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3. Prepare a school project to collect Piseógs/Traditions/Stories of the Night. For Example: Dúchas Folklore Commission
I think this would be a fantastic project that could be led by the students I teach in 5th class with the aim of involving the whole school.
A whole-school project that I initially introduced as part of my final placement in college could tie nicely into this project to collect Piseógs, Traditions and Stories of the Night. At the time, it was to promote Irish. Each class was given an Irish Seanfhocal to explore. Within the class, each child then had to make a poster showing the Seanfhocal and designing it to explain the Seanfhocal. One child was chosen from each class to then show their artwork to the rest of the school at assembly time on a Friday.
For this project, I would involve the pupils in my class from start to end and welcome their input and ideas to collect Piseógs, Traditions and Stories of the Night. I would tell the pupils about the previous project I did and ask them to think of ways in which they could collect information about the night from the whole school, make suggestions on where they could find information and discuss all ideas as a whole class. They might choose to display the gathered information as part of Friday assembly or in a new way. I would the children as a class decide details of this.
Hi Christina,
Great ideas. I like your idea of using a visual checklist with your infants. It’s makes the task accessible to all!
How you would engage your learners to explore biodiversity in your local area and
the possible impacts of light pollution on local biodiversity.I’ll start with a class question and jot some answers on a chart: “What lives around our school and how might our night-time lights change that?”. This is a way to engage the children in the topic.
As my school is in a coastal village, I’d like to plan a walk to explore nearby habitats—school grounds, hedgerows, village green, and the nearby pier. Having the pupils in small groups, I’d give them the time to suggest how we could record our observations and share findings of signs of plants, insects, birds and mammals when we return.
Each group could add their sightings to a shared Biodiversity Map to visually explore our findings. I think a nice idea could be to have one “adopted” spot to revisit weekly and track changes.
To add to our daytime observations and as part of homework, each child could watch for bats and moths near bright lights where they live and document this however they choose.
Back in class, pupils will discuss impacts of light pollution for example; insects drawn to lights (fewer to pollinate flowers), bats avoiding glare, seabirds and migrating birds disoriented, and altered feeding near lit water.
Hi Sophie,
Great idea to link this lesson in with drama as I feel they can really get into character and have meaningful learning experiences.
1. Detail how light pollution is impacting your local area and how you would engage your learners to explore this.
To grab the children’s attention, I read about the use of a ‘Star Box’ to mimic the night sky and show the effect of light pollution. I would prepare a cardboard box to represent the night sky. I’d poke holes for stars, and then use a flashlight to simulate city lights. I would encourage the pupils to see how the stars/holes disappear when the flashlight is turned on, demonstrating light pollution. Without mentioning stars and light pollution initially, I would conduct the activity and ask the children what the box, the holes and the flashlight remind them of.
Pupils will co-design a light fixture map based on the walk to school and I’d like to take the children for a walk to further mark “hotspots” on a village map. I’d have the children in groups and ask them to gather as much evidence about the lights as possible and give them the opportunity to choose how they collect this evidence and how they present it to the class. Back in class, teams compare evidence and discuss sleep and wildlife impacts.
Based on their experience with the ‘Star Box’, their engagement with the light fixture map and gathering of evidence at home and through our walk, I would make links to persuasive writing and for a debate based on the pros and cons of light in the village.
Hi Anna,
Great point about using binoculars. It could add a bit of excitement in the class if they had different supports to rotate and bring home each night!
As a way to initially grab the children’s attention, I would show 2 images of the evening sky one taken from within the city and one from the countryside. In pairs, I would get the pupils to discuss the photographs. Some questions I would ask based on these images are; What do you see? What is the same in each picture? What are the differences between the 2 pictures? Where did I take both pictures from? How do you know?
As the sun still sets quite late in September, it might be more beneficial to observe the planets in October or even better, after the midterm break. During the day, we can research what time the sun is to set and agree to observe the planets maybe an hour or so after this. I could give the children a template/guide to work from and as a class, the children could decide how they would like to document and present their findings to the whole class.
