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What on earth is the spiral shell?

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The WildLife Movement
Rockpool Programs

On the day

60-minute
incursion

Our incursion programs aim to introduce students to the natural world in a fun, hands-on way by giving students the opportunity to meet our live marine invertebrates. Each incursion program is aligned with the NSW curriculum to ensure that we cover relevant content for your students. Our incursion programs come with a completed risk assessment to keep your students and our animals safe, as well as a permission note template to make organising the incursion easier for teachers!

For the Term

8-week
program

Our 8-week in-class programs complement the students experiences in the 60-minute incursion in a deeper way. Each of the 16 lesson plans have been written to align with the content of the 'Living World' strands of the NSW K - 6 Science and Techonology Syllabus. Each lesson will be guided by short 3 to 5 minute videos which will guide students through their learning activities, which include writing tasks, worksheets, class discussions, research questions and design problems.

Lasting Impact

Sustainability initiatives

Our Stage 1 and Stage 3 programs give students the opportunity to bring nature back to their school yards. In Stage 1, students investigate the needs of a living species found in their local environment and then use their knowledge to help to rebuild habitat for that species. In Stage 3, students work together to implement sustainability initiatives in their school and in their community. Both of these activities are designed to show students that their actions can create a lasting positive impact on their local environment.

8-Week Program
Overviews

Our Rockpool Programs cover the 'Living World' strand from the NSW K -6 Science and Technology Syllabus through the following activities:

Early Stage 1

Unit Description

This unit aims to teach students about what plants and animals can be found in Rockpools on the New South Wales coastline, as well as the features, needs and behaviours of those living things. Students will also learn about how these plants and animals are used as food or fibre by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and society at large. Students will gain an appreciation of why rock pools are special and the importance of looking after them.

Unit Structure

Week Lesson A Lesson B
1 Introduction to rockpools Low Tide vs High Tide
2 Living things have needs Introducing rockpool plants
3 Introducing sea snails Introducing sea slugs
4 Introducing crabs Introducing hermit crabs
5 Introducing sea stars Introducing sea urchins
6 Introducing anemones Introducing Octopus
7 Introducing fish Introducing birds
8 Discussion of why places are special and how people care for them Recreate a rockpool

Stage 1

Unit Description

This unit aims to teach students the living things found in Rockpools found on the New South Wales coastline and why it is important to care for them. Students will learn about the features, growth and reproduction of the plants or animals found in rockpools, as well as how these species can satisfy our needs for food and fibre. Students will also learn about the reasons that rock pools change over time and about the important role that they play in the care of our natural places.

Unit Structure

Week Lesson A Lesson B
1 Introduction to rockpools Activity: Natural / Manmade features of rockpools Animals in Rockpools Activity: List 3 features of each type of animal
2 Grouping Animals Activity: Assign animals into groups based on their features Growth of living things Activity: Match animals to their babies
3 Needs of Living Things Actiivty: List the needs of plants and animals based on where they live Design an environment Activity: Design an environment to support the growth of a plant or animal species 
4 Plants and Animals as Food Activity: Create a list of plant/animal products the children use as food/fibre Plants and Animals in Aboriginal Culture Activity: Create a list and compare these to the list from the previous lesson
5 Sustainably using plants and animals Activity: Write definition for sustainability and list sustainability practices Caring for places Activity: Brainstorm + write 3 actions students can take to help care for places
6 Native and Introduced Species Activity: Identify native and introduced species Return of a living thing Activity: Brainstorm ways to get the animal back and write a sentence about the class plant/animal/solution
7 Researching the needs of the living thing As a class, students can research the needs of the plant/animal, organise resources or do the work (e.g. planting, cleaning) Project Time As a class, students can research the needs of the plant/animal, organise resources or do the work (e.g. planting, cleaning).
8 Plant/Animal Artwork Activity: Artwork of plant or animal that students are aiming to return Follow-up and evaluation Activity: Reflect on the outcomes, improvements and lessons learned from the project

Stage 2

Unit Description

This unit aims to teach students about the plants and animals found in Rockpools along the New South Wales coastline and the ways in which people value these environments and how they can have a positive impact on them. Students will learn about the classification, lifecycles, survival and reproduction of these living things. They will also learn about the importance of natural resources to the environment, animals and people and the ways in which people can sustainably use resources to ensure that these environments are healthy and thriving.

