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I really like how you stress the importance of the Green Schools, sometimes s schools we can be overrrun with committees. It is vital that the Green Schools continues to show children that small changes can lead to big results and the change starts with us.
The Ahare river in Castletown has experienced a lot of changes in conjunction with climate change.
An Oirechatas meeting noted the following:More frequent and severe flooding: Heavier rainfall events have caused the Ahare River to flood more often. When the river overtops its banks, the road near Castletown can become impassable, effectively cutting the village off from the rest of north Wexford. This issue has been raised repeatedly in the Irish parliament and by Wexford County Council.
Higher winter river flows: Climate projections for Ireland indicate wetter winters with more intense downpours. These conditions increase runoff into the Ahare catchment, raising flood risk and accelerating riverbank erosion.
In order to tie in with a lesson, children could look at the river course and how land around the river could prevent the flooding. The children could also look at preventative measures to stop the river flooding. This allows children to see how climate change is affecting them locally.I haven’t heard of this organisation, but I really like the way there are opportunities to link with the school community and allow for awareness to be raised among staff, students and the school community.
A group that works with Ukrainian refugees in my area is called the hub.
Its work includes:Providing donated clothing, shoes, toiletries, toys, and other essential items to Ukrainian families.
Helping people access services such as employment, education, healthcare, and legal information.
Offering translation and integration support for people settling into life in Ireland.
Organising community activities, including children’s programmes, cultural events, workshops, and social gatherings to reduce isolation and help people integrate.
Supporting Ukrainian-language education and maintaining connections with Ukrainian culture through local community initiative.
This hub was and is an essential part of the ukrainian refugees settling into the area. A place where they can go to meet other Ukrainian families and also to integrate within the local community as there are many local volunteers and workshops set up to promote links to the community and provide opportunities for integration. It has really allowed for sharing of cultures and promoting cultural awareness in the area.I really like your idea of a waste audit. This also is cross curricular and can be linked to so many ares of the curriculum, while at the same time having a real impact on the children and creating an opportunity for real life learning.
One Sustainable Development Goal that has a direct impact on children is Climate Action. Climate change affects children’s health, wellbeing, education, and future opportunities both locally in Ireland and globally. In Ireland, children experience the effects of more frequent storms, flooding, and biodiversity loss, while children in many other parts of the world face extreme heat, drought, food insecurity, and displacement. These challenges highlight the importance of helping young people understand that environmental issues are connected across communities and countries.
At a local level children could focus on what changes we could make in order to help. For example more bins for recycling, not just general waste. Water fountains to encourage people to refill bottles rather than single use plastic. Could we have more solar panels in local amenities to create energy such as our libraries, schools, council offices etc. Could it spark up the interest in children to also make a small change in order to create a big impact on our society.
I absolutely agree that from birth we all feed into this gender stereotyping. For me as a mum with a daughter, this is in the back of my mind all the time. She adores building and fixing things yet society deems these toys to be for boys as opposed to girls.
How do gender stereotypes affect children?
In the society we live in today children, especially those who have access to smart phones and devices can access information that is unfiltered and bias. Children are being exposed to some very strong characters online with millions of followers who may be preaching about certain gender stereotypes and what they deem to be the correct way to live. It is vital that we as educators, discuss how to access content online and how to understand what is appropriate for their age also. This also ties in with a home/school link.When children are younger they explore with lots of different toys, as they get older they seem to categorise boys and girls toys as opposed to just toys. I think having access to a variety of toys and materials in our classrooms is very important. Also representation when learning, about space not just male astronauts, look at female ones too. Celebrating sporting achievements of both male and female competitors is also vital for children to see.
I agree completely that the online prescence of certain ‘influencers’ are rotting the idea for children of kindness and compassion. The negativity can sometimes outweigh the god in the world causing young people to think it isn’t achievable unless they are in a position of power.
A central theme of the article is common humanity. Ehigie explains that people are interconnected, regardless of nationality or background, and should work together to promote justice and equality. He also draws on the idea of young people taking action and making a difference in the world.
For me this is something we as teachers should incorporate into our daily lessons. Children should have a voice and agency in their own learning and realise age does not always define if we can take action or not. Children should be able to identify what they see wrong and what changes be it big or small they can do to help change what is happening.
For me this article resonated with me in terms of the interconnected theme and how we are all connected as human beings and that factors such as race, gender, geographical location shouldn’t impede us working together it should enable us to use those differences and make them into a superpower of strength, resilience and unity.
I really like the links you have made to Co. Down here, this really ties in with local/national history. Thanks for this suggestion!
Consider how many Songs / Poems /Art can you think of to connect us with the Night Sky? For example: Look up President Michael D Higgins’ “Stardust”
I have looked at the following examples:
Music:
Coldplay: Sky full of stars
Star Man: David Bowie
Northern Sky: Nick DrakeI would use these three songs to really get the children to analyse the lyrics and make links to the natural world. I would split children into groups and get them to add their own verse to the song they are given. Listen and respond to the music to discuss what they visualized when they heard the songs and allow them to access prior knowledge that may inform their visualisations.
Poetry:
Stars Never Lie: Dustin Hoffmann
Constellation of stars: Zala EjazPoetry can really have an impact as it is a select amount of words that have a powerful meaning. Looking at these two poems we would discuss the themes, meanings and visualizing the images created by the poets. Also the children could then create their own poems allowing them to think about themes and the language associated with poetry.
How you would engage your learners to explore biodiversity in your local area and the possible impacts of light pollution on local biodiversity.
There are so many ways we can incorporate biodiversity within our primary schools setting. I am very lucky to work in a rural school where we have really been putting an emphasis on exploring the natural environment.
Having a ‘no-mow’ area of grass really allows for children to see the bees in action and allows for a plethra of Irish wildflowers to grow and be explored by the children. We are lucky to have a nice size patch but it can be done with any size patch of grass to allow children to explore bugs it also ties in with the pollinator plan and provides ample opportunity to discuss the importance of bees. Also to observe any local rivers/lakes/beaches, I think linking into the local natural environment is so important as the children will be the ones utilizing these natural resources and we want them to do so responsibly. Making maps of local area to familiarize the children with the features really allows them to recognize in depth what is in their area and prompts discussions at home and school on how to protect our beautiful environments.I love the idea of setting up a camera to allow the children to see the wildlife ‘live’ this would be so cool for the children to have access to over the school holidays and after school hours especially when its dark to see what’s happening!
