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I like the idea of green spaces within the school surroundings. Each or our classes plants flowers every year but I like the idea of planting other things to create a ‘green’ space.
Our school is on the coast, literally directly across from the ocean. Climate change is having an impact on the whole country in different ways but those of us that live or work so near the coast will definitely need to educate children about the importance of being more aware of recycling and renewable energy. There has been more rainfall in the past years as well as costal erosion. Three actions that might help slow down climate change are 1. Draw childrens’ attention to the importance of renewable energy. This could be in the form of a survey first on what type of heating they use in their homes or what type of fuel is used in their cars. Our school has recently installed solar panels and we had a discussion about how they work. 2. Cycling to school rather than being dropped by car. We encourage walking or cycling if possible but our school has two weeks of the year where we really encourage children to cycle, walk, car pool or drop and walk to school. Each child who participates gets a raffle ticket at the end of each day and a draw is made before the end of the school day. 3. Turning off lights and devices when not in use at school. Each class has two children who check that everything is turned off at break times and at the end of the day to save electricity. Reducing our carbon footprint on our way to school and then further at school through recycling and being aware of the energy we use or potentially waste at school fits in with our whole school plan.
There are quite a lot of refugees from Ukraine in our community in the past few years. It is a very new situation in our area as we never had any refugees at all ever before now. I think that the community has really welcomed and helped them in so many ways. English language classes were organised with some retired teachers helping as well as teachers from the surrounding schools helping out too. Arts and crafts classes were organised for adults and children. The people living in this accommodation shared their ideas with us too. The other classes that were organised were yoga classes which helped a lot to help people relax. The schools could organise a community day where people share their cultures such as showing the various sport and different foods. These community gatherings will help everyone get along well and really feel as if they are part of the community . It will also help the children integrate more easily into schools when there is a positive attitude in the community.
Hi Nicole. I agree with you. Climate change impacts all of our local communities as well as world wide communities too. Tree planting is something that is practical and simple to do with our students.
I would like to concentrate on Sustainable Development Goal 4 with my class- Education. The focus on equality and inequality in education is something that is so important but also something that most children in our schools might not think too deeply about. It would be beneficial for the children to watch the videos as it would give them an insight into what education is like in other parts of the world. It would show them how lucky they are in Ireland with free access to all. Of course, we have many external factors that can negatively influence childrens’ education in Ireland such as family background and views towards education but they can see how so many children and girls in particular do not have the same opportunities as they do here. The link between education and the lack of a home to live in has been made in one slide. This would be a start for children in our schools. If they are aware that they can start helping in their own local area and then it will make sense to them that they can broaden the help to other areas in our country and then to other countries where childrens’ education is suffering. Something as simple as sending copies and pencils to those who are less fortunate is a good start.
I agree with you Michael. Emma Watson’s video and speech about how we should be defined by our interests rather than gender was inspiring. She is someone that so many of the children will recognise from Harry Potter and many will also look up to and really listen to her.
As shown in some of the videos in this module, gender stereotypes can start at a very young age. The type of toys and the colour of clothes bought for babies and toddlers are just the beginning of this. I have taught junior infants in the past and noticed during Aistear that the toys or stations that many of the children went towards were quite ‘girls’ ‘boys’ orientated. However, this was not the case with all of the class. There were girls and boys who loved the sand box and the construction table as well as a mix of girls and boys who loved the writing station. I think that yes we definitely need to ‘teach’ children about the importance of choosing what you are happy with and not what you might be expected to do or choose. In 6th class now, many of the girls and boys love to play soccer at lunch time but I have noticed that there are particular girls and boys in the class who during group work, go towards the note taking role or the management roll. Boys and girls are both wearing soccer boots of their favourite colour vs what might have been expected of them in the past. I am glad to see that this has not been the majority of children though so I am certain that things are definitely changing. Building confidence in our children to make the choice that suits them is so important as teachers.
In Ehigie’s paper ‘The Role of Global Citizens in Today’s World’, he mentions that we need to recognise our role as a global citizen and that we need to work together with all humans as part of a global family. It is important that we understand our place in society but also the place of others too. Even though other people might have challenges that we do not have, we need to understand that by working together that we can all help one another to face these challenges. Mentioned in the paper too is that to be a global citizen, we must care and empathise with others.
In our classrooms, we can encourage and show children that we need to address global challenges such as inequality and poverty. We could start by doing a short project on global warming and the consequences of it in everyone’s lives. We could make a list of things that we as a class, a school and a community could do to recycle, cut down on our carbon footprint and create a more sustainable lifestyle.I also agree with you when you mention recycling bins in all the classrooms and making sure all the lights and equipment is turned off when not in use.
Our school is located directly across from the ocean and we regularly arrange for different classes to go and clean up and pick up the rubbish from the beach. We also encourage car pooling and walking or cycling to school if possible. It is important that children are aware of what the term carbon footprint really means and how they can try and reduce theirs if possible. If we start with this at school, hopefully they will chat to their family about the importance of keeping our carbon footprint lower. Making sure that the children are aware of sustainability in food is also so important. Bringing food packaging into class and examining the different labels on the packs and looking them up online would be a great lesson for the children. They could then do a project on the different sustainable food labels and symbols and the importance of checking what we buy and eat from the supermarket. This would also transfer to their homes and hopefully influence their food shopping. We also have a vegetable patch at school and the children plant and take care of it during the year. They can see that it is possible to grow food yourself and not have to purchase everything at the supermarket.
Michelle, I like the idea of looking at food labels in class and comparing what nutrients different foods have. Guess the food is a nice idea for class.
This module was really interesting in showing how nutritious seafood is and the importance of eating healthily. The food pyramid can be examined as part of an SPHE lesson. Children could at first brainstorm what they think healthy foods are and create their own chart of foods that should be eaten every day vs foods which should be eaten in moderation. Then we can look at the food pyramid and then at the nutrition found in seafood. This could then be combined with English and Art. They could write about the importance of healthy eating and the nutrients found in seafood. A class survey and then a school survey can be done checking how many people eat seafood and how often they eat it per week. The results of this survey can then be transfered onto a digital platform for parents to look at. Looking up the symbols for the minerals found in seafood i.e. iron would be interesting for the children too. Finally, they can also use the information to create menus incorporating what they have learned about healthy eating and maybe use the menus to perform a role play.
I agree with you Michelle. These videos are child friendly and modern and using the story of the Salmon of Knowledge to link nutrition is excellent.
I enjoyed all of these videos. They are all suitable to be shown and interesting for children in school. I particularly liked the video about oysters, mussels and salmon which shows how nutritious and good for you they are. Our school has a healthy eating policy but I have noticed that not all children really understand what healthy food really means. This video shows how salmon is important for brain development and how the other seafoods have selenium and other minerals and vitamins which are needed for our health. From the past, I have noticed that quite a few children in class do not eat much fish or seafood and this video would definitely make seafood more desireable. The story about the salmon of knowledge is one that the children know but combining the story, the video about Fionn Mc Cumhaill and the video about the importance of salmon in the diet would tie them all together. The STEM policy statement focuses on colloboration and critical thinking and this video and the quiz that follows it would definitely help with this.