Excursion

Grade 4 Excursion

As a part of their current unit of inquiry about First Nations Peoples connection to Country, grade 4 students had the opportunity to explore our local bush at Darebin Parklands. Led by Indigenous Elder Uncle Trevor Gallagher, learners participated in a spiritual ceremony, and walked the Spiritual Healing trail. Activities throughout the day allowed students to participate in dance, song, and learn about the native plants on the trail. Here is what Lois and Isabelle (4-C) had to say about the day.

Darebin parklands was a 40 minute walk from Wales Street Primary School.

These are all the things we did(in order of events):

1.A smoking ceremony with Uncle Trevor

2.A spiritual healing trail with Uncle Trevor.

3.Then we visited the Gleason centre.

4.Then we had lunch play at 12:50.

5.Then finally we had free play on country while spending time to understand country .

Last week the Foundation students went on their first excursion!

To help explore our inquiry unit How we Organise Ourselves and our central Idea: Communities are made up of different places and people, The Foundation students set off on foot to explore our local community.

In class, the students have been looking at: what a community is, what are the different roles and responsibilities that people have in the community,  and what function do places and people play in the community. So this was their chance to explore it in person!

As we walked around the streets of Thornbury, the students identified some of the places and jobs that they had investigated in class, including hairdressers, mechanics, greengrocers, butchers and cafes. The students also noticed other things that help a community function, some of the things they noticed were:

• the rubbish bins outside houses which led to discussions about how they are collected and whose job it is
• road signs to let people know where to go and how to stay safe on the roads
• trams and buses which help people move around
• churches and halls where people gather  

The students were very excited to point out to each other the landmarks of the local community and the connection they have to it, some of the highlights were pointing out their houses, a visit to Psarakos and meeting the driver of the forklift who use to go to Wales Street Primary!

A special thank you again to all our wonderful parent helpers who came a long and made the excursion so successful!