create an Nature Kids’ Plan for their Place (p.82).

10. Support the Students to Take Action for their Place as Nature Kids (p.83).

NOTES

*•Start 1st week of term

*•Begin ‘Nature Kid’ Role-on-the-wall here and add to it all term

*•Remember, we’re just pretending!

*•Speak and act with respect

*•PEEC Teachers are ‘Nature Kids’, Harvey has just begun his journey!

*•Introducing attentiveness is essential (p. 40)

*•NB becoming ‘Nature Kids’ provides a context and purpose for the curriculum

*•See Teacher Resource Booklet

*•See the checklist on p. 59*•See Teacher Resource Booklet

*•See Step 1*•Important – PEEC use these

for planning (DATA)*•See Teacher Resource Booklet*•Be clear about students’

needs & learning styles etc

*•CARA on PEEC website

*•Activities in booklet

*•Send copies of class letter to Tiny Teddies and ‘Nesting Models’ to PEEC (DATA)

*•They are real-life ‘Nature Kids’ and could be forever!

*•See booklet for examples

CHAPTER ONEBecome Nature Kids

and Engage with the PEEC Story

Chapter 1 12 - Ramble ‘n’ Play

ESSENTIAL STEP 1:Enrol the Students as Nature Kids

Receive the letter from the teachers at Pullenvale Environmental Education Centre (PEEC), work together to begin establishing the key knowledge (head), values (heart) and actions (hands)

the students will need to take on the role of Nature Kids (their real-life ‘blanket role’), and then enrol the students as Nature Kids.

1. Arrange for the following to be delivered as a package to the class at an appropriate time, perhaps as a Special Delivery from the office:•• The letter from the PEEC teachers (make an A3 copy of the letter on page 13 for

the class to share or an individual A4 copy for each student)•• The PEEC Posters (on pages 17 - 19)•• A set of Nature Kid name tags (create a class set using the template provided on

page 20). PEEC teachers need to be able to read these from a distance, so please write students’ first names only and USE LARGE, CLEAR WRITING (please no stickers as they fall off and pollute the area). We recommend you pre-write the students’ names on the name tags.

2. Receive the package with excitement, endowing it with importance, and open it with the students.

3. Read and discuss the letter with your class. Key discussion points are listed below: • What is Pullenvale Environmental Education Centre? • What are the teachers at PEEC asking you to do? • Why? • Why do you think the teachers at PEEC chose our class?

‘Blanket Role’ at PEECIn the letter, we are inviting the class to take on the real-life ‘blanket role’ of Nature Kids. A ‘blanket role’ is a role shared by the whole class. At PEEC we have adapted this process drama convention as a key pedagogical tool across all our Storythread programs so that we can expand its use beyond fictional story and drama situations. Why? Because it works! We have found that taking on a real-life ‘blanket role’ such as Nature Kids in order to solve an environmental problem engages, excites and empowers the students. It gives them a reason to engage with and deepen their understanding of curriculum content, and provides opportunities for them to continue growing as life-long learners, leaders and active citizens by developing the General Capabilities (specifically critical and creative thinking, personal and social capability, ethical understanding and intercultural understanding) and addressing Cross-curriculum Priorities. The real-life ‘blanket role’ of Nature Kids can incorporate any knowledge (head), values (heart) or actions (hands) you feel are essential for your class.

Your students’ journey as Nature Kids is the thread of your Storythread and the TEN ESSENTIAL STEPS take them deeper and deeper into the

role. As this process takes time, for your students to gain the most from their experiences it is ESSENTIAL that you begin at the start of the

term.

email: [email protected] webpage: www.pullenvaeec.eq.edu.au


250 Grandview Road Pullenvale Q 4069

Ph: (07) 3374 1002

ABN: 93 405 052 919

Dear Students,

Just like you, here at Pullenvale Environmental Education Centre (PEEC) we love to play! We love inside games like cubbies, collage and stories and outside games like exploring and making mud pies.

We have an important way of playing that we practise every day:

Speak and Act with Respectto your place and everything in it

(that includes you and your friends!)

We’d like to share this way of playing with as many children as we can.

Will you help us?

Will you become Nature Kids?Nature Kids LOVE to play inside and outside, having fun, learning and sharing with others.

If you accept our invitation to become Nature Kids, we would like you to join us on a story adventure! To start your adventure read our storybook Harvey the PEEC Bear. It’s a fun story about one of our favourite toy bears. The book will arrive soon...

Happy playing!

From,

The PEEC Nature Kids‘Speak and Act with Respect to Self, Others and Place’


4. Discuss the role of Nature Kids. The PEEC teachers are asking you to become ‘Nature Kids’ who care for their playmates and their outside play places by ‘Speaking and Acting with Respect’. Some of you might feel you’re already doing these things. I think taking on the role of ‘Nature Kids’ is a really important job! Before you can decide whether or not you would like to accept the invitation to officially take on this role, we need to make sure we really understand it.

• Break down the role of Nature Kids Begin by defining each word e.g. start with the dictionary definitions of ‘nature’ and

‘kid’, and then ask the students to define the words themselves. Next, discuss what the words mean when you put them together.

E.g. An ‘Nature Kid’ is one who speaks and acts with respect to their place and everything in it (including themselves and others) when they are playing in their play places. (Please see page 16 for a guide to discussing PEEC’s rule for playing, Speak and Act with Respect.)

• Establish the students’ prior knowledge and understanding by beginning a Role-on-the-wall profile for Nature Kids.

‘Role-on-the-wall’ at PEEC‘Role-on-the-wall’ is a drama strategy that can be used to gain a deeper understanding of real people and fictional story characters.

At PEEC we also use this technique to give students a deeper understanding of themselves as they experiment with taking on a real-life ‘blanket role’ such as Nature Kids. By creating a Role-on-the-wall profile, students can clarify, build on and expand their understanding of their ‘blanket role’ and how it might be expressed in real situations to deepen their learning.

We have found that using Role-on-the-wall as a reflective tool offers a safe opportunity for every student in the class to input their ideas and be heard.

As stated earlier, the blanket role of Nature Kids can incorporate any knowledge (head), values (heart) or actions (hands) you feel are essential for your class.

For example, key knowledge, values and actions for Nature Kids could include:

• Knowledge (head) - scientific, geographical and historical knowledge about local natural places, interconnectedness, creative thinking, reflection

• Values (heart) – we all have a responsibility to care for our natural places, our connections with others and place are essential to our wellbeing, speak and act with respect to self, others and place, respect for Indigenous wisdom

• Actions (hands) - attentiveness, actions that reduce our ecological footprint, communication, teamwork

IMPORTANT: Adding to your Role-on-the-wall will be an ongoing process throughout the students’ journey as Nature Kids. While at this stage in the term it will only list a small number of key ideas, the Role-on-the-wall will eventually summarise all of the knowledge, values and actions you and your students decide are essential to the role of Nature Kids including curriculum content. Once they begin thinking deeply about the characters in the PEEC story Harvey the PEEC Bear using the activities in this booklet, the students’ understanding of the role of Nature Kids will grow and change.

Chapter 1 Ramble ‘n’ Play - 15

To begin your Role-on-the-wall:• Draw an outline of a person on a large sheet of paper - A1 or A2 size (you can just create a

simple gingerbread man shape such as the one on page 23). It is very important to leave plenty of space around the outside of the drawing to write and/or draw the students’ ideas.

• Next, begin discussing the role of Inside/Nature Kids with the students using the icons provided on page 21 and the questions below as prompts. We recommend you pull out page 21, cut out the icons, attach them to your Role-on-the-wall. You can then write and/or draw the students’ responses around each icon (see our example on page 23).

Discussion Questions: Let’s imagine you decide to become ‘Nature Kids’ -

As ‘Nature Kids’, how do you think and what do you know?

What is important to you? What do you care about more than anything? (This may only be two or three things.)

What sorts of things do you do? What skills do you have?

How do you pay attention to the world around you?

What makes you happy?

How do you act towards yourself, other people and the places around you? What does that look like and sound like? (You may wish to leave this icon until after you have discussed PEEC’s way of working and the Nesting Model poster - see page 16).

Please see the sample Role-on-the-wall on page 23.

Remember: at this stage you are only aiming for a small number of key ideas. Creating your Role-on-the-wall is an ongoing process. We recommend you keep your Role-on-the-wall on display in a prominent place in the classroom for at least the whole term or even longer. As well as discussing the ‘blanket role’, capture ideas throughout their journey as Nature Kids by observing and listening to your students. E.g. I’ve noticed that you’re working really well together as a team. Is that a skill that is important for ‘Nature Kids’? You sounded really passionate when you shared your discovery with the class. Is passion important for an ‘Nature Kid’?

• It can also help to brainstorm a list of real-life Nature Kids including people from your local community right through to famous environmentalists.


5. Lead the students to decide to take on the role of Nature Kids. To celebrate and mark the beginning of your journey, work together to finish this statement: A ‘Nature Kid’ is someone who.... Add the finished statement to the bottom of your Role-

on-the-wall and revisit at least once more during the students’ journey as Nature Kids to make any necessary changes or additions.

6. Hand out the Nature Kid name tags (on page 20) with a sense of ceremony.

Assist the students to fill in their names if you have not already written them (first names only in large, clear writing). These name tags can be worn whenever the

students are engaged in an activity or learning directly linked to the blanket role of Nature Kids (including the Excursion Day of course!).

7. Discuss what it might mean to join PEEC on a story adventure.• The staff at Pullenvale Environmental Education Centre told us in their letter that they

have an important rule for playing:

Speak and Act with Respect To your place and everything in it

(that includes you and your friends!)

At the bottom of their letter they wrote this rule as ‘Speak and Act with Respect to Self, Others and Place’. As ‘Nature Kids’, we need to understand what this means and why the PEEC team believe it is so important.

Use the posters on pages 18 and 19 to BEGIN a discussion with your class. This discussion will be ongoing and informed by the students’ growing knowledge and understanding, as well as their direct experiences of natural places.

Possible key questions include:• What does respect mean?• How can we speak and act with respect to ourselves? To others? To the places we

visit?• Why do you think the circles on the Nesting Model posters are sitting one inside the

other and not separately?• Why might the PEEC team believe it is important to speak and act with respect to

ourselves, others and place?

• In the letter our friends at PEEC are also inviting us to join them on a story adventure! What do you think that might mean? It says in the letter that the story is fictional, so I think it will mean using our imaginations and playing a pretending game together to bring the story ‘Harvey the PEEC Bear’ to life! I wonder how the story is connected to our journey as ‘Nature Kids’…

IMPORTANT: It is really important throughout this Storythread that the students understand and are reminded that while the blanket role of Nature Kids is a REAL-LIFE ROLE, the character of Harvey and the story Harvey the PEEC Bear are fictitious. We are not trying to trick the students into believing the story is true. This would be counter-productive.

We use the signal on the following page to remind students that everyone is playing a story game to work together and bring the story to life e.g. finger on your nose and wink (you could put the poster on the following page up on your classroom wall).

REMEMBER... We’re just pretending!

PLACE

OTHERS

SELF

The PEEC Nesting Model

PLACE

OTHERS

SELF

PLACE

OTHERS

SELF

PLACE

OTHERS

SELF

PLACE

OTHERS

SELF

PLACE

OTHERS

SELF

PLACE

OTHERS

SELF

PLACE

OTHERS

SELF

PLACE

OTHERS

SELF

Nature Kid

Nature Kid

Nature Kid

Nature Kid

Nature Kid

Nature Kid

Nature Kid

Nature Kid

EXAMPLE

Ewan

Role-on-the-Wall ICONS


Role-on-the-Wall (EXAMPLE)

Nature Kids

Creative

Imaginative

Pick up

Rubbish

Reuse and recycle

Playing

Speak and Act with Respect

Playing inside and outside

Learn new things

Caring

Adventures

Their place and everything

in it

Explore

InvestigateSlow down

FunBrave


Teacher Notes:


IMPORTANTNext, please arrange

for the PEEC storybook Harvey the PEEC Bear

to be read in your classroom.

The activities outlined on the following pages for

ESSENTIAL STEP 2 centre around the storybook.

We recommend you read the story with your students

at least twice before attending the excursion.


ESSENTIAL STEP 2:Actively Engage the Students, asNature Kids, with the PEEC Story

Receive and read the PEEC storybook Harvey the PEEC Bear and use a selection of the activities provided to think deeply about the characters in the story and how they model

what it means and what it doesn’t mean to be an Nature Kid.

