On Wednesday the 20th of June, Mt. Lawley Primary School was visited by some very SPECIAL guests... The Western Australian Birds Of Prey Academy.

All sorts of students turned up, from the little year ones to the year sevens. Everyone really enjoyed learning about these birds. The most impressive bird must have been the huge barn owl which you can see in the Harry Potter Movies. 

First to show off its special talents was the NANKEEN KESTREL. This particular bird of prey hovers in the sky so if you look high in the sky you might see this beautiful bird!!!

NANKEEN KESTREL
This bird doesn’t weigh much more then a pair of SUNGLASSES!!!!!
Short talons.
It likes to chase things on the ground.
It’s very common in Australia.
Males are smaller (Every type of male birds of prey are smaller then the female!)
It is the smallest bird of prey in Western Australia.

LITTLE FALCON
Once the bird leaves its nest it will be fully grown!
Eats little tiny…BIRDS.
It catches its food with its sharp talons!
Its wings are pointed and very long.
It can travel 190 km per HOUR.
It has very big eyes to see so it can hunt at night!

BROWN FALCON
This bird can travel 220 km per HOUR.
More common in very hot areas.
It loves to eat reptiles and snakes.
Steals other birds nests.
Tears prey with its sharp hooked beak.
Lives up to 20 years.

BARN OWL
It is nocturnal.
If you leave it alone it won’t hurt you!
Ears are hidden under it sleek feathers.
It has fluffy feathers on its feet.
It flies without noise.
It has big eyes to help it see well at night.

BARKING OWL
Barks like a dog.
Its eyes can not move around in it’s sockets.
So it has to move it s entire head.
Huge yellow feet with big talons.
Catches big prey and swallows it whole.
Does not have many enemies.
Has a curved beak.

By Rachel and Rebecca Room 4

We recently had our first Animal Club meeting. We decided on the name for our club - paw pals. At our first meeting we made small bird feeders out of small soft drink bottles and wire. We will hang these in trees around the school to provide some safe, secure feeding places for the many birds that visit our school. Many of our members have also taken home bird feeders to hang in trees around their yards. I recently purchased a cam-corder with seed funding provided from Voiceless. We are currently working on some scripts for some animal care and protection short videos. The children are really excited about this. 

Piggy Hats - Last week at our Wednesday meeting on the 20th June, Clifton Hills Primary School Animal club began designing and making piggy hats.

Mrs. Stoakes, one of our animal club leaders, had prepared the hats so that animal club members were given hats that looked like pigs.  Each hat had ears, a nose and a little curly tail.

Some of the Piggy Hats that we created in our Animal Club this year.

Animal Club members then chose the Piggy Message that they liked the best (from our brainstorm the week before) and wrote this on the peak of their cap.Then animal club members decorated their hats however they wanted. We are going to wear our hats, with our piggy masks and deliver our messages at the assembly item we are going to present to the school.

The hats look really Kool! and they have some very good Piggy messages on them that we hope others will learn from.

Yuluma Primary Animal Club held its annual Animal Gala Day on Thursday 14th June. During a longer lunchtime members organised stalls, games and activities to raise money for the RSPCA. We had planned and prepared for it all term. It was very busy with food, drinks, white elephant stalls, painting activities and sports competitions. We all had a lot of fun and raised $482 which is a record. The RSPCA will receive the money from us at a School Assembly.

White elephant stall at the Yuluma Primary Animal Gala Day

At our weekly Wednesday meeting on the 13^th of June Mrs. Ritchie read to us “All Pigs are Beautiful” by: Dick King-Smith.  This book was a reward out club was given from Animal Club.  It was really good and it told us a lot of stuff about pigs that we didn’t know.

After the story Mrs. Ritchie showed us a piggy hat and told us that all of the Animal club members at Clifton Hills would be making piggy hats to show how we felt about pigs and some of the problems they face.

Animal Club members learn new and interesting facts about pigs

Then we all brainstormed phrases and short sentences that we could put on our pig hats. Here are the ideas we had:

*Give the pigs freedom *Stop pig cruelty it’s not fair *Don’t kill the piglets *No pork on the fork *Pigs are clean and cute *Give pigs a chance *Save the pigs *Knock down walls and stalls *Pigs are like people, they need their space *Pigs are Kool! *If we have life, why can’t pigs? *Let pigs roam free *Even pigs need hugs *Don’t destroy pig’s dreams *Keep pigs off the concrete *Real homes for pigs *Be kind to pigs they have memories

We hope you like our activity update