The Carrum Indigenous Nursery is currently participating in the Strategic Partnership Program which runs through the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. We applied for a grant which runs over a three year period - we have just finished the first six months - and will complete the program in 2011. 

The  program has been designed by Nursery volunteers to engage Naranga Special students in activities that may lead to an enhanced knowledge of our environment and how to contribute to reducing effects of climate change. Students gain skills that may lead to employment by working in our Nursery and increase their personal development and ability to follow instructions.  The curriculum has been developed to show the students that Math, English, Science and Art are not just classroom subjects but necessary in everyday life. The whole program has to deliver very specific learning outcomes and still be fun.

Over the last six months 8 Naranga Students visited our Nursery every second Tuesday afternoon. During our sessions they were given worksheets to fill out, these were fairly simple and consisted mostly of placing  pictures next to the appropriate wording. For instance they were given a series of  pictures of different types of rubbish and had to paste them under the appropriate recycle bin.  

 Activity 1 

Their first session was to meet the volunteers at the nursery and find out what their jobs involved. They then filled in an attendance sheet - which they had to do each time they came to the nursery. We had a walk around the nursery and looked at all the different buildings and plant holding areas... once back inside they pasted pictures of each building or area onto a big map of the nursery.  This went back to school with them and was put up in the Science Room.  

 Activity 2  

The second unit dealt with Plant Communities. The students had a series of pictures showing a fern gully, forest, grasslands, coast, desert and wetlands and had to put them next to the name on their worksheet. Most had never seen a fern gully, so had a bit of difficulty with this.  We looked at what animals lived in different plant communities...they had four localities, beach, grasslands, forest and wetlands and then had to paste the pictures of animals next to where they lived.

 Activity 3  

Third lesson was looking at parts of a plant. They had a photocopy of a whole plant and had to write the name of each part of the plant next to it.  Leaves, branches, trunk, roots etc.  We went down to the polyhouse where they had to prepare 40 tubes ready to put cuttings in... they had 20 atriplex and 20 pigface. We talked about the fact that the cuttings had leaves and branches, but no roots. They tubed up their cuttings and put their name on their tray.  On the way back to the classroom we talked about what each part of the plant did and then they had to fill in a worksheet that had pictures of all parts of the plant and they discussed and wrote next to each what its function was. 

 Activity 4  

 Lesson 4 was exciting as they got to see their cuttings had developed roots in the two weeks since they were at the nursery. We had a bit of a talk about the parts of a plant again before we looked at seeds and how they are dispersed. Each student was given an envelope of seeds and they had to think about how each type of seed might be dispersed. We talked about wind blown seeds, some that are carried off and buried by ants, some that need to be eaten before they will grow and others that just fall to the ground.  After finishing their worksheet each student then glued nuts and seed pods onto a wooden picture frame which was a Mother's Day gift. They had to follow instructions - put your name on the back, don't tilt the frame until glue is dried - put enough glue to hold the seeds. They all decorated their frames differently and we talked about all the different types of nuts.  As they were tidying up we filled in a poster that had all types of fruits and vegetables on it and they had to say which part of the plant they were eating.  This poster also went back to the Science Room. 

 Activity 5 

Activity 5 was our recycling lesson. I had a fantastic brochure from Frankston Council all about recycling which I used as the basis for this lesson. We went through the brochure and talked about what goes in different bins, then they were each given pictures of garbage and they had to stick them under the appropriate bin on the poster. They found this quite fun. We talked about contamination of recycling material and composting. The lesson was finished off by looking at all the things we reused in our office.... which they guessed was an old recycled classroom.

 Activity 6  

Lesson number 6 was about potting up and packing an order. They chose one of their pigfaces and potted it up into a bigger pot. They had to follow a series of instructions and work on their own. Then we packed an order that we planted on the foreshore the next fortnight. They had a list of what was to be packed in their polybox, the box takes 48 plants, six across and eight down. Students used the photos on their worksheet to identify what had to be put in their box. 12 pigface, 12 club rushes, 6 correa, 6 atriplex, 12 saltbush. They finished this so quickly I had to think of something else for them to do. I decided to stretch them a bit and got them to put small grass plants into a set of 40 tubes. Some struggled with this as their dexterity is not good, others needed help to carry the boxes, they had to work individually and as a team, which they did. 

 Activity 7  

Our second last day together was on the Frankston Foreshore where they planted the order they packed at the nursery. They worked alongside the Frankston Beach Association volunteers and Dan the FCC Ranger.  It was a great day and they got most of their plants in.

 Activity 8  

Our last day was afternoon tea at the school where we evaluated what we had learnt. I know I learnt heaps and the students were presented with certificates to show what activities they had satisfactorily completed over the six months.

Next semester the program will be repeated with a new set of students. Some alterations will be necessary as we won't be able to plant coming into summer.