The students, as Nature Kids, are inspired and guided by the characters in the PEEC story Harvey the PEEC Bear to develop the knowledge (head), values (heart) and actions (hands) they identify as essential to taking on their ‘blanket role’. Activities are centred around the three key Experiential Teaching Tools below and are designed to engage the students’ minds, emotions and bodies in the belief that all learning is mind-body and emotions are critical to learning (Lackney, 2006).

Reference: Lackney, J.A. (2006) 12 design principles based on brain-based learning research, available at www.designshare.com/Research/

BrainBasedLearn98.htm.

Think deeply about the characters in the PEEC storybook Harvey the PEEC Bear and how they model

what it means and what it doesn’t mean to be an Nature Kid by using A SELECTION of the activities

listed over the next two pages.

Choose the activities that best meet your needs and the needs of your students. It is not expected you will

complete all of the activities.


Three Experiential Teaching Tools: An Overview1. Story, Drama, Games and Play (see pages 28-35)

Activities assist students to think deeply about the ‘blanket role’ of Nature Kids, promote development of the General Capabilities (specifically critical and creative thinking, personal and social capability, ethical understanding and intercultural understanding) and address the Cross-curriculum Priority of Sustainability.

Select from the following activities: • Whoosh! (Recount the Story)• What is a Second-hand Op Shop Bear?• Let’s Go and Play Now - Inside or Out• Freezeframes• Collective Drawing• Teacher-in-role as Harvey• Role-on-the-wall for Harvey• Inventing from the Story

2. Attentiveness in Nature (see pages 36-43)Attentiveness is a key skill of Nature Kids, and a skill that is either demonstrated or needs to be developed by the PEEC story characters. It is also a skill that is essential for engaging with the curriculum inside and outside the classroom.

Select from the following activities: • An Overview of Attentiveness

• Children and Nature

• Attentiveness Poster

• Activity: Introduce the Skill of Attentiveness to Your Class (ESSENTIAL)• Activity: Attentiveness Games• Activity: Environmental Art• Sharing Attentiveness with Others

3. Deep Reflective Responding (see pages 44-46)Activities across all four chapters of the Ramble ‘n’ Play Storythread encourage students to reflect deeply and meta-cognitively on their thinking, learning, actions and future directions with regard to their ‘blanket role’ and the curriculum.• Overview of Philosophy in the Classroom• Activity: Running a Community of Inquiry


Story, Drama, Games and Play

Work together to retell Harvey’s story by bringing it off the page and into the classroom!

Read the storybook aloud a second time, but this time use the drama technique Whoosh! to bring it to life and assist in students’ understanding:

•• The students sit in a circle.•• Explain they will all help to tell the story by taking it in turns to come into the middle of

the circle to become people or things in the story.•• Whenever you wave your arms and say ‘Whoosh!’ they need to return to their places.•• As you tell the story, assist the students to know when to come in and what to

become. They can start by making a freezeframe, then bring it to life.•• Ensure all students are given a chance to participate.

Activity: Whoosh! (Recount the Story)

Help the students understand how Harvey came to be at PEEC.

A key aspect of the Ramble ‘n’ Play program is understanding the different ways we can dispose of our rubbish and other items we no longer wish to keep. Many children have never thought about where their rubbish goes once they put it in the bin, and they may also not have heard of Op Shops.

Begin by watching this short four minute video from Behind the News about Recycling Rubbish: http://www.abc.net.au/btn/story/s3507210.htm

(There are also links to some other great resources on this page such as a Zero Waste Game.)

Discuss the video with your class, including the fact that perfectly good toys had been thrown into a rubbish bin and were destined for land-fill! There was even a teddy bear!!

Important Discussion Points:•• Here in Australia we produce A LOT of rubbish.•• When you put rubbish in a standard bin, it is taken to landfill (http://science.

howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/landfill3.htm) and buried. This isn’t good for our natural environment.

•• We can Speak and Act with Respect (to our place and everything in it) if we send less rubbish to landfill, and recycle or reuse the things we no longer want or need.

•• We can do this by composting, putting recyclables into a recyling bin, finding new ways to reuse old things, or by taking unwanted items to Op Shops to be resold.

This must have been what happened to Harvey. The little boy or girl who used to own him decided they no longer wanted Harvey, so they

donated him to an Op Shop and Tonia, one of the PEEC teachers, found him and brought him to PEEC!

Activity: What is a Second-hand Op Shop Bear?

Reflection:Why do you think the PEEC teachers bought a second-hand Op Shop bear?

Do we know of any other ways they reuse or recycle?


Activity: Let’s Go and Play Now - Inside or Out?

Begin getting to know Harvey by bringing his playing to life.

In the story, Harvey dreamed of becoming a Nature Bear.

I wonder if he really has the skills he needs.

Let’s begin finding out by thinking about Harvey’s games and where they were played!

Work with the students to create a list on the board of all the different things Harvey did when he was playing at PEEC. For example:

1. Craft2. Exploring in the garden3. Climbing a tree4. Cubbies5. Dancing

Standing in a circle, play a game where you sing the song below, then act out one of the activities on the list. The students must copy you and guess which activity you are acting out. This song is sung to the tune of Frère Jacques:

(teacher) Let’s go and play now(students repeat) Let’s go and play now(teacher) Inside or out?(students repeat) Inside or out?(teacher) I wonder what we’ll play today(students repeat) I wonder what we’ll play today(teacher) Watch me now(students) We’ll watch you now

Reflection: Play the game a second time, also asking the students to take it in turns to act out other

inside and outside activities or games Harvey might like. Discuss the activities and mark on the list which of them are inside activities, which are outside and which could be either.

Harvey likes to play inside and outside. Do you? Why do you think that is? What else does Harvey need to learn to do if he is going to become a Nature

Bear? Why might that be important?

Add new discoveries to your

Nature Kid Role-on-the-wall


Reflection:How do you feel when you are playing in nature?

Do you love it? like it? feel unsure? dislike it?How do you ‘Speak and Act with Respect’ to your place and everything in it when you are playing in nature?

What new games, activities and ideas have you discovered today? Let’s Share! That’s exactly what the PEEC teachers asked you to do! Why might

that be important?



Activity: Freezeframes

Give the students the opportunity to share through freezeframes what they, as Nature Kids, like to do when they are playing in nature.

1. Share stories of the students’ favourite things to do in nature.

2. Ask the students to choose their favourite idea then create a whole group freezeframe in which each student creates a frozen picture with their bodies to represent their chosen idea. Split the class into two groups so that they can present their freezeframes to one another.

Can they guess what everyone is doing?

What is a Freezeframe?Students use their bodies to create a frozen picture of a particularly important moment in the story that others can look at, compare and discuss. In order to convey meaning, they may choose to represent people, objects or things. You may need to remind your students that facial expressions are extremely important for conveying emotions and helping to tell their story.

How are Freezeframes presented?When groups are presenting, ask the audience to close their eyes while a freezeframe is being prepared and then open them to view it. Freezeframes may be viewed one at a time with each group creating their freezeframe in a designated presentation space, or one after another in quick succession in the form of a rolling presentation around the room.

Extend Freezeframes by using Tap-and-TalkTo gain more insight into a character’s thoughts and feelings, students can be asked to stay frozen and speak their character’s thoughts aloud when tapped on the shoulder.

Extension Idea: Classroom Mural - Nature Kids Speak and Act with Respect to their Special Play PlacesCollect photographs of the students playing respectfully in their special place (or photograph their freezeframes) and create a mural for the classroom.

• You could categorise different places to play under the headings big, little, inside and outside, and describe why they are special.

• Add descriptive words to the mural that share how the students feel when they are playing, the sorts of games and activities they play, why their play places and games are special, and how they Speak and Act with Respect to their play places.


Activity: Collective Drawing

Reflect on what it means, as Nature Kids, to be great playmates by creating collective drawings.

1.• The class (together or in small groups) creates an artwork depicting who Harvey played with in the story, what they played and how they were feeling. For example –•• Cubbies with the little teddies•• Exploring with Kate and Merryl•• Digging in the garden by himself

Discuss: Harvey dreams of becoming a Nature Bear. We know that Nature Kids and Bears ‘Speak and Act with Respect’. What is Harvey doing in your drawing to ‘Speak and Act with Respect’? What could he have done differently?

2.• Create a second artwork depicting Harvey in the same situations, but this time Speaking and Acting with Respect to his place and everything in it, including himself and others.

ON

As Nature Kids, how can the students act with respect to

themselves?

Reflection:How did the PEEC teachers and the Tiny Teddies feel about how Harvey was

behaving in the story? Why were there so many frowns? How are you similar to or different from Harvey?

Who do you like to play with? Why?

Extension Idea: Poster - Nature Kids Speak and Act with Respect to their Playmates• Assist each student to complete and illustrate the following sentence –

I like to play with ________________________ because he/she _____________________

• List the students’ ideas on a poster.

• As Nature Kids the students are practicing Speaking and Acting with Respect. Does each of the ideas on your poster follow this important rule? How else could an Nature Kid Speak and Act with Respect to their playmates when they are playing?

• Display this poster alongside the mural (see previous page).


Consolidate the students’ understanding of what it means to Speak and Act with Respect as Nature Kids by speaking with them in role as Harvey.

You will need: a Harvey name tag

Begin by discussing the following with the students (you can list the questions on the board, allocate specific questions to individual students or enlist the help of another adult):

•• If Harvey visited our classroom and discovered you are ‘Nature Kids’, what do you think he would want to ask you?

•• What would you like to ask Harvey?

I know! You all have great imaginations. I bet if we used our imaginations to bring this story to life, you could help Harvey. If we pretended to meet Harvey, I bet you would be able to help him understand how to ‘Speak and Act with Respect’ and be a wonderful Nature Bear. Would you like to try?

Explain to the class that you are going to take on the role of Harvey. They will know when you are in role and pretending to be Harvey as you will be wearing his name tag, and pretending to think and speak like him. The students’ job, as Nature Kids, is to help Harvey by answering his questions. They can also ask him questions. Make a list of questions they could ask.

As Harvey, tell the students what you have learnt from the PEEC teachers and lead the students to explain what Speaking and Acting with Respect as a Nature Bear would look like, sound like and feel like.

Come out of role and congratulate the students on their great imagining, pretending and advice.

Activity: Teacher-in-role as Harvey ON

Reflection:How did the PEEC teachers help Harvey? What else could they have done?

Do the PEEC teachers ‘Speak and Act with Respect’ to their place and everything in it including themselves and others? How?

List three things we discovered about Harvey?How do they act when they explore natural places?

Could the PEEC teachers be grown-up ‘Nature Kids’? Why/why not?




Needs to listen

Activity: Role-on-the-wallReflect on what has been learnt about the fictional story character Harvey by creating a role-on-the-wall profile.Enlarge the drawing on the following page to A3 and attach it to a sheet of butcher’s paper. Leave plenty of space around the drawing to write and/or draw the students’ ideas.

As on page 15, begin questioning the students using the icons provided on page 21 as promptsand write and/or draw their responses on Harvey’s Role-on-the-wall.

•• Brain - How does Harvey think and what does he know?•• Heart (place this icon only inside your drawing) - What is important to Harvey? What does he care about more than anything? (This may only be two or three things.)•• Hands - What sorts of things does Harvey do? What skills does he have? What does he need to get better at? •• Eye and Ear - How does Harvey pay attention to the world around him?•• Smiley Face - What makes Harvey happy?•• Nesting Model (interconnected circles) - How does Harvey act towards himself, others and the places around him? What does that look like and sound like?

Harvey (example)

Extension idea:• Keep this Role-on-the-wall profile on display in the classroom and add to it during the term,

whenever something new is discovered about Harvey.

Brave

Playing

Playing insideand outside

Learning to Speak and Act with Respect

Busy

Creative

ConfidentFriendship

ActiveBecoming a Nature Bear

Goodimagination

MessyDancing

Needs to learn to share

ON

Makingpeople laugh

Needs to slow down and pay

attention

Reflection: As a Nature Bear’, what is Harvey already good at? What do you

think he stills need to learn or improve? How are you, as ‘Nature Kids’ similar to or different from

Harvey?


We recommend dramaresource.comfor further information and ideas

Extend the students’ thinking by using the character of Harvey in new plot settings.

For example, work together to write, draw or bring-to-life stories about:• The day Harvey visited the students at school.

OR

• A playdate with Harvey at home.

What would Harvey like to play and do? What would you need to explain to him? How could you help him ‘Speak and Act with Respect’?

