From little things...big things grow...
October/November/December 2016

We started out with a group of small eggs and our silkworm have now almost completed their life cycle! We watched as the silk worms continually munched their way through a heavy stream of mulberry leaves and with each devoured leaf, the silkworms would grow. The children marvelled at their growth and we learnt about the best way to care for our new pet. Many children donated homes for the silkworms as we found they would need space to begin the spinning of their cocoons. We now have several cocoons made by the silk worms and we await the emerging silkmoths to come! 

Following this we will see the silkmoths mate and lay more eggs. Stay tuned! 

8th November 2016

​Claire from South Yarra Dental joined us for a session on caring for your teeth and gums. She asked us about how we care for our teeth and some Possums had sound advice and personal stories - “You have to brush your teeth twice a day” “My brother has lost a tooth” are some examples. Claire advised us that the very best way to brush your teeth is to brush up and down and in circles (not side to side as some may assume!). She showed us on Charlie the crocodile and discussed the importance of using the right way to care for your teeth and gums. Claire talked about what is needed to make your teeth strong. We practised good technique on Charlie and all the children were given the chance to have their teeth checked with a report sent home! 

15th - 18th November 2016

The Goanna!  What a creature! Can walk right up walls (very spiderman-like), spends his days lazing around sunning away on a hot rock. Lucky thing!  We explored the Goanna through 2 different dreamtime stories. “Goanna and his Stripes” which explained the mystery behind the goanna’s wonderfully patterned skin. And “Giruwu the Goanna” (via YouTube) a dreamtime story which explores how the water came to be on Giruwu land. The moral of this story centres around the importance of sharing. Dreamtime stories have been very useful in exploring the children to indigenous culture while also focusing on a variety of Australian animals. As we watch or listen to these stories I explain to the children the way Aboriginal people use these stories to explain their beliefs, and that many people have very different beliefs. Indigenous stories are very unique and we are thankful to Aboriginal people for passing on and recording these stories which allows for us to use them today. 

9th November 2016

Get on board everyone, it’s time to explore the goings-on of an UNHEALTHY body! Meet “Bazza” (performed today by our lovely Tracey).  Bazza eats A LOT of junk food - burgers and soft drinks are his favourite and he eats them on a daily basis - PLUS he does not exercise and guess what? His body is suffering as a result! Doctor Fairlie (our drama facilitator for today) SHRUNK us all down so we can explore just what is going on inside Bazza’s body. We snuck in the friendly way - through Bazza’s nostrils - and we found several problems. 

Doctor Fairlie gave us all costumes so they we could perform the actions of : Oxygen, Blood cells, Neutrons and Gastric juices. Bazza’s red and white blood cells (played expertly by some of our possums) were just unable to fight germs. They tried their best but without healthy eating and exercise they were just too weak! (This performance garnered plenty of laughs as the blood cells acting required them to try and fight, but all they could do was fall all about!)  The oxygen was unable to move properly around, it was very clumsy and uncoordinated - because Bazza is struggling to breathe! The gastric juices in Bazza’s stomach were also failing. They were simply unable to break up Bazza’s food properly in his tummy, and this gave him pain in his gut, and he was very sluggish. The neutrons needed to follow the messages of the brain but they just could not cope with the messages and were getting everything wrong.

Following this, the children told Doctor Fairlie the best way to fix Bazza’s poor weak body and thought about what they needed to do to his insides. Lucky our possums had all the right ideas and got Bazza to drink some water and try better to eat vegetables! Bazza was starting to feel much better. We could now see that the oxygen, blood cells, neutrons and stomach muscles were much more able to do their jobs inside Bazza’s body. Bazza’s insides were now working wonderfully together and happy. And the proof was of course in the pudding - Bazza’s POO! As you can imagine acting out this part of the story garnered some amazing performance skills from our Possums and many laughs! We excited out of Bazza’s body and Doctor Fairlie was very impressed with our listening, acting and following directions, and she kindly put us back to our regular size again. Well done Possums!