[Helen O Sullivan]

This is very interesting. I look forward to doing some research on Walton and Cockcroft and perhaps one day in your suggestions in the classroom.

[Helen O Sullivan]

Module 5

Describe how you would involve your pupils in an art, music drama or creative writing project based around your local natural or scientific heritage

 

We are lucky to have a beautiful Grove and river right across from the school. It was originally the site of the first people: The Deise people: to come to the town now called Bru na Ndeise or Bruff in Co Limerick. This grove has a rath called an Binn Liosin.This is a local natural beauty spot well loved by all. There were ring forts here. They were dwelling places and farmsteads which provided protection from predators for humans and farm animals.

There is so much scope here for the Arts to flourish.

First of all, we will have a great discussion about what we imagine the ring forts were like.

Then we compare what we imagined to pictures of ring forts.

We can discuss the wildlife, the flowers, the trees, the houses, their beds, the river the food the smells, the people, the clothes etc. etc.

Drama would be a natural starting point here. We could create a drama around the people living here /how they lived their daily lives/what did they eat /drink/wash /clean

How did they entertain themselves at night which will lead us on to music and dance

I have an infant class so with our instruments we can create the sounds of the forest and the river. Onto this we can create a dance around the camp fire.

We can introduce tension into the drama by creating a problem: a predator on the attack.

Lots of questioning about how we will defend ourselves/what will we use/who will defend/where will the children be?

Victory: After the people have won there will be a victory celebration with music /dance/food.

Creative writing with pictures and sentences should be a very interesting follow up

Art work will be very dramatic using all the strands;

Drawings of any scene

Paintings; Very vibrant colours will be used

Prints: of leaves and sticks we find in the grove

Construction: Research of fort houses and creating simple structures

Clay: representations of the houses

Fabric and fibre: Using wool strings create flowers and plants pictures

 

 

 

[Helen O Sullivan]

Great ideas here .Love how you introduced the turbines into it.

I look forward to using your ideas .

[Helen O Sullivan]

I teach in a lovely little town with 2 bridges still in use. They are hardly a quarter of a mile apart. It is very unique and they are of great pride in the town. They are right beside what we call The Grove which is the site of the first settlers in the town .

Interest therefore is particularly high as they are well use to crossing over both bridges. We could go on our own trip over both. Discuss both and see how alike they are.

I would allow them to take photos on their iPad.

Back in the classroom we could draw the bridges on their whiteboard. Then we would compare them to the iPad photos. A fun idea would be to allow them to take photos of their drawings on the IPad and then compare them to their IPad photo

I would show some of these on the interactive white board.

By now they have a good understanding and much oral language on the structure of the bridges and the uniqueness of the bridges being so close to one another.

Then we could after all this go on to make our own double bridge with blocks or Lego during Aistear /Science. We would discuss how to hold the arches/the strength at various points needed.  They could insert various objects like strong little boxes /sticks to strengthen the pressure points

They could test the strength of the bridges by running toy cars over the bridges.

The river underneath could be recreated using blue paint on paper.

They would have such fun while using all the vocabulary of engineering

Cross curricular links in great use for

 

Literacy: writing sentences about what they are doing

Gaeilge: Using the word droichead

Maths: estimating how many blocks we need

 

Art; drawings recreating the bridges

History: Learning the history of the double bridges

[Helen O Sullivan]

Yes the Birr castle Demense would  be a resource I would tap into as well.,It has so much in it that can be adapted for any age group .

[Helen O Sullivan]

Module 3 Birr Outline how you would use some of the course resources to conduct a seasonal biodiversity project to run throughout the school year. What resources and recording sheets would you need? How often would you bring learning outdoors? How would you integrate other subject areas?

 

Following on from our map making activity I would use this as groundwork for this lesson. That was an outdoor learning experience and a great introduction to the beautiful plants and wildlife we have in our beautiful Grove which is right across the road from the school. It’s a rich heritage at the school doorstep.

The Recording app is a great idea and it will give the children an accurate picture of what they have discovered. Other resources I would use would be the plant identification app. Both would help children identify the amazing biodiversity on their doorstep.

I know the Grove inside out at this stage so I would have a picture grid of some of the plants they will see and they can tick them off as they come across them. We would then true and write the name of the plants and trees they see. This would link nicely into literacy and writing.

Data recording is how I would link this with maths by using block charts to record how many of each plant they saw. This would be after much Oral language discussion and having built their own block charts as such using hands on blocks.

I love using Irish with the children and we could talk about some of the trees using third Irish names and using terms like ag dul are sirloin as we are heading off on our walk

Art work of course is what would really crown the cross curricular activity. Painting, creating their own mini grove on cardboard, even reproducing clay models and painting the clay wold be a really fun activity.

I love going outside with the children. We have school wellies which the children bring in and I have a supply from past years to make it an all year around learning experience for the children. I would go out at the very least once a week.

