Wandinong Sanctuary

Today we walked to Wandinong Sanctuary to find out which mini-beasts live in this habitat. The sanctuary had lots of trees, logs, grass, mushrooms, fungus, rocks and damp soil.
The mini-beasts we found in this habitat were -

• slaters
• millipedes
• slugs
• bull ants
• earthworms
• blue worms
• ants
• snails
• witchetty grubs
• butterfies
• spiders
• baby scorpion
• mosquito
• baby fly

While we were at the sanctuary we found out that a family used to live there and when they died they gave the land to the Whitehorse Shire. The family lived there from 1914 to 1972. They planted trees and named them after their children. We also found out that one of their sons lives next door to the sanctuary.
We found out that rubbish can spoil the habitat for the mini-beasts so we now know that we need to protect the sanctuary so mini-beasts can keep living intheir habitat.

What is a habitat?

A habitat is the environment where animals live. It gives the animals food, water and shelter so they can survive. There are different types of habitats -

• oceans
• gardens
• rivers
• soil
• forests
• sanctuaries
• swamps
• sky
• deserts

We are going to explore Wandinong Sanctuary to see which mini-beasts live there. We are wondering what we will find ...

Visiting the Chickens

Our class accepted an invitation from Prep K to visit the chickens in their classroom.
We found out some interesting facts from the Preps about caring for chickens. They told us that the chickens need a lamp to keep them warm and that it is very important to have clean water and fesh food for them.
The Preps also said that they talked to the chickens everyday and that they give them a lot of love!
The chickens will be leaving the Preps soon to go and live on a farm but they have got something special arriving next week. We are wondering what it could be ....
Thanks Preps for inviting us over.

Meet Lilly - Our Class Pet

Our class is lucky to have an amazing class pet. She is a stick inset and her name is Lilly. We all make sure that she is cared for. Lilly needs fresh eucalyptus leaves to eat and we have to spray her twice a day with water. She is a really easy pet to look after.

Wild Action Zoo

Last Thursday Xavier from Wild Action Zoo came to our school. He was amazing with all of his minibeats and his pet lizard! His lizard was called 'Snake'.
Some of the minibeasts that Xavier showed us and told us about were -

• golden orb spider
• bird eating spider
• cockroaches
• yabbies
• stick insects
• scorpions
• millipedes
• centipedes
• hermit crabs
• meal worms

He told us that his lizard loves to eat meal worms!! It was a great incursion because we all got to hold at least one minibeast.

Our Learning Journey

We are learning about minibeasts in our classroom this term. We are investigating the features, habitat and how they can help us.
We now know heaps about bees!

• they have 6 legs
• they have wings
• they have compound eyes
• only the feamle bees have a stingeer
• each hive has one Queen Bee that lays the eggs
• in summer there can be over 20,000 bees in one hive
• in winter the female bees kick the male bees out of the hive because they don't have enough food
• male bees are lazy
• female bees collect nectar
• the female bees flap their wings to make the hive

During this week we are finding out about earthworms. We can't wait to share what we learn about these minibeasts! Stay posted.