Cleaning Up Our Wetland

Cleaning Up Our Wetland

Written by Anna Porter Photography by Michael Curtain

Cleaning Up Our Wetland Text type: Personal Narrative Level: J (18) Word count: 527 Content vocabulary birds bushes clean ducks flowers frogs grasses habitat insects nest pelicans polluted reeds roots seeds shelter trash trees water water lilies water plants weeds wetland Curriculum links • Science: Habitats, life cycles • Social studies: The environment – taking action

Cleaning Up Our Wetland

Key concepts • An animal’s habitat has everything required to meet its needs.

• If a habitat becomes polluted, many animals and plants are affected.

Reading strategy • Recognizing the sequence of events in a personal narrative Paired book The Baby Swans

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Photographs on pages 4 and 5 (background), 5 (main), 6 (bottom), 6 and 7 (background), 8 (left), 10 (far left), 12 (far left), 16 (far left), 18 (far left) 20 far left) © Ngothyeaun, 15 (top right) © Braendan Yong, 12 and 13 (background) © Photoboykane, 14 and 15 (background) © Shupei Zhang, 10 and 11 (background), 16-19 (background) © 2007 Ron Chapple Studios lofoto; pages 9 (top right), 10 (bottom right), 12, 14, 16, 18, 20 (all Dreamstime); pages 9 (bottom left) Anders Sjöman, 11 (bottom right) © Maryunin Yury Vasilevich, 11 (bottom left) © FloridaStock, 11 (top left), 12, 14, 16, 18, 20 (all bottom right) © Graeme Knox, 20, and 21 (background) © lofoto, all from Shutterstock.

Thanks to Katrina, Nancy, Gabin, Christopher, Alexandra, Ivanhoe Primary School, Waterwatch, and the Darebin Creek Management Committee.

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Written by Anna Porter Photography by Michael Curtain

Contents What a mess!

4

What do we want?

8

A lot of work!

12

Getting the news out

20

A note from the author

24

What a mess!

The wetland near our school was a mess. It was full of trash and the water was polluted.

Our teacher told us that the wetland used to have lots of birds in it.

Many of the birds left the wetland when it became polluted.

We decided to clean up our wetland.

4

Week 1 5

First, we had to pull out lots of weeds.

We put these weeds into a big bag.

We had them taken away so they would not spread their seeds into the wetland.

Then we picked up all the trash.

We sorted it, put it in big bags, and had it taken away.

We took a sample of water from the wetland and put it in a jar. We had the water tested to see how polluted it was.

Week 1 6

Week 2 7

What do we want?

We wanted the birds to come back to the wetland, so we found out what these birds need for food and for their habitat.

We found out that ducks need to eat water plants. We found out that some birds, like pelicans, need to rest in big trees. These birds use reeds from the water to make their nests.

Week 1

8

Week 2

Week 3 9

We also found out that swans use reeds to make their nests on top of the water.

They like to dive under the water to dig up the roots of plants to eat.

We hoped that when the wetland was clean, frogs and other insects would come back to it. The birds in the wetland eat these animals.

Week 1

10

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4 11

A lot of work!

We selected plants that we knew the birds and other animals would like to feed on or shelter in. Then we took these plants to the wetland.

We dug holes for the plants. We put on rubber boots and gloves. We put the plants in the holes and tied them to sticks so that the plants would stand up.

Week 1

12

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5 13

We planted water lilies in the shallow water.

We planted reeds close to the water on the banks of the wetland.

We planted some grasses and small bushes that would have lots of flowers around the edge of the wetland.

Week 1

14

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6 15

We planted some trees near the reeds.

We wanted to have a place where birds could rest at night.

We hoped that the pelicans would come back to the wetland.

We hoped that the swans would use the reeds to make nests in the middle of the water.

Week 1

16

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7 17

We put up labels with the names of the plants on them.

Then we took photos of the plants and the wetland and we checked these photos against the photos of the polluted wetland.

We also took new samples of water to see how much cleaner the water had become. We did this to check how much the wetland had changed.

Week 1

18

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7 19

Getting the news out Then we made a poster to explain how we had cleaned up the wetland.

The poster said which plants we had chosen for the wetland, and why we had chosen them.

The poster also asked people not to feed the birds at the wetland, as they now had lots of plants to eat.

Week 1

20

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8 21

Our wetland looks so much better now.

We can’t wait to see which birds will come back to live in it.

22

23

A note from the author This book is based on what a group of children did in a wetland near where I live. I used to go and watch them as

EARLY EMERGENT STAGE

EMERGENT STAGE

EARLY STAGE

TRANSITIONAL EARLY FLUENT STAGE STAGE CHAPTER BOOKS

FLUENT STAGE CHAPTER BOOKS

Level I (16) Paired books Motorcycles

A New Job For Stan

wetland and replant the types of plants

When Lions Hunt

Rory’s Dance

Ouch! That Hurts

That’s Not Funny, Charlie!

Flamingos

Ruby in the Middle

Animal Smells

Angus Cleans Up

Sticky and Dangerous Plants

Looking After Scotty

Amazing Snakes

The Snake Olympics

Living Near a Volcano

Volcano Alert!

Nadif’s New Life

Gasari’s Herd

Message Sent

Saving Dad

animals or food for them to eat.

I loved to see all the birds returning to the wetland. I kept notes of what the children did each week in my journal,

FLUENT PLUS STAGE CHAPTER BOOKS

Level A Level B Level C Level D Level E Level F Level G Level H Level I Level J Level K Level L Level M Level N Level O Level P (1) (2) (3–4) (6) (8) (10) (12) (14) (16) (18) (20) (24) (28) (30) (34) (38)

they worked hard to clear up the that would provide shelter for the

24

FLYING START TO LITERACY

Level J (18) Paired books To the Rescue

Super Sam

so I thought the calendar was a good

Surviving in the Frozen Forest

How Moose Learned to Swim

idea to show their efforts over time.

You Can Make a Difference!

Save the Sea Otters!

Desert Elephants

Brother Elephant

My Soccer Journal

The Leaping Lions

Fun Food to Make and Eat

The Queen’s New Chef

Deep in the Sea

A Deep Sea Adventure

Cleaning Up Our Wetland

The Baby Swans

Ice Swimmers

The Lucky Fishing Hat

Robots Today, Robots Tomorrow

Robots Run Wild

Flying Start to Literacy: Level J (18)

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