Extension Idea: These new episodes could be brought to life through dramatic play or freezeframes and improvisation (see page 30), and then presented as rehearsed roleplays.

Activity: Inventing from the Story ON


References:Thomashow, M. (1996) Ecological Identity, Cambridge: MIT Press

Attentiveness in NatureWhat is attentiveness?Anyone who is trying to understand the world, such as scientists, artists, architects, historians, researchers and Nature Kids, uses the skill of attentiveness all the time. It means;

Taking the time to pay attention and observe in detail what is actually going on around you by listening with your ears, but also with your

eyes, nose, skin, heart, mind and imagination.

It is a great way to think deeply and really get to know and understand yourself, others and the places around you.

Attentiveness is not a new idea. Indigenous cultures from around the world have used this skill for thousands of years. At PEEC, we have been deeply influenced by Aboriginal ideas about ‘deep listening’ or ‘dadirri’ as it is described by Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann of the Ngangikurungkurr people from the Daly River in the Northern Territory, Australia (see http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/education/deep-listening-dadirri for a great introduction to ‘dadirri’). We also recognise that we are teaching a kind of ‘mindfulness in nature’ through our focus on paying attention to the present moment.

We focus on two main kinds of attentiveness:

1. Active exploring - occurs when students are moving around discovering and investigating.

2. Deep listening - requires stillness and allows students to notice the minute details they can easily miss.

Why is developing the skill of attentiveness important to your students?

• Attentiveness is a key skill of Nature Kids, as demonstrated by the PEEC story characters.

• It allows students to experience their schoolgrounds and local area as a powerful, engaging outdoor classroom.

• Learning outside the classroom through attentiveness enables students to apply the curriculum to real situations and places, and therefore deepens and expands their concrete (embodied) understanding of curriculum content and ideas.

• Meaningful activities centred around attentiveness engage the students’ minds, emotions

and bodies as part of an integrated learning experience.

• If we are going to reconnect our children with the natural places around them (please see page 38), it is essential that students are given the opportunity to develop the skill of attentiveness.

When we care enough about life to learn about our place, we understand more about our neighbours. We create the potential to nurture compassion for all

beings. (Thomashow, 1996 p. 197)

How do you practise the skill of attentiveness with your students?


• Select a natural place in your schoolgrounds where the students can take part in attentiveness sessions as Nature Kids. For our purposes, ‘natural place’ refers to any part of the community of life, no matter how small, where your students could encounter living things: a tree in the schoolgrounds, a garden, a creek, a field, bushland… right through to wilderness.

• Introduce the skill of attentiveness using the activity on page 40.

• Make time for follow-up sessions. Give the students as many opportunities as possible to spend time actively exploring and deep listening. Short sessions could even happen on the way to activities such as music and HPE, or once the children have lined up ready to come back into the classroom.

• It is important after each session to allow students time for reflection through activities such as writing, poetry, photography, sketching or discussion. Lead the students to reflect:

o On their attentiveness sessions, what they noticed and what happened for them;o On what they are learning, as Nature Kids, about the connections between Self, Others and Place; ando On the characters in the story.

Tips• The aim is for the class to engage with their place using all of their senses, but it can work well

initially to focus on one sense at a time.

• Some students will find deep listening really easy; however, some will also find it incredibly difficult. You may need to start by asking the class to sit for a couple of minutes only, or even just one!

• If you feel that your students need more assistance prior to sending them off to sit by themselves for deep listening, run a guided deep listening session for the whole group and talk them through the sorts of things they can observe, listen to, smell, feel and wonder. Some teachers have even practised attentiveness in the classroom before taking their students outside.

Attentiveness online!

Eco Citizen - Everything is Connected is an online unit of work that contains a video of our principal, Ron Tooth, leading a deep listening session with a group of students.

The unit is available at https://learningplace.eq.edu.au/cx/resources/file/37036b52-938f-fc82-7a83-

cf91a0e67424/1/index.html

Children and NatureDid you know that many people believe…

• Direct experience in nature is critical and diminishing;

• Nature contact is critical to children’s health, productivity, and physical and mental wellbeing;

• Nature contact improves test scores and academic achievement; and

• Green schoolgrounds foster achievement and responsibility.

The Children and Nature NetworkBuilding a Movement to Reconnect Children and Nature

(www.childrenandnature.org)

The Children & Nature Network (C&NN) was created to encourage and support the people and organisations working worldwide to reconnect children with nature. C&NN provides access to the latest news and research in the field and a peer-to-peer network of researchers and individuals, educators and organisations dedicated to children’s health and well-being.

The human mind and body genetically emerged in a biocentric world, and the sparse data available suggests our most cherished capacities

– physical health, emotional attachment, self concept, personal identity, critical thinking, problem solving, curiosity, imagination, even culture –

depend in myriad irreplaceable ways on our experience of nature.

(Kellert, 2009, p. 2 – from the article Reflections on Children’s Experience of Nature available to download from www.

childrenandnature.org)


Activity : Introduce the Skill of Attentiveness to Your Class ON

Recap the students’ discoveries about the PEEC teachers. They really care about their place and everything in it don’t they? It’s like they have an incredible connection to it! Some people might walk through the outside play places around the Centre and not even notice what is there, but the PEEC teachers really seem to know and appreciate what makes their place special. How do you think that has happened? How do they notice things about their place that other people might not? What have they done to help them get to know their outside play places?

(Once the students have responded) You know, there is a word that describes the skill that people who do all of those things have: I think the PEEC teachers are really good at the skill of attentiveness! Let me explain what I mean… (introduce the concepts of attentiveness, active exploring and deep listening as described on page 36).

It sounds as though the PEEC teachers have this skill! Some of you might too! Even if you do, it’s a skill that takes lots of practise. Let’s go for a walk and try it!

ACTIVE EXPLORING: Take the students to the natural place in the school grounds you have selected for attentiveness sessions (see page 37). After discussing safety and the ways the students can show respect and care for their place, give them a little time for active exploring and discovering with a friend. You will be amazed by what the students find!

DEEP LISTENING: Next, give them the opportunity to spread out and find a comfortable, safe spot where they can sit still and quietly by themselves to listen deeply with their eyes, ears, nose, skin, heart, mind and imagination. Focus the session by asking the students to decide, as they are listening, on the one thing the PEEC teachers would love most about their place. They need to be silent and as still as a rock. This will allow them to see and hear fascinating things they have not noticed before.

Bring the class together at the conclusion of the session and note down their responses. What did they notice? What would the PEEC teachers love? What did they see, hear, smell, feel, wonder or imagine? It works well to read the responses back as a poem.

Reflection: The Five Whys Is Attentiveness an important skill for ‘Nature Kids’?

This technique pushes the students to deepen their thinking beyond their initial response. Ask them if they think attentiveness is an important skill for Nature Kids. Once

they have responded, ask ‘why’ (as below) and then use subsequent answers to create four new ‘why’ questions. This activity can also be run with students working in pairs.

For example... Question 1: Why is attentiveness an important skill for Nature Kids?

Answer: Because Nature Kids need to learn about the natural world.

Question 2: Why do Nature Kids need to learn about the natural world?

Continue until you have asked five ‘why’ questions.


Active Exploring Games• See the world through a cardboard tube… Help your students discover the little things

that make your place special by giving them cardboard tubes to look through. ‘Looking through a cylinder limits the scope of the eye and forces the observer to focus on specific rather than general aspects of the environment’ (Rockwell, Sherwood & Williams, 1985: 33).

• We’re going on a nature hunt… Create a treasure hunt for the students to complete. This may include colours, shapes, textures, sounds and smells.

• Find ten critters… A critter is any creature that might share your place. Finding a critter can also mean discovering evidence that a creature has been there in the form of footprints, holes or scratches etc (Louv, 2008: 362).

• Red and yellow and pink and green… Cut up a paint chart and give each child a different colour. They are to find their colour somewhere in your special play place. Call out bingo when you have a match.

• Make friends with a tree… One student leads a blind-folded partner to a tree. The student wearing the blindfold uses their hands to explore the tree and feel the different types of textures and shapes. They are lead away, then with the blindfold off have to go back and identify their tree.

• Zooma Hoopla... Support your students to focus and tune into nature. Lay a hoop on the ground and in small groups stand in a circle around the hoop spotting as many tiny details as possible.

Deep Listening Games• See your place through the eyes of an ant… Choose a living thing such as a tree, animal

or insect. Position yourself accordingly and be like that thing for one minute. E.g. if you were an ant, you would need to be down close to the ground.

• Can you listen up to five or maybe even ten? Stand or sit still with fists held up in front of you. Count on your fingers how many sounds you can hear in one minute. You could follow-up by creating a vocal or instrumental soundscape of your place!

• I spy something that belongs to a… Play ‘I Spy’ like Little Nutbrown Hare and Big Nutbrown Hare (McBratney, 2007). They spy something that belongs to a tree, a bird and a spider. What can you find?

• Rise to a challenge… Set the students a challenge to complete when they are deep listening. For example:

o Find something you have never seen before.o Choose a bug and watch it for one minute.o Close your eyes and concentrate on using your ears (you could work through using

each of the senses one at a time).

• What am I? Devise a number of clues about something found in your special play place. The students must pay attention to what is around them in order to solve the clues. For example: I am brown and green. My skin is rough and wrinkly. I provide homes for animals, bugs and birds. I reach up high to the sky. What am I?

References: • Louv, R. (2008) Last child in the woods: Saving our children from nature deficit disorder, 2nd edition, Chapel Hill,

North Carolina: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.• McBratney, S. (2007) Let’s play in the snow, Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press.• Rockwell, R. E., Sherwood, E. A. and Williams, R. A. (1985) Hug a tree and other activities to do outdoors with

young children, Maryland: Gryphon House.

Activity: Attentiveness Games


Activity: Environmental Art

Your students could reflect on their experiences in nature through art.

•• Art and the EnvironmentThe GEO Project – www.geoproject.org.auThe GEO project offers an exciting approach to supporting and enhancing a suite of four exhibitions with the related theme of ‘art and the environment’.

•• Keeping a Nature Journal or Scrapbook o Leslie, C. W. and Roth, C. E. (2003) Keeping a nature journal: Discover a whole

new way of seeing the world around you, LLC: Storey Publishing.

o Wheatley, N. and Searle, K. (2007) Going bush, Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin.Nadia Wheatley and Ken Searle help sixteen children from eight schools in South-west Sydney explore their local environment and work collaboratively on art and writing.

•• Land ArtLand art involves making art and sculptures using natural materials you find in the environment, such as leaves, pine cones, twigs, pebbles, rocks, sand and shells.

o Andy Goldsworthy - There are many sites containing images of artist Andy Goldsworthy’s work. For example:

• www.morning-earth.org/ARTISTNATURALISTS/AN_Goldsworthy.html

• www.goldsworthy.cc.gla.ac.uk

o Going Bush – A Queensland Studies Authority Visual Arts module in which students design and make their own original images and objects using the school’s local environment as stimulus. The module is available to download at www.qsa.qld.edu.au/downloads/early_middle/kla_arts_sbm_va_402.pdf

o landartforkids.com.

Image of Pebblesby Andy Goldsworthy

Students’ ephemeral art


Nature is fun for everyone. It is beautiful in the wind.Nature is animals. It is also trees.Nature means a lot to me.

(Poem by year two student)

This activity was fun because I love the insects tickling me under the armpits and the birds coming so close that they almost touch me.

(Middle years student)

It is like when your eyes get used to the dark. At first you

can’t notice anything and then suddenly you start to see.(Year six student)

How to Listen Deeply (procedure by year 3 student)

Goal: To understand and enjoy attentiveness

You will need: 1. 1 pen 2. 1 notebook 3. An empty space in your brain

Steps: 1. Find a nice shady spot under a big tree 2. Trynottofiddle 3. Don’t communicate with anyone 4. Listen with your whole body 5. Look for animals 6. Feel the breeze on your skin

Drawings by Year 3 students

I feel that after I sit for only 20 to 30 seconds that I can already see the ‘extra’ in the ‘ordinary’. I can also hear what the birds are saying - as if they’re talking to me and nobody else is here.

(Year seven student)

Sharing Attentiveness with Others

Teachers have shared the work they and their students are doing with parents and the school community in a number of different ways. These have included:

• Displaying a copy of the attentiveness poster (please see p.39);• Sharing samples of student writing and artwork;• Writing procedures to share with other classes; and• Running attentiveness sessions for parents and/or peers.