Hi Owen,
Great ideas. One idea I think you had that would be very beneficial is comparing the children’s results to an online sunrise/sunset tracker. It would be validating to them to compare but also give them information on potential websites they could follow up with to track the sunrise and sunset further.
I believe pupil-led learning is so important across all areas of the curriculum to aid in the child’s development as an independent learner. From the very beginning of this investigation, I would rephrase the task as a question to “Why do the rising and setting times of the sun change daily?” In groups, pupils brainstorm what evidence would answer the question. They will be prompted by me throughout to think of reliability, the need for repeating the experiment and ways to make the experiment fair.
Each team will design a mini-investigation: selecting times (e.g., 9:30, 12:30, 14:30), locations, and tools. These will be discussed as a whole class and then we will decide a base set of rules across all the groups. We will agree roles within each group and a fairness checklist.
At each decided time, the designated pupil will measure the shadow tip, measure length and bearing using chalk or other suggested method. I would encourage the use of the IPads to document findings. I would then like to input findings into a whole class excel and display this in the board.
Teams plot shadow length vs. time and bearings on a circular grid , encouraging them to look for patterns and anomalies.
I would then support the pupils in each group to explore their findings and ask questions to themselves about the investigation. Giving each group the choice, I would help them to organise their findings and present to the rest of the class however suits them.
As an extension activity, we could build a simple sundial; make next-day predictions and evaluate each group’s accuracy. We would orally reflect on enquiry skills and propose a follow-up question for a new cycle
Hi Sinead, you made some great points on sustainability and ideas on how to engage the children further on this topic. I also think that getting the children involved through hands-on experiences such as field trips and the introduction of guest speakers would be a fantastic way to spur the children’s interest in sustainable practices in the local area. I love your idea of creating seafood recipes and think there would be loads of integration opportunities from this.
I’m delighted to say that my local area has a supportive community who prioritises preserving the environment and promoting responsible agriculture and tourism. There are many farms in the area that embrace organic farming methods, reduce chemical use and protect biodiversity. We’re lucky to have a brilliant Saturday farmer’s market and restaurants that embrace the “farm-to-table” movement, which not only supports local farmers but also reduces the carbon footprint.
Organising trips to the local organic farms, fisheries, or renewable energy projects would allow students to see sustainability in action and understand its importance for themselves. Classroom projects such as the impact of organic farming on soil health, or the benefits of sustainable fishing practices could engage the pupils to explore sustainability further.
Another way you could engage the pupils further could be by starting a school garden project, where students can grow their own vegetables giving them firsthand experiences of sustainable food production. Additionally, inviting local farmers, fishermen, or sustainability advocates to speak at the school can provide pupils with real-world insights into sustainable living.
Hi Sinead, you’ve made some great points in your post. I also plan to use the story of ‘The Salmon of Knowledge’ in a number of subject areas to enhance the children’s learning of Aquaculture.
Alongside policies and initiatives already in place in my school such as our Healthy Eating Policy, running our daily mile, having active breaks, Food Dudes and playground pals, understanding the nutrition of seafood can be applied in the classroom to promote healthy eating habits and raise awareness about balanced diets. Integrating this knowledge into lessons can be particularly impactful in subjects like SESE, SPHE, PE and overall in the school environment.
In SPHE, teachers can create engaging activities that compare the nutritional content of different types of seafood, helping students understand the benefits of incorporating diverse seafood options into their diets. This could also lead to discussions on sustainable fishing practices, making connections between nutrition and environmental science and linked to the online lessons provided by the ARC.
By integrating the nutritional benefits of seafood into the curriculum, we can empower students to make informed dietary decisions, fostering a generation that values the importance of their health.
Hi Catherine, you mentioned some great ideas there on how you would teach concepts of seafood nutrition in your class. I especially liked your idea of inviting a guest speaker who has real-life experience in aquaculture coming in to speak with the children. I think this is a great idea and something which I think will resonate with the children.