The Pre-Primary students investigated “nature in our community” in Semester 1. Their beautiful garden inspired inquiry about plants, insects and spiders. With a morning walk to Harrington Waters and a whole day at Lake Richmond students were keen to investigate further. In PP1 the students displayed a keen interest in lizards, but when some tadpoles were introduced to the classroom their focus of inquiry quickly changed to be all about FROGS! This inquiry project included investigations about the environment frogs need to survive and thrive.

Students learnt about local frog’s diet, language and special features. They created plans to build a frog lake in their playground. With incredible support from the Early Learning Centre teachers and the local Carramar Coastal Nursery a beautiful environment has been created in the ELC garden. In addition to this the links with Indigenous culture and language were incorporated into learning experiences, with a great appreciation for the land, native plants and Noongar language. We were successful in receiving a government grant from Partnership Acceptance Learning and Sharing (PALS) to assist in the construction of our ‘Mia Mia Kooya Kep’ which translates to home, frog, water in Noongar.

Students in PP1 presented to an audience of over 80 people who assembled for the grand opening. They spoke about God’s creation, the importance of acknowledging the original Indigenous land owners, our special tadpoles and plants that we want to respect and look after. We hope they love growing in our garden! We also look forward to adding some art work and signs to our area in the near future. This has been a wonderful project of inquiry that our students continue to enjoy.