Deep Reflective Responding

Across all four chapters of the Ramble ‘n’ Play Storythread, teaching and learning focuses on more than remembering, recounting or reproducing knowledge and facts. Students are encouraged to demonstrate the ability to reflect deeply and meta-cognitively on thinking, learning, actions and future directions with regard to the role of Nature Kids and the curriculum.

At the higher levels of reflection, students will make inferences and draw conclusions regarding the relationship between the concepts explored and their own life experiences, thoughts, behaviours and insights. They will demonstrate the ability to transform their ideas in order to formulate personal theories and make effective suggestions regarding the application of their learning in other areas of their lives both now and in the future.

Throughout this Teacher Resource Booklet and on the Ramble ‘n’ Play excursion day, Deep Reflective Responding is encouraged through discussion, writing and drawing, story and drama strategies and thinking tools.

We have also found that Philosophy in the Classroom strategies work well within the Storythread framework as they promote deep thinking, reflection and discussion about the world as well as respect for others and their ideas.

Overview of Philosophy in the ClassroomPhilosophy encourages students to ask and consider ‘big’ questions about a story. For Ramble ‘n’ Play these questions might include:

What is Play?

Why do children need play?

What makes a play place special?The activity on the next two pages briefly outlines one way of running a philosophical community of inquiry in which a group of students and their teacher work together in a structured way to engage in critical and creative thinking about a topic (Cam, Fynes-Clinton, Harrison, Hinton, Scholl, and Vaseo, 2007: 4).

The protocols for the Community of Inquiry Approach are:• Listen Attentively• Respect self, others and place• Build on the ideas of others• Disagree reasonably and respectfully• There may be many correct answers

You may find it helps your class to listen to each other and take it in turns to speak if you introduce an object such as a ball that can easily be passed from student to student, and set up the convention that the only person allowed to speak is the person with the ball. It is important that the class is sitting in a circle for this activity.

For more detailed information, we recommend the text Philosophy with young students – A classroom handbook produced by teachers from Buranda State School and available from Griffith University Library http://librarycatalogue.griffith.edu.au (please see References on page 42).


Other Helpful Resources:• Buranda State School - burandass.eq.edu.au (Pedagogy – Philosophy)• Cam, P. (1995) Thinking together: Philosophical inquiry for the classroom,

Alexandria, NSW: Hale and Iremonger Pty Ltd.• Cam, P. (2006) Twenty thinking tools, Camberwell, Victoria: ACER Press.• Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Students (IAPC) – montclair.edu/

cehs/academic/iapc• Paul, R. and Elder, L. (2008) The thinker’s guide to the nature and functions of

critical and creative thinking, Dillon Beach, California: Foundation for Critical Thinking.

• Philosophy for Kids - Philosophyforkids.com

Activity: Running a Community of Inquiry

1. Set the Agenda• Introduce/revisit and discuss the Community of Inquiry protocols (above).

• Conduct a warm-up activity to begin thinking about the central concept of this Community of Inquiry.

For example, use Word Association: Go around the circle and ask each student to give one word that they associate with that concept. Question a number of students about their response and invite them to explain their thinking.

• Introduce the stimulus material. This might be a story, a quote or statement, or conflicting statements (e.g. Everyone deserves respect/Respect needs to be earned).

• Invite the students to respond to and comment on the stimulus material in the form of a question [you might like to give them the opportunity to discuss with a partner or small group (Think, Pair, Share) before sharing their ideas with the class]. Write the questions on the board along with the name of the student who raised that question.

• Work together to connect the questions and identify shared concepts and themes.

ON


2. Conduct the Discussion• Identify a question from the list on the board that will be used to begin the discussion.

• Call on the student who raised that question and invite them to expand on why they asked it or what they were wondering about. They might also like to give their view and support it with a reason (Cam, Fynes-Clinton, Harrison, Hinton, Scholl, and Vaseo, 2007: 7).

• Invite other students to comment, agree or disagree. It is important that they offer reasons, examples or explanations e.g. I think this because… (Note: they are disagreeing with the comment that was made, not the person who made it.)

• The teacher’s role is to facilitate and build the discussion around the points being made by keeping the discussion on track, modelling inquiry skills, encouraging the students to use inquiry and reasoning skills by inviting them to explain their thinking, make comparisons and give examples/counter-examples, picking up on new points, summarising and connecting ideas, and asking open inquiry questions to probe for further depth and encourage intellectual development (Fynes-Clinton, 2010).

• Helpful prompts include: Can you explain that more clearly please? Can anyone add to that? In what way is this the same as/different from…? (Cam, Fynes-Clinton, Harrison, Hinton, Scholl, and Vaseo, 2007: 8).

• Ideally, the discussion questions will move from being concrete to more abstract.

• Write key words and ideas up on the board throughout the discussion.

3. Group and Individual Reflection - It is important to reflect on all three elements:

1. Substantive - the topic under discussionWhat new learning/thinking took place for you today? What have you learned about yourself/others/place? How do you feel about that learning? Has it impacted on your thinking in any way?

2. Procedural – the way the topic was discussedHow did we work together as a learning community? Could we improve on the way we work and think together? In what ways could we do this?

3. Reasoning – intellectual processWhat skills did we use that helped our thinking and learning move to a deeper level today?

Group reflection can be achieved through discussion and activities, and individual reflection through writing or drawing.

References:Cam, P., Fynes-Clinton, L., Harrison, K., Hinton, L., Scholl, R. and Vaseo, S. (2007) Philosophy with young

students – A classroom handbook, Deakin West, ACT: ACSA Inc.

Fynes-Clinton, L. Community of Inquiry and Reflection, PowerPoint presentation made at Pullenvale Environmental Education Centre 23rd March 2010.


ESSENTIAL STEP 3: Use the Role of Nature Kids and the Story as a Context for the

CurriculumRespond to the story and the students’ need to gain the knowledge (head), values

(heart) and actions (hands) identified as being essential to Nature Kids by teaching required areas of the Australian Curriculum inside and outside the classroom.

The ‘Big Idea’ (i.e. knowledge, values and actions) being developed throughout the Ramble ‘n’ Play Storythread:

Nature Kids spend time in their place. Nature Kids play sustainably in a variety of inside and outside play places, and share their observations and

ideas with others.

The PEEC Ramble ‘n’ Play Storythread supports teachers and schools in the implementation of all the three dimensions of the Australian Curriculum (General Capabilities, Cross-Curriculum Priorities and Learning Areas) in a purposeful way both inside and outside the classroom through the Blanket Role (Nature Kids). Students are inspired and guided by the characters in the story (Harvey the PEEC Bear) to develop as successful learners, confident and creative individuals and active and informed citizens, embodying the Big Idea in the Ramble ‘n’ Play Storythread.

Linking the ‘Big Idea’ and the ‘Blanket Role’ of Nature Kids to one or more areas of the Australian Curriculum:

In the story Harvey the PEEC Bear, Harvey decides that as the newest member of PEEC’s Team, he would like to become Nature Bear who Speaks and Acts with Respect to his place and everything in it…

ScienceHarvey observes that the PEEC teachers play sustainably, or Speak and Act with Respect to their place and everything in it, by using reused objects and materials, and taking great care when they explore natural places. As Nature Kids, the students NEED TO work as scientists and use their senses to explore their local natural places, investigate objects found in their play places, consider ways that they could Speak and Act with Respect in their own play, and then share their observations and ideas with others.

EnglishDuring the story, Harvey learns how important it is for him to listen to the PEEC teachers when they try to help him learn to Speak and Act with Respect to his place and everything in it by sharing their thoughts, feelings and experiences. As Nature Kids in their place, the students NEED TO communicate their own feelings and ideas about playing sustainably, or Speaking and Acting with Respect to their place and everything in it.

HASSAs Nature Kids who Speak and Act with Respect to their place and everything in it, students NEED TO conduct historical research in order to investigate and learn from their own family stories and the ways family members played inside and outside in the past, thus providing them with an understanding that the past is different from the present (continuity and change), and to understand why some events are important in their own and others’ lives (significance). They may also consider how those different to them commemorate events (empathy, perspectives).Before Harvey can begin building a connection to his new place, the PEEC teachers will need to teach him to slow down and explore with his senses so that he can understand why and how he should care for the natural environment. As Nature Kids in their place, the students NEED TO explore, observe and describe familiar places and places that are special to them, and identify how they can care for these places by Speaking and Acting with Respect (place, environment). They will also learn that their place is also the place of Aboriginal Peoples (place). Nature Kids will also become familiar with Harvey’s special place through a map which shows where features are located (space)

The blanket role of Nature Kids provides an excellent tool for teaching the content of the Australian Curriculum in an authentic and purposeful way.

Learning both inside and outside the classroom enables students to apply their learning to real situations and places, and deepen and expand their understanding of curriculum content and

ideas.


Linking the ‘Big Idea’ and the ‘Blanket Role’ to Science

In the story Harvey the PEEC Bear, Harvey decides that, as the newest member of PEEC’s Team, he would like to become a Nature Bear who Speaks and Acts with

Respect to his place and everything in it. Harvey observes that the PEEC teachers play sustainably, or Speak and Act with Respect to their place and everything in it, by using reused objects and materials, and taking great care when they explore natural places.

As Nature Kids, the students NEED TO work as scientists and use their senses to explore their local natural places, investigate objects (and the way they move) found in

their play places, consider ways that they could Speak and Act with Respect in their own play, and then share their observations and ideas with others.

Science through the Storythread Four-Chapter Framework

Chapter One – As Nature Kids, students reflect on the PEEC story Harvey the PEEC Bear and the way the PEEC teachers Speak and Act with Respect to their place and everything in it by using reused objects and materials in their play, and taking great care when they explore natural places. Students work scientifically using their senses to explore local, natural places and considering the way in which the environment may impact upon themselves and other living things.and investigate objects found in their inside and outside play places in order to identify the properties of the materials from which the objects are made. They discuss and share their observations and experiences with others.

Chapter Two (Excursion) – On the excursion day students, as Nature Kids, use their senses to explore and investigate one of Harvey’s favourite play places, “Harvey’s Backyard”. They consider how the environment may impact upon themselves and other living things and support the Tiny Teddies to explore nature and Speak and Act with Respect at all times. When they have returned from exploring, the Nature Kids Speak and Act with Respect as they play at another of Harvey’s favourite places, the Reused Play Place where everything has been made from things that have been reused and recycled instead of going to landfill. During play, they consider the way things familiar objects move and the properties of the materials they encounter.

Chapter Three – Back at school, students, as Nature Kids, reflect on their experiences. They respond by working together to write an email or letter to the Tiny Teddies to remind them how wonderful it is to play outside and how they can continue to be Nature Tiny Teddies, and are encouraged to design a Speak and Act With Respect poster that suggests how to behave and care for special places. In doing so, students are given the opportunity to communicate the knowledge and understanding they have gained over the course of their Storythread experience about what it means to be Nature Kids who Speak and Act with Respect to their place and everything in it, and reflect upon the observations they have made regarding the environment.

Chapter Four – Students, as Nature Kids, take action to make life better in their place by planning and implementing one, or a number of, achievable, student-led environmental projects. This may include sharing what it means to be Nature Kids by planning a commemorative event of their own that could incorporate the creation of wind ornaments made from reused materials to hang in an outside play place, or design their own Reused Play Place. They may also share how the weather on excursion day impacted upon their dress or the activities undertaken.


AustralianCurriculum

PrepScience

KEY Curriculum

Links

Science Understanding

Science as a Human Endeavour Science Inquiry Skills

Chemical Sciences(Nature Kids understand that)Objects are made of materials that have observable properties (ACSSU002)

Nature and Development of Science Science involves (Nature Kids) exploring and observing the world using the senses(ACSHE013)

Questioning and Predicting(Nature Kids) Pose and respond to questions about familiar objects and events (ACSIS014)

Planning and Conducting (Nature Kids) Participate in guided investigations and make observations using the senses (ACSIS011)

Processing and Analysing Data and Information(Nature Kids) Engage in discussions about observations and represent ideas (ACSIS233)

Communicating(Nature Kids) Share observations and ideas


Linking the ‘Big Idea’ and the ‘Blanket Role’ to English

In the story Harvey the PEEC Bear, Harvey decides that as the newest member of PEEC’s Team, he would like to become a Nature Bear who Speaks and Acts with Respect to his place and everything in it. During the story, Harvey learns how important it is for him to listen to the

PEEC teachers when they try to help him learn to Speak and Act with Respect to his place and everything in it by sharing their thoughts, feelings and experiences. As Nature Kids in their place, the students NEED TO communicate their own feelings and ideas about playing

sustainably, or Speaking and Acting with Respect to their place and everything in it.

