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With being in the Boyne Valley, one person that comes to mind is Francis Ledwidge. Given that next year will be the 140<sup>th</sup> anniversary of his birth, depending on the class’s age, we could research the man and his life story. We then could examine some of his poetry and work as it relates to nature in the form of birds, rivers, fields and changing seasons. Taking a nature walk around the school as well as the local area, we could go on a senses walk taking note of what one can hear, smell, taste, touch and feel. Back in the classroom, the children could create their own poem called ‘Our Ledwidge Walk.’ TO go with their poem, they could also create a bird’s eye view of the area they explored and add symbols for the things they noticed e.g. a series of dots for flowers, a musical note for bird song etc. This could then be expanded into painting a picture to include all their sense elements or create something from clay to represent their poem.
That is a fantastic idea, CJ. To have such a long lasting project as well would likely give the children a sense of pride in seeing it being created and hopefully outlasting their time in the school. Reusing the bottle tops is a clever way of potentially adding some extra colour. I hope you’d document it or maybe even stick it into the likes of the Intouch magazine to show it off around the country!
This is a lovely idea, Sinead. There is plenty of scope for learning from just 1 particular project. It would be wonderful to have an engineer speak to the class and perhaps even have a look at some of the class’ creations.
In our nearby area, we are near to a river with several bridges along it. The Mary McAleese bridge is near as well as many others along the Boyne. We would first look at images of the bridges nearby or as a teacher, I would take photographs of the bridges so that we could have them in class to compare them to the suspension bridge in Birr Castle Demesne. We would discuss the purpose of each of the bridges, the likely materials used as well as the various shapes and why these bridges are located where they are. Using the likes of Google Maps or similar websites, we may be able to measure the lengths of the bridges. In class we can decide on a gap between 2 tables, for example, and the children would collect different materials such as lollipop sticks, paper, card and Lego as well as possible natural materials such as sticks that may be found on the ground outside. The children would test the strength of these materials by placing them across the gap and then placing an object to be decided by the class on the material e.g. a dictionary. They would then need to plan, design, and create their bridge to fit across the particular gap/ distance assigned e.g. 50-60cm i.e. the approximate equivalent of 2 rulers, depending on the age of the class. They would need to document and explain their thinking and design to the rest of the class when it is due.
What a very detailed plan of action here, Sarah. I love how you have a plan to bring the class out and look at the changes each month. I also agree with your take that not everything should be solely recorded on paper and that you can use anything from photos, to clay to drawings to keep track of changes. If such a project could be maintained by even 1 specific class e.g. every 3<sup>rd</sup> class each school year, what a wonderful timeline of information would be recorded.
An interesting idea to register our garden on the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan. I was not familiar with this prior to the module. I am fortunate to have a somewhat large garden, which is unusual for houses these days. One thing I can do is find and plant some seed bombs in a section of our garden and avoid cutting a section of the grass containing these. Similarly, in a larger area of our school, we could do something like this in our front garden. Our caretaker and principal previously allowed the grass to grow long but had mowed a path through it to make somewhat of a maze. Having the maze made it look purposeful to have long grass growing and not for the space to look like it has been abandoned and uncared for! We can redo something similar now but have seed bombs scattered in the new maze for this year. Then we can register the school and find out what other schools are doing.
For a junior class, perhaps Senior Infants/ 1<sup>st</sup> Class, we would do a bird’s eye map of our classroom. We would look to see where the teacher’s desk is, what shape it is, and then other desks and chairs in the classroom. We could include doors and other key places in the classroom e.g. if there are toilets, a nature table etc. We could draw this on either a large piece of chart paper or on an interactive whiteboard/panel. The children could then help to place an icon where the particular object/feature might go on our map. Taking this outside, the children at this age may not be fully familiar with all the rooms of the school or where teachers are. From standing outside our room, we could point at where the various classrooms are and then upon returning to the classroom, we could overlay the names of the various teachers on an aerial photo of the school from the likes of Google Maps. We could look to see where ‘North’ is and include that on our printed map. Taking more of a walk around the school, we could identify other features e.g our polytunnel, vegetable patch, forest, playing pitches etc.
This is a wonderful activity. The fact that it is done yearly will create a timelapse of a number of years if the maps are kept. Certainly one for our Green Team members to do when we go back.
Liston (2018) argues how STEM education should be integrated into the curriculum. It is not a stand-alone subject, but should be interwoven into learning within a school. Children learn best when they are actively working on a topic or problem. I have found that having this ‘problem’ or investigation have a link to something that occurs in the real world, the children are likely to be more curious about it and want to investigate it. Even better if links can be made that directly influence or affect their own lives, they get very engaged in the task. STEM should involve key deemed 21st century skills of teamwork and problem solving among others, and it should involve some trial and error along thew way too. The children should be encouraged to try something, and if it doesn’t work, or even if it does, how can they improve upon it for a potential next time.
Such a lovely activity, Caitriona. I also liked how building the telescope in school extends to home as well. No doubt a number of children will be up late on a school night looking at the night sky!
Liston (2018) argues how STEM education should be integrated into the curriculum. It is not a stand-alone subject, but should be interwoven into learning within a school. Children learn best when they are actively working on a topic or problem. I have found that having this ‘problem’ or investigation have a link to something that occurs in the real world, the children are likely to be more curious about it and want to investigate it. Even better if links can be made that directly influence or affect their own lives, they get very engaged in the task. STEM should involve key deemed 21st century skills of teamwork and problem solving among others, and it should involve some trial and error along thew way too. The children should be encouraged to try something, and if it doesn’t work, or even if it does, how can they improve upon it.
Very good points, Michelle. Over time, schools have been heavility involved in sustainability programmes and projects. Given the children’s exposure to these and various daily reminders, one would hope that the children have learned sustainable practices for life.
In our school, we have been taking part in Green Schools initiatives and have earned, and maintained, many green flags involving litter waste, saving water, sustainable transport, saving electricity, biodiversity and global citizenship. These initiatives have been going on for so long that they have been embedded into our daily practice. We have different bins for waste, recycling and food waste. As was noted in the past number of months, our recycling bins are the fullest versus waste bins, while our food bins are emptied into our compost heaps in our garden. The senior children are then involved with checking the bins that waste is put into correct bins. Our caretaker and principal use the compost in raised beds and around other plants and trees of the school. Shredded paper is also used as bedding for our school hens and each 5th class is responsible for looking after them. We also have been part of a reforesting initiative. Over 100 native Irish trees have been planted to expand our forest area in a bid to expand and develop the school’s biodiversity. Each class has an energy detective to make sure lights and equipment are turned off when not needed and closing the doors at lunchtime. We also have been very fortunate to receive energy upgrades in the form of efficient lighting and heating systems as well as solar panels, new windows and doors.
Each year, our SPHE plan includes at least one lesson relating to the food pyramid. An activity is to design either a restaurant menu or a daily meal plan to try to include all requirements/recommendations of amounts from the food pyramid. With now learning more about the nutrition of seafood, a focus can now be to include seafood in all meals of the day. Another potential activity can be to have a seafood tasting day, with parental permission and accounting for any potential allergies. In Maths, the children can be surveyed, and perhaps other classes too, to determine things such as favourite seafoods or even how many people have tasted particular types of seafood. Discussions around what many consider ‘brain food’ can happen and discuss whether it might be better to get one’s vitamins and nutrients from food versus taking food supplements. Discuss with the children why such supplements exist though there are natural sources of the likes of Omega 3.