 

 

[Helen O Sullivan]

Definitely beginning with local area and using all the language about their locality is a great starting point. Great idea to map their journey to school

[Helen O Sullivan]

Module 2

For younger classes, describe how you would plan and conduct a lesson on map making and explain how you might incorporate some online tools such as Google maps or Geohiveo

This sort of activity is exactly what the Infants would love. It is such a practical and hands on learning activity

We have a Grove across the road from the school. It is the site of the first settlers in the town in ancient times. The children love going over there to wander around the trees and the exotic plants growing there. The river walk is very peaceful.

We would go over and talk about where everything is. We would walk around and take note and discuss where all some trees and plants are in relation to the river On return to class we would map this as a collective on the whiteboard.

We could also use our IPad to take photos to make the activity more interesting.

We could discuss symbols /legend to use to mark the spot of the original settlement.

Yes, I would mention a bird’s eye view aspect of the map but only as a vocabulary word as I feel they might this concept difficult to understand.

When we have this done the children can attempt to draw this map themselves on their whiteboards. This will allow them to have trial and error built into the learning process.

Finally, I would talk about Google maps. By now they have a good understanding of basic mapping and what to look for in a map.

I would bring up the Grove on Google maps and I am certain they will know what they need to look for, compare it to their maps, talk about the photos/videos they have on their iPad and be confident that they have a good understanding of basic mapping.

·

 

[Helen O Sullivan]

I live these resources and look forward to using them in the next school year . They are well structured and seem quite friendly to use. Yes indeed STEM can be daunting so I look forward to being able to use these.

[Helen O Sullivan]

·       Having reviewed the paper Unravelling STEM: Beyond the Acronym of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (Liston 2018) reflect on what STEM education looks like in your classroom.

 

I read the Liston paper on STEM as best as I could as I quickly came to realise that STEM is not what I thought it to be that it was a full focus on Maths ,Science and Engineering but rather a way of thinking and  not just a  a full focus of different subjects  .It also calls upon us to be more aware from more socially informed lens .This is very much the way in which we want the environment to be for the next generation .The earth doesn’t belong to us and we must pass it on in good shape to the next generation .

In the classroom it would mean for me to impress upon my little Senior Infants that if for example we are doing work on building shapes with blocks that this cannot alone be applied across the STEM subjects but that I can bring in a social awareness and environmentally friendliness into it that I may not have thought of doing before,

[Helen O Sullivan]

Transition year is a great way to get teenagers engaged with the Tidy Towns. Even in Primary 5th and 6th class are great ages to start up this process and get them interested

[Helen O Sullivan]

Sustainability in all areas is so important. It’s how we will gift our environment onto the next generation. Thankfully I can see it being practised in many ways in my local community and where I teach.

Locally we have a tidy towns group a fabulous and a nature group. We have a guy who gives lectures on the importance of bees and these are so informative when he is around locally. He goes into the local little primary school. By the time my children were in 6th class they had a wealth of knowledge about wildlife, conservation and sustainability Our little village always looks so beautiful. Teenagers and children are always involved in the summer works around the village.

Then where I teach we have the Green School Committee which are very successful in communicating the sustainability message throughout the school. The children on the committee are taken from every class from juniors to 6th class. With the help of the caretaker we have a beautiful sensory garden and vegetable garden.

Recycling is the biggest and most important aspect of the Green school work in the school. Regardless of the Green Schools theme recycling is always the number one interest in the school. Battery recycling is also a priority.

The future, going forward, is bright for the children in our school.

 

Definitely think and agree with you about jobs at the start of the year. Bin monitors/light monitors /Recycling bins monitors has made a huge difference to our school.

If today’s children continue with this level of awareness well the the future is very bright indeed.

 

[Helen O Sullivan]

Learning about sea food and its rich nutrients is really so important .It’s akin to knowing that putting proper fuel in your car is as important as putting good food into your body

[Helen O Sullivan]

I have always been very aware of putting good fuel food into our bodies. This is as important as being aware of putting good fuel into our cars. I generally find this analogy a great way of opening up the conversation about food nutrition.

Seafood is an area we are as used to talking about. The benefits of sea food are enormous and well worth exploring. To make it relevant and interesting I would approach it by making it a cross curricular activity so as to ensure they got the message!!!!

So much story and rhyme could be used as a stimulus and to awaken interest. The Salmon of Knowledge story appeals to all ages. This will lend itself so well to music /art and drama. SESE subjects are the keystone of this and its where we can now with interest built up hone in on the benefits of sea food. There is so much scope for cross curricular links so that the children can learn as much as is appropriate for their age group.

I really look forward to this form of teaching to ensure the children will benefit as much as possible about the nutrition of seafood

[Helen O Sullivan]

The Salmon of Knowledge is a great story to link to these resources and as as starting point

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