English through the Storythread Four-Chapter Framework

Chapter One – As Nature Kids, students explore a variety of texts, including the PEEC story Harvey the PEEC Bear. Focus is on exploring how language is used to entertain through retelling events, listen respectfully, and on sharing thoughts and feelings about differences in the way characters Speak and Act with Respect to their place and everything in it.

Chapter Two (Excursion) – At PEEC, students, as Nature Kids, explore the “Harvey’s Backyard”, sharing their thoughts and feelings about Speaking and Acting with Respect with each other and Harvey’s friends the Tiny Teddies. After their explorations, they Speak and Act with Respect as they interact with one another and play in the Reused Play Place.

Chapter Three – Back at school, students, as Nature Kids, reflect on their experiences. They respond by working together to write an email or letter to the Tiny Teddies to remind them how wonderful it is to play outside and how they can continue to be Nature Tiny Teddies. They are asked to design a Speak and Act With Respect poster that suggests how to behave and care for special places. In doing so, students are given the opportunity to engage in conversations and discussions, and communicate the knowledge and understanding they have gained over the course of their Storythread experience about what it means to be Nature Kids who Speak and Act with Respect to their place and everything in it.

Chapter Four – Students, as Nature Kids, take action to make life better in their place by planning and implementing one, or a number of, achievable, student-led environmental projects. This may include sharing what it means to be Nature Kids by planning a commemorative event of their own that could incorporate the retelling of one of Harvey’s stories to an audience of parents or older students or the creation of short texts or presentations about their experiences.



Prep English

KEYCurriculum

Links

Language Literature LiteracyLanguage for Interaction (Nature Kids) Understand that language can be used to explore ways of expressing needs, likes and dislikes (ACELA1429)

Text Structure and Organisation (Nature Kids) Understand that texts can take many forms, can be very short (for example an exit sign) or quite long (for example an information book or a film) and that stories and informative texts have different purposes (ACELA1430)

Expressing and Developing Ideas (Nature Kids) • Explore the different

contribution of words and images to meaning in stories and informative texts (ACELA1786)

• Understand the use of vocabulary in familiar contexts related to everyday exp-eriences, personal interests and topics taught at school

(ACELA1437) -

Literature and Context(Nature Kids) Recognise that texts are created by authors who tell stories and share experiences that may be similar or different to students’ own experiences(ACELT1575)

Responding to Literature (Nature Kids) Share feelings and thoughts about the events and characters in texts(ACELT1783)

Examining Literature (Nature Kids) Identify some features of texts including events and characters and retell events from a text(ACELT1578)

Creating Literature – (Nature Kids) Retell familiar literary texts through performance, use of illustrations and images(ACELT1580)

Interacting with Others (Nature Kids):• Listen to and respond orally to texts and

to the communication of others in informal and structures classroom situations (ACELY1646)

• Use interaction skills, including listening while others speak, using appropriate voice levels, articulation and body language, gesture and eye contact (ACELY1784)

• Deliver short oral presentations to peers (ACELY1647)

Interpreting, Analysing, Evaluating (Nature Kids) Use comprehension strategies to understand and discuss texts listened to, viewed or read independently (ACELY1650)

Creating Texts (Nature Kids):

• Create short texts to explore, record and report ideas and events using familiar words and beginning writing knowledge (ACELY1651)

• Construct texts using software including word processing programs (ACELY1654)


Linking the ‘Big Idea’ and the ‘Blanket Role’ to HASS

As Nature Kids who Speak and Act with Respect to their place and everything in it, students NEED TO conduct historical research in order to investigate and learn from their own family stories and the ways family members played inside and outside in the past, thus providing them with an understanding that the past is different from the present (continuity and change), and to understand why some events are important in their own and others’ lives (significance). They may also consider how those different to them commemorate events (empathy, perspectives).Before Harvey can begin building a connection to his new place, the PEEC teachers will need to teach him to slow down and explore with his senses so that he can understand why and how he should care for the natural environment. As Nature Kids in their place, the students NEED TO explore, observe and describe familiar places and places that are special to them, and identify how they can care for these places by Speaking and Acting with Respect (place, environment). They will also learn that their place is also the place of Aboriginal Peoples (place). Nature Kids will also become familiar with Harvey’s special place through a map which shows where features are located (space).

HASS through the Storythread Four-Chapter Framework

Chapter One – As Nature Kids, students reflect on the PEEC story Harvey the PEEC Bear and on what Harvey might have learned about becoming an Nature Bear who Speaks and Acts with Respect to his place and everything in it if he’d taken the time to listen to the PEEC teachers’ stories about their past experiences at the Centre. In response, students begin conducting historical research in order to investigate and learn from their own family stories and the ways family members played inside and outside in the past. Students begin exploring, observing and describing the features of familiar places including play places that they like or avoid, and places that are special to them. They represent these places on pictorial maps and models, and also identify the Countries/Places that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples belong to in the local area, why they are important to them and how these places are represented.

Chapter Two (Excursion) – At PEEC, students, as Nature Kids, explore Harvey’s Backyard using their senses and sharing their observations and questions, along with sharing their thoughts and feelings about Speaking and Acting with Respect with each other and Harvey’s friends the Tiny Teddies. They engage in and their own past experiences in natural places with each other and help Harvey’s friends the Tiny Teddies to be brave Outside Teddies. They Speak and Act with Respect as they engage in imaginative play at the Inside/Outside Reused Play Place.

Chapter Three – Back at school, students, as Nature Kids, reflect on their experiences. They respond by working together to write an email or letter to the Tiny Teddies to remind them how wonderful it is to play outside and how they can continue to be Nature Tiny Teddies. They are asked to design a Speak and Act With Respect poster that suggests how to behave and care for special places.In doing so, students are given the opportunity to communicate the knowledge and understanding they have gained over the course of their Storythread experience about what it means to be Nature Kids who Speak and Act with Respect to their place and everything in it, and apply the knowledge they have gained about building a connection to a familiar place.

Chapter Four – Students, as Nature Kids, take action to make life better in their place by planning and implementing one, or a number of, achievable, student-led environmental projects. This may include planning a commemorative event of their own that could incorporate their stories of how they and their families play inside and outside when they celebrate important events. This may involve displaying maps and models of favourite play places along with ideas about how they can take care of important places in the schoolgrounds.



PrepHASS

KEY Curriculum

Links

Inquiry and Skills Knowledge and UnderstandingQuestioning(Nature Kids) Pose questions about past and present objects, people, places and events (ACHASSI001)

Researching(Nature Kids) Sequence familiar objects and events (ACHASSI004)

Analysing(Nature Kids):•• Explore a point of view

(ACHASSI005)•• Compare objects from the

past with those from the present and consider how places have changed over time (ACHASSI006)

•• Interpret data and information displayed in pictures and texts and on maps (ACHASSI007)

Evaluating and Reflecting(Nature Kids):•• Draw simple conclusions

based on discussions, observations and information displayed in pictures and texts and on maps (ACHASSI008)-

•• Reflect on learning to propose how to care for places and sites that are important or significant (ACHASSI009)

Communicating(Nature Detectives):Present narratives, information and findings in oral, graphic and written forms using simple terms to denote the passing of time and to describe direction and location (ACHASSI010)

History

(Nature Kids discuss...)•• How they, their family and friends commemorate past

events that are important to them (ACHASSK012) (Nature kids recognise...)•• How the stories of families and the past can be

communicated, for example, through photographs, artefacts, books, oral histories, digital media and museums (ACHASSK013)

Geography

(Nature Kids can identify, describe and reflect upon...)•• The places people live in and belong to, their familiar

features and why they are important to people (ACHASSK01)

•• The Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Country/Place on which the school is located and why Country/Place is important to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples (ACHASSK016)

•• The reasons why some places are special to people, and how they can be looked after (ACHASSK017)


Communicating through The Arts as Nature Kids For Example…

DanceAs Nature Kids students create and present dance sequences to communicate their responses to the environmental themes explored during the Ramble ‘n’ Play Storythread Experience.

Relevant Content Descriptions:• Explore, improvise and organise ideas to make dance sequences using the elements

of dance (ACADAM001) • Present dance that communicate ideas to an audience, including dance used by

cultural groups in the community (ACADAM003)

Relevant Knowledge and Skills:• Elements of dance – space, dynamics• Fundamental movement skills – locomotor and non-locomotor movements• Choreographic devices – selecting meaningful movements

DramaAs Nature Kids students explore the character of Harvey and the role of Nature Kids through dramatic play, improvisation and process drama. They use voice, facial expression and movement to show role and situation, and may choose to communicate their own ideas through the presentation of drama to an audience.

Relevant Content Descriptions:• Explore role and dramatic action in dramatic play, improvisation and process drama

(ACADRM027) • Use voice, facial expression, movement and space to imagine and establish role and

situation (ACADRM028)

Relevant Knowledge and Skills:• Role, character and relationships – taking on the point of view of a fictional character and

listening and responding to others in role• Voice and movement – using voice, for example, varying loudness/softness, pace and

pitch; body language, for example, using posture, gestures, facial expressions, to create role

Media ArtsAs Nature Kids students use media technologies to capture and edit images, sounds and text for the purposes of communicating their journey as Nature Kids.

Relevant Content Descriptions:• Use media technologies to capture and edit images, sounds and text for a purpose

(ACAMAM055) • Create and present media artworks that communicate ideas and stories to an audience

(ACAMAM056)

Relevant Knowledge and Skills:• Representation and story principles – representing experience through the construction

of stories and ideas; communicating ideas from their imagination or experience• Languages: elements of media arts (technical and symbolic) – composition, sound• Technologies – capturing and combining images, sounds and text or a combination of

these with available technology


MusicAs Nature Kids students respond to music about the relationships between people and places, including music of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. They create compositions and perform music with the purpose of communicating their own connection to place.

Relevant Content Descriptions:• Create compositions and perform music to communicate ideas to an audience

(ACAMUM082) • Respond to music and consider where and why people make music, starting with

Australian music, including music of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples (ACAMUR083)

Relevant Knowledge and Skills:• Elements of music – rhythm, pitch, timbre• Skills – discriminating between sounds and silence, moving and performing with an

understanding of beat and tempo, discriminating between loud and soft, long and short, high and low

Visual ArtsAs Nature Kids students create and display artworks about their connection to place, inspired by investigating different art, craft and design styles from other cultures and times, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.

Relevant Content Descriptions:• Explore ideas, experiences, observations and imagination to create visual artworks and

design, including considering ideas in artworks by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists (ACAVAM106)

• Create and display artworks to communicate ideas to an audience (ACAVAM108)

Relevant Knowledge and Skills:• Representation – subject matter (personal observations, sensory expression and

imagination); forms – drawing, painting, digital imaging; visual conventions - identifying, using and interpreting line, shape, colour and texture

• Practices – skills – observational – seeing, noticing and viewing critically• Viewpoints – contexts – recognising artworks from different cultures particularly

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, and works from Asia, and from different times


ESSENTIAL STEP 4:Receive the Invitation to Visit PEEC and

Step into the Story as Nature KidsReceive the invitation from Harvey to visit PEEC for an exciting day of inside and

outside play, and step into the story as Nature Kids.

• On the following two pages you will find an invitation from Harvey to visit PEEC and a PEEC Passport Page.

• Please photocopy the invitation and a class set of Passport Pages, and arrange for them to be delivered to your class at an appropriate time or for them to be found by the students. For example:

•• A special delivery! While the children are out of the room, display the invitation and pages on the easel accompanied by a teddy, a number of inside and outside play objects and maybe even a teddy-sized sunhat! Discover them together on the students’ return to the classroom.

•• We’re going on a nature hunt! Devise a number of clues that have been left for you and the children to solve together that will lead you to find the invitation and pages somewhere in the schoolgrounds. You could even find them displayed on a blanket as part of a teddy bears’ picnic!

•• Harvey! Add some muddy pawprints to the invitation to make it look as though Harvey ‘helped’ send it. You could even scrunch it up, tear it up and then sticky tape it back together. Add a short apology note from the PEEC teachers.

• Read and discuss Harvey’s invitation with your class. It is very important that they feel ownership of the decision to visit PEEC.

Your next step is to prepare for the excursion!




Ph: (07) 3374 1002

ABN: 93 405 052 919

Dear Nature Kids,

I hope you enjoyed reading my story Harvey the PEEC Bear.

