Tag Archives: environment

Plants, trees and forests

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This week, Early Stage 1 and Stage 1 classes are investigating the topic of “Trees” (and “forests”), and relating it back to the fairytales of Hansel and Gretel and Goldilocks, and to previous work on “Autumn” leaves.

Books to be used include Seed to plant by Melvin & Gilda Berger and Trees (Go facts plants series) by Paul McEvoy.

Supporting Youtube video clips will include:


Planting bean seeds


Time-lapse phaseolus runner bean. Hypogeal germination


Acorn to oak filmed over an 8 month period time-lapse

The 2013 CBCA Crichton Award nominee, “A forest” by Marc Martin, will also be a useful resource for this topic. I recently found the following clip on Youtube which carries similar environmental messages. It is an animated short by Aspen Center for Environmental Studies “exploring how forests affect, and are affected by, the forces around them”:


What’s happening in our forest?

Feral and introduced animals in national parks

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Building upon last week’s exploration of feral cat eradication on Tasman Island, here is a Youtube video clip on Tierra del Fuego National Park in Argentina, which has a problem with introduced beavers, originally brought in to create a fur industry in 1946. Ushuaia is claimed to be the southernmost city in the world and now an important tourist center: the departure point for voyages to Antarctica.


Beagle Channel and Ushuaia National Park