Landcare 4 Youth

Trees In Newcastle offers  Landcare 4 Youth to Lake Macquarie schools and youth groups on behalf of Lake Macquarie City Council.

Nature Watch

“If you know what is taught by plants and weather, you are in on the gossip and can truly feel more at home.” - Gary Snyder 1990

Nature unfolds with the seasons. Have you noticed that Fruit Bats start to visit when the days lengthen? Or the first call of your local Koel when it returns from migration each Spring?

Trees In Newcastle invites you to discover the cycle of the seasons by recording nature in your backyard, school grounds or patch of remnant bushland.

We hope that by deepening your connection with nature here in the heart of the city you will find a renewed commitment to the daily work of sustainable living.

Happy Nature Watching!

Education Resources

Visit our Resource Library for a wealth of downloadable information and education tools for teachers and students, and Landcare volunteers:

  • Booklets on local vegetation communities, bush regeneration basics, nursery operations, making frog ponds and bushtucker gardens.
  • TIN Topics information sheets on the use of local native vegetation for various planting projects.
  • A Naturewatch Journal for observing and recording.

 

Learnscape ideas

  • Themed area– bush tucker , bird &/or butterfly attracting, wetland &/or frog pond, worm farm &/or composting garden
  • Problem area-observe a problem such as erosionand workout a solution. Discuss the effects upon thenatural order of things and how it might be controlled or prevented.
  • Sensory area- students use only one ortwo senses at a time, eg. Sight, hearing, feeling, smelling and tasting.
  • Minibeasts area- small rockpiles, soil, leaf litter,are homes to many a minibeast
  • Rotting Log Area-By introducing a rotting logstudents can discover food websas the log breaks down.
  • Tree area- observe and record the features of a forest. Tree height,species,canopy cover, dominant species, natives versus exotics.
  • Art Area-sketches, tracing leaf shapes, leaf prints, using natural things as a medium. Create environmental characters based onnature.
  • Food web area- tracing of food webs starting with one natural thing. Discover the interactions and inter-dependency between living things.
  • Sunlight/Shadow area-investigation of sunlight/shadow patterns at various times of the day.Study the effect on vegetation patterns,temperature and humidity.

 

For more information please send us an enquiry.