I’ve learnt a lot since I first arrived at Pullenvale Environmental Education Centre (PEEC) and I’m now very good at Speaking and Acting with Respect. I love all the play places here at PEEC and I think you will too.

Please come and visit me at PEEC for an exciting day of play!

The PEEC teachers and I would love to meet you all and explore my new special place together!! I wonder what we might discover?

So we can get to know you, could you please fill in your own PEEC Passport Page and send it to us?

Could you also please bring your Nature Kid Role-on-the-wall Poster with you on the day of your visit to PEEC?

I hope to see you soon!

Harvey and the PEEC Nature Team‘Speak and Act with Respect to Self, Others and Place’

Name: ................................................................................................. School: ............................................................................................... Teacher: .............................................................................................

I am a Nature Kid

PEEC Passport Ramble ‘n’ Play

I to go outside into nature because...

(write or draw here)

< < =


ESSENTIAL STEP 5:Prepare for the Excursion as Nature Kids

EXCURSION DAY CHECKLISTPlease ensure you have completed ESSENTIAL STEPS 1 – 4:

¨ STEP 1 – Enrol the Students as Nature Kids ¨ STEP 2 – Actively Engage the Students, as Nature Kids, with the PEEC Story ¨ STEP 3 – Use the Role of Nature Kids and the Story as a Context for the Curriculum ¨ STEP 4 – Receive the Invitation to Visit PEEC and Step into the Story as Nature Kids

Now complete ESSENTIAL STEP 5: ¨ Send home the Pre-excursion Letter to Parents (see p. 62) ¨ Divide your class into GROUPS OF FOUR and recruit ONE EAGER PARENT/ADULT HELPER

PER GROUP ONLY for the excursion day. (This is important as a health and safety issue in the forest. Please do not bring more than 8 parent/adult helpers in total and note they are not to bring younger siblings.)

¨ Send home the Excursion Day Letter for Adult Helpers (p. 61) ¨ Prepare your Nature Kid Role-on-the-wall (p. 62) ¨ Complete and return the students’ Passport pages to PEEC no later than one day prior to your

excursion (p. 62) ¨ Discuss with the students what they think they might discover when they explore Harvey’s new special

place (p. 63) ¨ Prepare the Post-excursion Letter to Parents (p. 64) ¨ Return the Excursion Information Form to PEEC two days prior to your excursion. On this form please

ensure you include details of any student with special needs, medical conditions, mobility issues, behavior, anxieties. (This form will be emailed to you approximately one week before your excursion.)

IMPORTANT EXCURSION DAY INFORMATIONPlease ensure all students AND ADULTS wear:

¨ Closed-in footwear, comfortable weather-appropriate clothing (LONG TROUSERS ARE RECOMMENDED) and a hat

¨ Sunscreen and insect repellent applied at home/school prior to your visit (bring your own to reapply if necessary)

¨ Nature Kid name tags (please see page 20)

Please bring: ¨ Your Nature Kid Role-on-the-wall (see page 62) ¨ A copy of your complete class list and the names of any visiting adults along with details of any

important information about them ready to give to a PEEC teacher on the day of your excursion (please refer to the Healthy, Safety and Wellbeing Policy on page 68)

¨ Lunch and afternoon tea ¨ Plenty of water to drink ¨ A camera to record the day ¨ A MAXIMUM OF EIGHT parent/adult helpers - one per each group of FOUR students. It is important

the children know which adult helper has been assigned to their group.

Please note that a Risk Assessment has been carried out by PEEC staff. Should you require further information about the excursion day or wish to clarify any details, please do not hesitate to call us on (07) 3374 1002, or visit our website - http://www.pullenvaeec.eq.edu.au/#!/teacher-support/caras(see also pages 68 - 69).

If you wish to refer to our Responsible Behaviour Plan, a copy is available at : www.pullenvaeec.eq.edu.au.

Pre-Excursion Letter to Parents (ESSENTIAL)

If students are to live sustainably in the world then making an emotional reconnection with nature is a powerful place to begin.

Dear Parents,

Your child is soon to travel to Pullenvale Environment Education Centre (PEEC) to be part of a PEEC Storythread excursion called Ramble ‘n’ Play.

Storythread is a ‘pedagogy of place’ that uses story, drama, play, attentiveness and deep reflection to connect students to themselves, others and natural places.

To prepare for the excursion, the students have taken on the real-life role of Nature Kids who play sustainably in a variety of play places, and share their observations and ideas with others. They have been developing the knowledge, values and actions of Nature Kids whilst becoming immersed in a PEEC story called Harvey the PEEC Bear. In the story, a second-hand Op Shop bear called Harvey discovers how to speak and act with respect to his place and everything in it when he is playing. For more information please see the PEEC website at www.pullenvaeec.edu.au.

The details of the Ramble ‘n’ Play excursion day are as follows:Date:Time of Departure:Time of Return:Transport Details:Cost:

Your child will need:•• Closed in walking shoes•• Clothes suitable for bush walking and playing at PEEC – long pants are strongly

recommended. NB Clothes may get grubby.•• Weather appropriate clothing e.g. jumper or raincoat•• Hat•• Sunscreen and insect repellent applied at home•• Lunch and afternoon tea (try an environmentally friendly lunch – reusable containers and

biodegradable wrappings)•• Plenty of water to drink •• Consider motion sickness prevention if needed for bus rides

Please inform me of any special health problems and medication of which I may not be aware.

Regards,

#

Excursion Day Letter for Adult Helpers (ESSENTIAL)(Please copy this letter and send it home prior to the Excursion Day to all Adult Helpers.)

Dear Adult Helpers,

Thank you for offering to accompany us on our excursion to

Pullenvale Environmental Education Centre (PEEC). We are

going to have a great day together!

You will need to wear your Nature Kid name tag and remember to apply

sunscreen and insect repellent at home. You will also be sent a Visitor Nature

Detective Passport to complete.

The PEEC teachers will use a wide range of story and teaching strategies

on the day. Sometimes they may even act as if they don’t know what’s

happening. Don’t be surprised by this because it’s a deliberate strategy to

encourage curiosity and help students to take control of their own learning.

Please assist the PEEC teachers and me throughout the day to help the

children follow instructions and keep them focused, listening, involved and

safe. You can do that by pretending and imagining along with us and being

involved in the story yourselves.

Cameras, phones and devices may be used in accordance with the school’s

policy to record active learning and engagement where permission has been

given. There may be special guidelines on the excursion day.

PEEC requires that your mobile phone is turned to SILENT for the day so

as not to disrupt the Storythread. The Centre has a NO SMOKING policy

and please also note that younger siblings are NOT permitted to attend the

excursion.

Please advise me before leaving school if you have any

medical concerns of which I should be aware.

Thank you again for coming along on our Story Adventure!

Kind regards,

#


Activity: Prepare Your Nature Kid Role-on-the-WallIn his invitation, Harvey asked if the students could please bring their Nature Kid Role-on-the-wall on the day of their visit to PEEC.

This is the Nature Kid Role-on-the-wall you began in ESSENTIAL STEP 1 (see pp. 12-16) and have been adding to during ESSENTIAL STEPS 2-4. Please have it ready to bring to the excursion as throughout your day at PEEC, staff will continue to add new ideas to your Role-on-the-wall. You will then bring it back to school for completion in ESSENTIAL STEP 8 (see page 79).

Activity: Complete and Return the Students’ Passport Pages to PEEC

Students receive a Passport Page (see page 60) to complete for each PEEC program they attend throughout years Prep to Six, and these pages are returned to them at the end of each excursion day.

PEEC teachers use the Passport Pages for planning and teaching purposes on the excursion day, so please take some time to assist your students to think through and complete their Passport Page in their own words and/or using an illustration of their choice.

Please note when completing the page, students may colour in as many of the boxes as apply to them:

For example: They might being outside in nature, but also as they don’t like being bitten by mosquitoes.

Once each student has completed their PEEC Passport Page, please post all of the Pages to us at PEEC to arrive no later than one day before the excursion. Alternatively, you could include all of your students’ responses in an email to us.

• If you wish to use the postal system, please be sure to mark all mail to us with the teacher’s name, school and date of your excursion and send it to:

The PEEC Inside/Outside Nature TeamPullenvale Environmental Education Centre

250 Grandview RoadPULLENVALE QLD 4069

• Our email address is [email protected].

IMPORTANT: Your Nature Kid Role-on-the-wall

and the students’ PEEC Passport Pages are ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS

of your class’s excursion experience.These documents are used by PEEC staff for both

planning and teaching purposes on the excursion day.

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Activity: When We Go Walking, What Might We See?In his invitation, Harvey asked if the students could guess what they might discover when they explore Harvey’s new special place. Working with the students to predict a list of possible ideas is a great way to build excitement around the excursion, and it also gives the students the opportunity to practise describing their observations. This is a skill they will use on the day of their excursion to PEEC.

The children’s picture book I Went Walking by Sue Williams and Julie Vivas, tells the story of a small boy’s walk through the countryside using a repeated refrain:

I went walking.

What did you see?

The boy sees a whole variety of animals e.g. I saw a black cat looking at me, and I saw a pink pig looking at me.

Use this refrain to play a predicting game with your class about what you might see at PEEC, taking it in turns to guess:

I’m going walking (one student)

What might you see? (the whole class)

I might see some tall trees looking at me!




Ph: (07) 3374 1002

ABN: 93 405 052 919

Post-Excursion Letter to Parents (ESSENTIAL)

(Please copy this letter and send it home to parents on your return to school after the excursion.)

Dear Parents,Today your child, in role as a Nature Kid, participated in our Ramble ‘n Play program designed specifically for children in the Prep year. The program focuses on sustainable play through Speaking and Acting with Respect to Self, Others and Place.As an Environmental Education Centre, it is our endeavour to connect children to the natural world using play-based activities that provide fun, positive values and greater understandings of the world around them.In the morning, the Nature Kids met Harvey who shared his experiences getting to know PEEC’s inside and outside play places. The students then spent the next part of their day having fun exploring the beautiful PEEC grounds and making many discoveries. We noticed that some tiny ‘inside’ teddy bears had followed us - they were very scared of being outside. We showed them around, shared with them the amazing things we had found and taught them how to stay safe when you are playing outside.In the next session, we visited the Reused Play Place where everything has been created using pre-loved materials (just like Harvey). Some of the play stations included inside and outside cubby houses, improvised musical instruments, dress-ups, tap-dancing, a cooking area, the squishy mud walk, sand and water play, letter writing and mailing, smell table and puppetry. Phew! And all this from ‘junk’ that could have become landfill!Sometimes children don’t reveal much about their day, particularly if they are tired. But you may wish to use the following questions to begin a conversation with your child:

•• What does it mean to be a Nature Kid?•• What new or interesting thing•did you discover when you were

exploring outside?•• What did you play with in the Reused Play Place?

Thank you for giving your child the opportunity to visit PEEC. We hope their experiences were both positive and memorable.

Kind regards,

The Staff of Pullenvale Environmental Education Centre(www.pullenvaeec.eq.edu.au)

TicksTicks are part of life in Australia. Occasionally, a tick may attach itself to a child or adult during a bush walk. Please check your child for ticks tonight. If you find one, it needs to be removed as soon as possible.If you do not know how to remove a tick, please check with a chemist or your doctor.

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CHAPTER TWOStep into the PEEC Story and Apply the Knowledge, Values and

Actions of ‘Nature Kids’

ESSENTIAL STEP 6:Attend the Excursion as Nature Kids


Overview of the Excursion Day

For teachers’ eyes only!

Welcome and Introducing HarveyThe Nature Kids are welcomed. They meet Harvey, who shares his experiences getting to know his new special place – the students are going to visit the very same natural outside play places this morning!

Food Break (approximately 10.15am)

Exploring Harvey’s Backyard at PEECA series of fun ‘explore and discover’ activities helps ease the children into this new environment. The Nature Kids agree to take care of the Tiny Teddy’s and show them how to speak and act with respect while they are playing outside.

Food Break (approximately 12.15pm)

The ‘Reused Play Place’!The children share their discoveries with Harvey who is pleased to hear that not only did they do a great job of caring for his favourite outside play places, they also convinced the Tiny Teddies to become Nature Bears like him and showed them how to Speak and Act with Respect. Harvey invites the Nature Kids to visit the wonderful Reused Play Place where, inspired by Harvey the second-hand Op Shop bear, the PEEC team have made everything from things that could have gone to landfill like him. The Nature Kids are encouraged to play safely and respectfully in any of the activity areas. These include cubby houses, dress-ups, a puppet theatre, a cooking area, squishy mud walk, treasure dig, sand play, tap-dancing, music-making.

