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I had never heard of the Oyster festival but undoubtedly attracts tourists which has a huge impact on our economy and sustainability.
Ireland’s aquaculture industry has a big advantage because of our country’s long and diverse coastline, which is perfect for farming different types of marine life. Most fish farms are based in rural coastal areas, where they are very important for local communities. As an inner city school, this would not be a huge part of our daily culture so teaching about and recognising the importance of marine life is so important to prevent decline.
Aquaculture provides jobs in places where traditional work like farming or fishing has declined. These jobs range from farm workers and technicians to roles in transport, processing, and research. It also supports other local businesses, such as feed suppliers, repair services, and even tourism.
When managed carefully, aquaculture can protect the environment while also supporting economic growth. This balance helps coastal communities stay strong and sustainable for the future.
In short, aquaculture here in Ireland not only improves food security but also brings new life to coastal areas, helping them remain active and independent. We, as teachers in inner city schools, need to ensure that are students are aware of the importance of aquaculture and sustainability.
Throughout the summer, I have had the opportunity to visit coastal towns with my curious 5 year old child and we have both become interested in aqua culture, sea life and the various aspects of farming (sea and land). Though I teach in a DEIS 1 school and we live in the city, the above has always fascinated me and I loved exploring the topics covered in module. I have found the module very informative and discovering tools such as the NORA site. I imagine my own students would thoroughly enjoy learning about aqua culture, even remotely, and incorporating this topic into STEM science, SESE, literacy, numeracy etc and a virtual friend trip would be very exciting for them!
My class would love the competitions. It’s great that they can be so actively involved and develop a love for science at primary level.
My brother in law is an aerospace engineer and is involved in the creation of a real rocket. We were talking about Time in maths and how important it is while designing and creating the rocket but also in relation to travel. Measures is an important mathematical link/ lesson also but there are definitely so many ways we can link Space to most subject areas.
Space and Aliens
The theme in my first class classroom for the week would be space and friendly aliens.
Reading: I would choose two story books to read this week: The Way Back Home by Oliver Jeffers and My Sister is an Alien. I would read these stories aloud while the children are sitting on their cushions in front of me in a semi circle and I would use an alien puppet to bring the stories to life. These stories can also be watched and listened to on CBeebies with added sound effects which would be an interesting alternative to teacher reading lessons.
Art: the children would create their own aliens using paint, cardboard cylinders, googly eyes, lollipop sticks fabric antennas. They could also draw aliens in their Busy Bee copies if they are finished written activities earlier than their peers.
Drama: the children would take part in role play activities pretending that they are aliens arriving on planet earth for the first time. What do they see? What do they feel? What can they smell and touch?
Writing: the children would pretend to be aliens and write their news in their news copies eg I am from Mars. I have a spaceship. Today, I landed on Planet Earth. I saw humans there.
P.E: the children would take part in playground games based on Space and Aliens eg Warm Up Asteroids and The Alien Dance
Music: The children would listen to the Sounds of Space and The Planet Song. They could also write their own Alien inspired rap in groups and perform them for the class.
Space and aliens could be used across the curriculum and would make for several fun anc enjoyable lessons!
A class plan for space week:
English
Reading: Little Comet (large picture book to be read in a whole class setting) with beautiful illustrations of each planet, the sun, comets and asteroids.
Oral language/ poetry: The children would discuss the solar system and they would listen to and recite a poem called The Planet Role Call.
Writing: the children would write sentences in their copies based on the planets eg Mars is called the Red Planet. They would also get two spellings per night for homework during Spacs Week eg Monday 1) sun 2) moon Tuesday 1) stars 2) planets.
Music: the children could listen to and sing The Planet Song.
Visual Art: the children could create their own solar systems using black card and coloured chalk using an image on the Interactive Whiteboard as a stimulus
Drama: the children could take part in role play activities based on the moon landing and aliens arriving on planet earth.
Science: the children could complete one of the lessons/ experiments from the Milo and Marvin website eg making an Alka Seltzer Rocket
Maths: the children could take part in activities based on 3D shapes (spheres) and sorting activities eg sorting planets based on size eg biggest yo smallest etc.
Gaeilge: the children could listen to and learn the words for different objects within/ parts of our solar system in Irish eg An Domhain, Satarn etc.
History: the moon landing and famous female astronauts
Online resources and tools.
Milo and Marvin: these cartoon characters and their “groovy” experiments would make for very exciting lessons and experiments. I would sort the children into groups and we would read Milo and Marvin’s instructions and make a lava lamp using peanuts, lemonade and jars. Thr children would enjoy watching the peanuts dancing and it would be great to write a recount afterwards during one of our literacy lessons.
Stellarium: I would use stellarium as a star gazing lesson during which we could look at realistic simulations of the night sky, point out and examine the the constellations and learn about the stars in our galaxy. I would use this as a focal point for an art lesson and the children would draw and paint their own constellations.
ESA kids: this is a fantastic resource full of interactive activities, multi media and competitions for kids. I would use ESA kids to teach them about The Big Bang and the birth of the moon. ESA could be used across the curriculam- for oral language lessons, STEM, Visual Art, History, Drama and Gaeilge.