Unit Structure

Week Lesson A Lesson B
1 Why do people value environments?
Activity: Write about your favourite place		 Group Living Things
Activity: Group living things from a video based on their features
2 Lifecycles
Activity: Investigate the lifecycle of a plant or animal		 Living things depend on others
Activity: Examples of independence
3 Importance of natural vegetation
Activity: Brainstorm benefits of natural vegetation		 Protecting places
Activity: Compare ways to protect places
4 Sustainable farming
Activity: Research sustainable practices		 Advanced Farming Techniques
Activity: Discussion of techniques in line with sustainable practices
5 Reducing Waste
Activity: Class discussion of ways to reduce waste		 Introduce Future Farms project
Activity: Assign teams and roles + Brainstorm ideas for the future farms
6 Project time
Students can research farms, create resources or develop presentations		 Project time
Students can research farms, create resources or develop presentations
7 Project time
Students can research farms, create resources or develop presentations		 Project time
Students can research farms, create resources or develop presentations
8 Presentations
Activity: Students deliver presentations of future farms to the class / school		 Follow-up and evaluation
Activity: Reflect on the outcomes, improvements and lessons learned from the initiative
 

Stage 3

Unit Description

This unit aims to teach students about the ways that the physical conditions of an environment influence the survival of the animals that live there. They learn about the adaptations that allow individuals to survive and flourish in response to changing physical conditions over time. However, there are some environmental changes that living things will be unable to respond to and students learn how these environmental changes can be managed and who has a responsibility to manage them.

Unit Structure

WeekLesson ALesson B
1

Find the right living conditions

Activity: Match animals to their living conditions

Adaptations (definition + examples)

Activity: Behavioural vs Structural adaptations table

2

Impact of changing conditions

Activity: Causes and consequences of environmental change table

Managed Environments (definition + examples)

Activity: How are environments managed and why?

3

Farm to Sale

Activity: Identify and sequence farm to sale

Plants and animals support our health

Activity: Design a healthy meal

4

Sustainable practices

Activity: Brainstorm sustainable practices 

Introduce sustainability project

Activity: Brainstorm school/local sustainability initiatives

5

Planning the initiative

Activity

- What are you planning?

- What are the steps in the process?

- Who do you need to help?

- What resources do you need?

Researching the problem / solutions

Activity: List of problems/needs that your solution solves/addresses and the benefits that it will provide.

6

Produce a pitch

Activity: Produce a written, audio or video pitch to supporters/partners

Project time

This can be used to organise the initiative, develop resources, promote the initiative, etc.

7

Project time

This can be used to organise the initiative, develop resources, promote the initiative, etc.

Project time

This can be used to organise the initiative, develop resources, promote the initiative, etc.

8

Project time

This can be used to organise the initiative, develop resources, promote the initiative, etc.

Follow-up and evaluation

Activity: Reflect on the outcomes, improvements and lessons learned from the initiative

The WildLife Movement
Rockpool Programs

  • 60-minute Rockpool incursion ($300 value, 6 hours work)
  • Gardening supplies for Stage 1 program ($50 / 1 hour work)
That's over $3100 and 64 work hours of value!!
Program Price: $12.50 per student*

*Note: Minimum of 24 students per booking (i.e. minimum cost = $300 per booking).

About The WildLife Movement

At The WildLife Movement, we are passionate about reconnecting children with nature and encouraging them to positively impact the world around them. By giving students the opportunity to get up close to our marine animals and the experience of creating a psotive change in their local environment, we hope to inspire students to create positive change in their communities and work towards a positive vision for the future of our natural world.

Our Past Reviews

Nathan is highly engaging as a presenter and having the live animals for viewing was extremely exciting. You could see that Nathan was highly passionate about his talk which had an effect on the children being motivated to learn about the marine life. Teachers are very well catered for post incursion as Nathan extends his support to answer questions and supplies learning materials for students to look at after their experience. These things are all curriculum aligned and again, act as an engaging tool for students to use the information gained from the incursion in the future.

Kate Dickson

Teacher at
Smithfield Public School

The children had an absolute blast. The Wildlife Movement was very informative and the kids enjoyed getting to hold the sea life. We even received a lovely email from Nathan regarding some follow up answers to some interesting questions the children had.

Breanna

Coordinator at
Kids United OSHC Gledswood Hills

It was a really awesome activity. Nathan ran it so well and had such a good range of creatures for the children. You could tell that he had been working with children before this. Our kids really enjoyed it and were talking about it after, he even stuck around for a bit to sit and answer all their questions which was so lovely.

Sarah

Coordinator at
COSHC St Paul the Apostle

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