Toilet and Drink Break

Concluding the DayThe children reflect on their experiences. What have they learnt about being Nature Kids who Speak and Act with Respect to their play places and everything in them including themselves and others? Can they share their discoveries with the Tiny Teddies? How can they help others enjoy playing inside and outside?


Transport Times and Arrangements

Program Start Time: 9.15am

Program Finish Time: 2.00pm

Transport Details: Transport is NOT required to stay as this program takes place in the PEEC grounds

Please confirm the above details with your bus company.

Photocopy the map below and bring it for your driver.

• Follow Moggill Road through Kenmore and towards Moggill. You will pass the Rafting Ground Reserve on your left.

• Continue along Moggill Road until you see Grandview Road. Turn right and continue past the Pullenvale State School for approximately 2 kilometres.

• Pullenvale Environmental Education Centre is on the left. 250 Grandview Road, Pullenvale 4069 Phone: (07) 3374 1002

DIRECTIONS


Pullenvale Environmental Education Centre is committed to maintaining a safe, healthy and supportive environment for our staff and our visiting students and adults.

It is our expectation that we will all work together in pursuit of Pullenvale Environmental Education Centre’s vision:

Connected Teachers Growing Connected Learners

Central to this vision is our way of working, which is displayed, discussed and enacted with all visiting students and adults:

Speak and Act with Respect: to Self, Others and Place

Following this way of working in addition to specific safety instructions given throughout the day helps to keep us all healthy, safe and happy and allows us to respectfully manage student behaviour.

Health, safety and wellbeing is everybody’s responsibility and we ask all visiting students and adults to:

• Wear closed-in footwear, comfortable weather appropriate clothing and a hat

• Apply insect repellent and sunscreen at home/school prior to your visit and bring your own to reapply if necessary.

• Wear large, clearly written nametags that are easy to read at a distance (see your Teacher Resource Booklet for more detail)

We also request visiting teachers to:

• Complete an Excursion Information Form (emailed to you approx 1 week prior to your excursion; please return by email three working days before excursion) to notify PEEC in advance of any important information about visiting students or adults and how they can be supported (ie. Special needs, medical conditions, allergies, learning styles, mobility, behaviour, anxieties etc). This information may require PEEC to make adjustments to the program which need to be planned in advance.

• Complete a Class List (emailed to you approx 1 week prior to your excursion to bring along with you on the day of your excursion) with any important information about visiting students or adults attending the excursion. Please discuss this information with your PEEC teacher as soon as you arrive on the day of your excursion.

• Prepare to become involved in the day and enjoy yourself. This models that it is OK to imagine, pretend and have fun.

• Prepare your parent helpers to be actively involved in the day too and ask them NOT to bring younger siblings.

Health, Safety and Wellbeing Policy


Pullenvale Environmental Education Centre (PEEC) is committed to the health, safety and wellbeing of our staff and our visiting students and adults involved in curriculum activities both at PEEC and at off site locations. All programs at Pullenvale Environmental Education Centre are shaped around a spirit of adventure and fun. Taking controlled, informed risks is part of this experience, just as it is part of everyday life.

This risk management process at PEEC has been carried out in accordance with legal requirements (Workplace Health and Safety Act 2011) and to align with the Department of Education and Training Policy and Procedure Register.

A Curriculum Activity Risk Assessment Planner has been completed for every program delivered at PEEC. Curriculum Activity Risk Assessments have been completed for all curriculum activities deemed to be of a Medium risk level. PEEC currently does not deliver any curriculum activities deemed a high or extreme level risk.

All curriculum activities at PEEC have been thoroughly planned to ensure that staff and visiting students and adults will be safe whilst undertaking the activity. Each program features a safety talk specific to that program and activity. Any potential risks have been identified and managed and there is a planned response in case of an emergency. In the event of adverse climatic conditions, programs will either be adapted accordingly or postponed (where possible). The visiting teacher will be notified of program postponement on the morning of the excursion.

All teachers at PEEC are experienced in supervising visiting students and adults across the range of activities we provide and hold current senior first aid certificates. When taking visitors away from the centre grounds, all PEEC teachers will carry with them: a First Aid Kit; a class list containing details of any relevant important information; and a mobile phone.

Curriculum Activity Risk Assessment Planners and Curriculum Activity Risk Assessments particular to the program you are attending are available on our website at www.pullenvaeec.eq.edu.au. The information contained within these documents will assist you to complete Department of Education and Training Policy and Procedure Register, One School Excursion Planner (domestic travel) template or the paper-based Variations to School Routines to make your visit to Pullenvale Environmental Education Centre as safe and enjoyable as possible.

Please contact us on 3374 1002 for further information or to answer any queries you have.

Curriculum Risk Management Policy


Teacher Notes:

CHAPTER THREEConclude the PEEC Story and Reflect on the Students’ Journey

as Nature Kids


ESSENTIAL STEP 7:Conclude the PEEC Story as Nature Kids

Recap the excursion day and then work together as Nature Kids to write a letter or email to the fictional Tiny Teddies.

Recap the excursion day together, individually or in groups. For example:•• Divide the excursion day into key moments. Working together, or in small groups if the children

are able, create a freezeframe for each key moment. View the freezeframes as a rolling presentation, as if you are viewing the excursion day on fast--forward (for more information on the freezeframe technique, see page 30). Freezeframes could be photographed for display.

•• Create a class book, poster or display incorporating any research material, artwork or photographs that were produced or collected during the excursion.

•• Jointly compose a written recount.

Activity: Reflect on the Characters from the Story and their Relationships to Each Other and their Place

On the excursion day, what new information did the students learn about the key characters from the story (Harvey and the PEEC teachers) or what new insights did they gain?

Guiding Questions:•• What do you like about Harvey, the Tiny Teddies and the PEEC teachers? Why?•• How would you describe their relationship with one another?•• How would you describe the connection they have to their place?•• How are they different to one another? How are they similar?•• How are you different to Harvey, the Tiny Teddies and the PEEC teachers? What do you have in

common with them? •• Are any of these qualities that all ‘Nature Kids’ (or Bears!) share?

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Activity: Recap the Excursion




Begin by discussing the following questions with your students:

•• All good story adventures have a problem. What problem did you help to solve during your visit to PEEC? (The students helped the Tiny Teddies to become Nature Bears like Harvey.)

•• How did you solve the problem? Why was it important for you to help?

You did a wonderful job of showing the Tiny Teddies how to have fun and be safe when they’re playing outside. They are just beginning their journey as ‘Inside/Outside Nature Bears’. Harvey and the PEEC teachers are a little worried that the Tiny Teddies might forget all the wonderful things about being outside and how to be ‘Inside/Outside Nature Bears’ who ‘Speak and Act with Respect’. They have asked us if we could write the Tiny Teddies a letter!

We know we’re all pretending together that the Tiny Teddies can talk, understand us and play, but…

Let’s imagine we could write to them! What would you want to share with them?

What do they need to KNOW about being Nature Bears’? How would you like them to FEEL?

What could they DO as Nature Bears’?

Please work with your students to discuss the questions above and then finish the letter to the Tiny Teddies on the following page (one whole-class letter, not individual letters). While the students will want to recount facts about the excursion day to the Teddies, also help them to draw on their experiences throughout the three chapters of their Storythread journey, including the discoveries they have noted on their Role-on-the-wall drawing for Nature Kids. Above all, ensure the students’ passion and voice is communicated through their writing.

ICT Challenge: Can we be Nature Kids and also have fun with computers? Why not make a PowerPoint for the Tiny Teddies with ideas about how to enjoy being Nature Bears outside? You can email it to PEEC to share with Harvey, the Nature Teachers and the Tiny Teddies. We’d love to see what you can do.

We would appreciate it if you could please note the teacher’s name and school on your letter or email to the Tiny Teddies and send a copy (along with copies of the students’ illustrated Nesting Model posters from page 80) to:

The PEEC Teaching TeamPullenvale Environmental Education Centre

250 Grandview Road, PULLENVALE QLD 4069

[email protected].

Activity: Write a letter or email to the fictional Tiny Teddies ON

Please Note:In order for PEEC to meet its accountability requirements within Education Queensland we are now collecting a range of feedback data from visiting students and teachers. We would very much appreciate your help in assisting your students to complete and return the letter as part of our ongoing feedback and assessment processes. It would be ideal if each child contributed.

Dear Tiny Teddies,

We loved meeting you at PEEC. Please don’t forget, Nature Bears’ know that…

When you play in nature, you feel…

Some things we like to do in our outside play places that you could do too are…

From,

Dear Nature Kids,

Thank you so much for writing to us!

You have helped us remember all the wonderful things about playing in nature and how to be Nature Bears who ‘Speak and Act with Respect’.

Maybe there are others out there who need your help?

Who else could you talk to about how to be a Nature Kid?

Your friends,

The Nature Tiny Teddies!

Conclude the story by arranging for the letter from the Tiny Teddies below to be delivered to your class

(Please photocopy & cut along edge for use)


Activity: Use Uncle Ernie’s Framework to Reflect on who the Students are as Nature Kids

Uncle Ernie Grant is an Aboriginal elder from the Tully area who has developed a framework to use with Indigenous and non-Indigenous students (please see page 78) that can help them understand their relationships to each other, to the land and to place.

Indigenous communities have a holistic view of their world, which incorporates the vital link between Land, Language and Culture (p. 51).

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people look at the whole picture and identify relationships and links within it, whereas their western counterparts often focus on the detail of the individual parts without

considering their possible interaction with others (p. 52). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Handbook

We have found Uncle Ernie’s Framework to be a wonderful and very flexible tool for reflecting on students’ personal connection to place as Nature Kids and their developing understanding of the connections between self, others and place.

Work with your students to use the framework on page 78 to reflect on who they are as Nature Kids (please see page 79 for an example).

Resources:• My Land My Tracks: A framework for the holistic approach to indigenous studies

is reproduced in its entirety in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Handbook and can be downloaded from the Learning Place at http://learningplace.com.au/deliver/content.asp?pid=39505.

• There is also a short video explaining the framework at http://mediasite.eq.edu.au/eq/Viewer/?peid=c0f1f6fb-b305-4c1f-a541-06d0d8706d25.

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ESSENTIAL STEP 8:

Reflect on and Celebrate the Students’ Journey as Nature Kids

Use the activities provided to assist the students to reflect on their journey as Nature Kids and the insights, knowledge and understanding

they have gained.

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Activity: Complete your Nature Kid Role-on-the-wallThroughout their Storythread Experience the students have been adding to a Role-on-the-wall profile that lists their discoveries about what it means to be an Nature Kid. • Complete the Role-on-the-wall adding any new ideas that have arisen

throughout Chapter Three discussions and activities.• Now use the Role-on-the-wall to create a set of criteria for Nature Kids:

• Work with the students to circle the ten qualities listed on your Role-on-the-wall that you all feel are the most important for Nature Kids.

• Next, turn these ten qualities into a series of questions e.g. attentive to nature on the Role-on-the-wall becomes this question - Am I attentive to nature?

• The students can then assess their progress as Nature Kids by answering the questions. This could be done either using check boxes, or as a verbal or written activity in which the students must justify their answers.

Students could also reflect on the following questions:• What are your strengths as an ‘Nature Kid’? • What would you like to get better at?• When will you reach the end of your ‘Nature Kid’ journey?

Activity: Assist Students to Reflect Individually on their Journey as Nature Kids by creating a Speak and Act with Respect Poster

Following on from the Role-on-the-wall activity and reflection above, please arrange for each student in your class to create an illustrated Speak and Act with Respect poster as requested by Harvey and the PEEC Team. Students could start with a blank page or you may wish to use the template provided (see page 80):

As ‘Nature Kids’, we have been practising a very special rule for playing: Speak and Act with Respect (to your place and everything in it). It would be wonderful if we could do as the PEEC teachers and the Tiny Teddies suggested, and share this rule with others. Harvey and our PEEC teacher showed us the poster that Harvey had been working on. Maybe we could try creating our own to help other children understand what it means?

We would appreciate it if you could please send copies of your students’ work (along with a copy of the students’ letter/email to the Tiny Teddies from page 76) with the teacher’s name and school noted to:

The PEEC Inside/Outside Nature TeamPullenvale Environmental Education Centre

250 Grandview Road, PULLENVALE QLD 4069OR

[email protected]. (Please see page 69 for more information about data collection at PEEC.)

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CHAPTER FOURRespond to the PEEC Story as Nature Kids and Make Life Better in

Your Place


ESSENTIAL STEP 9:Lead the Students to Create an

Nature Kids’ Plan for Their PlaceBrainstorm with the students all of the ways they could, as Nature Kids, take

action to make life better in their place and then create an Nature Kids’ Plan for your place.

The students have gained knowledge, understanding, strengths and skills. Ideally, they have also connected to their place through attentiveness and reflection. If they were to continue to develop all of this and be true to it, imagine what they could achieve! They really do have the ability to make life better in their place, particularly if they work together as Nature Kids.

Guidelines for Your Chosen ProjectIdeally, the project will:

• Be student-led. The students need to make a commitment to act in a positive way for their own natural environment. They can demonstrate this by working together to generate a list of possible projects (from the simple to the fantastical), developing their ideas and then implementing their chosen project(s).

• Make life better in your place.We encourage sustainable choices and behaviours that “begin at home” but also links these choices with the national and global pictures for a sustainable world. Speak with students about the global, well-publicised issues, but then bring the discussion back to them and what is happening around them. How can they help to promote environmentally sustainable thinking, values and practices in their place?

• Link students with their immediate and wider communities. How can the class communicate with others about what they are doing? Why would this be a good thing to do? Who would benefit from knowing about the project? Who could help? Consider drawing on local experts to inform and guide your project.

• Reduce your Ecological FootprintA great starting point – True Green Kids: 100 Things You Can Do to Save the Planet, Kim McKay and Jenny Bonnin (2009) ABC Books.

Above all, your project needs to be realistic and achievable. It could be as simple as...Creating a Reused Play Place in the classroom

or Taking parents on a guided tour of the students’ favourite inside and outside play places.

You could even share the letter or email the students wrote to the Tiny Teddies along with their illustrated Nesting Model posters via a display or a presentation on assembly.

Other things to consider:•• How can the class work together as a team to make this project work? •• What skills do they already have which can be encouraged and built upon? •• What new skills will be needed to meet the goals of the project?•• How will the project be self-sustaining? Who will manage it in the future?•• How are other children making life better in their place? There are a number of

websites with stories of ‘kid heroes for the planet’ and ‘young eco-heroes’.


Improve the schoolgrounds. You could…• Plant native trees and plants.• Streamline your recycling system.• Generate water saving initiatives.• Clean up the schoolgrounds and address

the littering issue.• Help to start a school garden and

‘learnscape’.• Rejuvenate part of the schoolgrounds. Your

local Council Catchment Coordinator might be able to help.

• Work with an expert to identify significant native flora and fauna in and around the schoolgrounds and how to care for it e.g. through nesting boxes, or weed identification and eradication.

• Identify small gardening projects such as neglected areas under stairwells or unused garden beds.

• Conduct a school-wide survey to assess which parts of the school are liked or disliked and why. Create a wish list of changes and devise a code of conduct that would make learning and play spaces sustainable for all concerned including people, plants and creatures. How could this code of conduct be discussed and implemented?

• Find out about projects that are already underway or in the pipeline. E.g. by speaking with the school principal, a representative from the P & F association or the school environmental club.

Communicate what you have learned and about your project. You could…• Set-up a display or hold an exhibition of

student art – the art could be auctioned to raise money for your project.

• Create a map of the schoolgrounds and display the map. The map could identify a variety of different uses e.g. quiet places, good bird-watching spots, possum trees, native plants or ‘hot spots’ that are over-used and in need of care and attention.

• Hold an information session for parents and community members. The session could incorporate a presentation about the story, a sharing session about the project and a nature walk in the schoolgrounds with the students as guides.

• Create and display posters around the school and local community.

• Create a class book. It might be a children’s storybook that could be shared with students in another year level.

• Prepare an item for the school assembly e.g. rewrite the words to a well-known song, write and perform a play, or make a movie.

• Prepare a brochure, magazine, newsletter, article, letter or information report. How could this be distributed and to whom? E.g. publish it in the school newsletter, organise a letter-box drop in the local area, or present it to the principal.

Examples

Discover more about your local area. You could…• Find out about community groups such as your local catchment group and projects that the

students could support or participate in.• Discover more about the environmental history of the area - invite local community members to

share their stories and then perhaps publish some of the stories.• Invite local Indigenous elders to speak with the students.• Investigate a local area of environmental significance e.g. a forest, park or waterway.

ESSENTIAL STEP 10:Support the Students to Take Action for

their Place as Nature KidsSupport the students in carrying out one or a number of the environmental actions on

their Nature Kids’ Plan.


Our Favourite Resources and ReferencesPicture books

• Armstrong, S (2002) If the World Were a Village,NSW: Allen & Unwin• Baker, J. (1992) Window, London: Random House Children’s Books.• Baker, J (2004) Belonging, London: Walker Books• Base, G. (2006) Uno’s Garden, Camberwell, Victoria: Penguin Group.• Child, L. (2008) Look after your Planet, London: Puffin.• Cheng, C. (1997) One Child, Flinders Park, South Australia: ERA Publications.• Cook, J and Crosby-Fairall, M ( 2011) My Little World, South Australia: Omnibus Books• French, J. (2010) The Tomorrow Book, Australia : HarperCollins Publishers • Mathews, P. (2009) Something About Water, Australia: Scholastic• Metzger, S. (2007) We’re Going on a Nature Hunt, New York: Scholastic Inc.• Morgan, S., Kwaymullina, E. and Bancroft, B. (2009) Sam’s Bush Journey, Surry Hills, N.S.W. :

Little Hare Books.• Oktober, T. (1991) Bush Song, Rydalmere, NSW: Hodder and Stoughton.• Randall, B. and Hogan, M. (2008) Nyuntu Ninti (what you should know), Sydney : ABC Books.• Seuss, Dr. (1971) The Lorax, London: Collins • Silverstein, S. (1964) The Giving Tree, London : Snake Eye Music• Strauss, R. (2007) One Well: The story of water on Earth, Sydney: ABC Books..• Toft, K.M. (2005) The World that we Want, St Lucia, Queensland: University of Queensland

Press.• Tonkin, R. (2006) Leaf Litter: Exploring the mysteries of a hidden world, Pymble, NSW:

HarperCollins.• Wheatley, N. and Searle, K. (2007) Going Bush, Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin.• Wheatley, N. and Rawlins, D. (1987) My place, Melbourne: Collins Dove.• Wheatley, N. (2011) Playground, NSW: Allen & Unwin• Zed, B. (1997) Mr Green’s garden, Flinders Park, South Australia: Era Publications.

Reference texts• Atkinson, L. (1993) Life in a Rotten Log, St Leonards, NSW: Allen and Unwin• Bone, E. and Pratt, L. (2009) Recycling Things to Make and Do, London: Usborne Publishing

Ltd. • Crook, S and Farmer, B (2004) Just Imagine: Creative Play Experiences for Children under Six,

Australia; Tertiary press• Crook, S. (2004) Just Improvise! Innovative Play ideas for children under 8, Australia: Tertiary

Press• Queensland Museum. (2007) Wildlife of Greater Brisbane

Storythread

• Egan, K. (1988) Teaching as Storytelling, London: Routledge.• Tooth, R. and Gulikers, S. (2006) The Pullenvale Storythread: Education for sustainability

through arts based inquiry learning, Pullenvale, QLD: Pullenvale Environmental Education Centre.

• Tooth, R. and Renshaw, P. (2012). Storythread Pedagogy for Environmental Education. In Terry Wrigley, Pat Thomson and Bob Lingard (Ed.), Changing Schools: Alternative ways to make a world of difference (pp.113-127). London, England, U.K.: Routledge.


Environmental Education • Australian Sustainable Schools Initiative – http://laptop.deh.gov.au/education/aussi/aussi-

school/• Children and Nature Network – www.childrenandnature.org• Kids’ Place Maps – www.kidsplacemaps.wa.edu.au• Kids Teaching Kids - www.kidsteachingkids.com.au• Thomashow, M. (1995) Ecological Identity, Cambridge: MIT Press.• Ungunmerr-Baumann, M. R. (2002). Dadirri: A reflection by Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr

Baumann. Retrieved from http://nextwave.org.au/wp-content/upload.dadirri-Inner-Deep-Listening-M-R-Ungunmerr-Bauman-Refl.pdf.

• Louv, R. (2008) Last Child in the Woods: Saving our children from nature deficit disorder, 2nd edition, Chapel Hill, North Carolina: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.

• Tooth, R., and Renshaw, P. (2009) Reflections on Pedagogy and Place: A journey into learning for sustainability through environmental narrative and deep attentive reflection. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 25, 95-104.

• Renshaw, P. and Tooth, R. (2018). Diverse place-responsive pedagogies; Historical, professional and theoretical threads. In P. Renshaw and R. Tooth (Eds.), Diverse Pedagogies of Place: Educating students in and for local and global environments (pp.1-21). London: Routledge.

• Tooth, R. and Renshaw, P. (2018). Pedagogy as advocacy in and for place. In P. Renshaw and R. Tooth (Eds.), Diverse Pedagogies of Place: Educating students in and for local and global environments (pp22-44). London: Routledge.

• Tooth, R. (2018). Pedagogy as story in landscape. In P. Renshaw and R. Tooth (Eds.), Diverse pedagogies of place: Education students in and for local and global environments (pp45-69). London: Routledge.

Drama in the Classroom• Cusworth, R.A. and Simons, J. (1997) Beyond the Script: Drama in the classroom,

Marrickville, NSW: Primary English Teaching Association.• Ewing, R.A. and Simons, J. (2004) Beyond the Script: Take 2: Drama in the classroom,

Newtown, NSW: Primary English Teaching Association.• Neelands, J. (2000) Structuring Drama Work: A handbook of available forms in theatre and

drama, 2nd edition, Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University Press.• O’Toole, J. and Dunn, J. (2002) Pretending to Learn: Helping children learn through drama,

Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Education.

Thinking Tools• Wilson, J. and Wing, J. (2008) Smart Thinking: Developing reflection and metacognition,

Carlton, South Victoria: Curriculum Corporation.• Kath Murdoch - Kathmurdoch.com.au

Websites• Atlas of Living Australia - ala.org.au• ABC - http://www.abc.net.au/science/• Aus Identities - www.ausidentities.com.au• Australian Native Plant Society - http://anpsa.org.au/• Brisbane Catchments network - www.brisbanecatchments.net.au• CSIRO - http://www.csiro.au/en/Portals/Education.aspx• Gould League Environmental Education - http://www.gould.edu.au/• Planet Ark - www.planetark.org.au


Aboriginal Visions of the Land

To gain a sense of the complex Aboriginal visions of the land, we recommend the following resources:

YouTube Clips

• Bob Randall, a Yankunytjatjara elder and traditional owner of Uluru (Ayer’s Rock), explains how the connectedness of every living thing to every other living thing is not just an idea but a way of living. This way includes all beings as part of a vast family and calls us to be responsible for this family and care for the land with unconditional love and responsibility -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0sWIVR1hXw

• This Land is Mine - Aboriginal connection to land summed up in this Paul Kelly song from the movie One Night the Moon - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qok6YM3E1z8

•• Miriam Rose Ungunmerr Baumann, Dadirri . This video shows how deep attentiveness in nature allows for peaceful connection to country. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkY1dGk-LyE

Websites• Creative Spirits – Meaning of Land to Aboriginal People http://www.creativespirits.info/

aboriginalculture/land/meaning-of-land-to-aboriginal-people

• Department of Education WA - a series of lesson plans for SOSE - http://www.det.wa.edu.au/aboriginaleducation/apac/detcms/aboriginal-education/apac/lesson-plans/society-and-the-environment.en?oid=com.arsdigita.cms.contenttypes.CourseUnit-id-9476373

• The Queensland Museum’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures Centre - http://www.qm.qld.gov.au/Find+out+about/Aboriginal+and+Torres+Strait+Islander+Cultures#.WgpOWRNL8Q8

• Uncle Joe Kirk - Indigenous Stories

http://mediasite.eq.edu.au/mediasite/Play/5d61a01e492f469ca1d29223314ee79d1d

•• The State Library, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Languages - http://www.siq.qld.gov.au/resources/atsi/languages

Books• Randall, B. and Hogan, M. (2008) Nyuntu Ninti (what you should know), Sydney: ABC

Books.

• Wheatley, N. and Searle, K. (2011) Playground: Listening to stories from country and from inside the heart, Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin.

• Wheatley, N. and Searle, K. (2007) Going Bush, Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin.

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