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Climate change is something that is affecting us all. In Ireland we are seeing more increasingly heavy rainstorms and erratic weather – in one week we can wear t shirts and shorts to the beach and yet the next day weather heavy clothes and need an umbrella.
Students can collect and then analyse weather data from the local area.
School garden, where they can learn how to plant and take care of vegetables and fruits, a skill that they can take home with them.
Organise tree planting in the school garden or local area.
Classroom and school recycling, green school initiatives.
To promote renewable energy methods such as solar panels and turbines or windmills which help reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.
Classroom discussions on how to tackle climate change.
Lessons on how climate change is affecting our planet.
Have experts come in to talk to the class/school climate change and use practical ways to tackle it.
Have initiatives such as WOW – walk on Wednesdays, which will help children learn alternative methods to reduce reliance on vehicles.
Have classroom/school monitors who will switch off lights and devices when not in use or not needed. Use energy saving lightbulbs and rechargeable batteries.
Organisations that can help are the Red Cross and the Refugee Council.
In the past some of the schools I have taught in have had refugees and my current school has children from the Ukraine. Along with additional educational supports like EAL hours and resource hours some other ideas that we have used in the past are:
Cultural days so that the families can showcase their own traditions, cultures and experiences. Parents and other family members were invited into the school where they brought in or cooked traditional foods and drinks, dressed in traditional clothes and played traditional instruments. The class children loved this.
Fundraising activities to help families: Toys, clothes, school uniforms and school supplies.
Children were invited to join the local sports clubs: Soccer, GAA, Track and Field etc
A buddy system is a great idea.
In Gaeltacht areas Irish classes were offered for both students and parents.
Hi Christine, I also like the idea of a buddy system. I agree that it can help new pupils integrate and it can develop awareness, understanding and empathy among the class
Climate Action is one topic mentioned in the Sustainable Development Goals. Climate action is an area that greatly affects all of us but especially children worldwide. We might not see the affects as much in Ireland but it is clear to see in many areas throughout the world. Rising temperatures/seas and extreme weather events can greatly impact the ways that children can access education and also threaten their lives through food and water shortage and the spread of diseases through contaminated water.
As teachers it is vital that we encourage our students to support climate change action. This can be done by using project based learning to encourage children to look at local and global issues to inform them about climate change. Simple initiatives like waste reduction, recycling, vegetable gardens and the planting of trees and plants are a great way to get the children involved. Community efforts like litter picking could also be encouraged. Creating posters for initiatives like WOW, Walk on Wednesdays, could encourage children to not become reliant on using transport to get to school. Also having cycling classes to encourage children to cycle to school safely are extremely popular.
Sarah, I agree that quality education is a vital Sustainable Development Goal. Every child should have access to to the same type of education but unfortunately this is not the case.
Throughout my years of teaching I have seen how gender stereotypes affect children. In the lower end of the school girls typically gravitate towards what they perceive as traditionally girls toys/activities and boys gravitate towards what they perceive as boys toys/activities. Very seldom would I see boys playing with dolls or playing dress up; or girls playing with what they consider as ‘boys’ toys like cars, blocks or Cowboys and Indians etc, even when encouraged to try all types of toys and activities. In the higher end of the school it is often difficult to encourage girls to play traditionally male sports and vice versa. Also, when we talk about careers boys seldom choose what are traditionally considered as female jobs like nurses and teachers, where girls rarely choose traditionally dominated roles like scientists, plumbers or carpenters. Development education methodologies can help fight against these stereotypes and try to educate children that they can do whatever they choose to. I also think that by showing children examples of people who have been employed in typically non-traditional jobs i.e. female plumbers, male nurses, female scientists etc, or asking guests to come in to speak to the class can change our students perceptions of what roles they can perform in the future.
Hello Orla, I can relate to what you said. It is very difficult to break the gender stereotype, all we can do is to encourage all the children to try all types of toys.
I think that Development Education helps and encourages our children to learn about the world in which we live in, both nationally and globally. I believe that reviewing the piece, The role of Global Citizens in today’s world, by Ehigie shows us the importance of teaching development education to our children in our schools. Development education gives our children an understanding of issue like climate change and poverty and how these things impact our lives. Having children complete projects on these issues helps them to develop empathy and understanding to problems which might not impact their lives at the moment but may do in the future. It keeps them informed on global and national issues that they might not otherwise be aware of and can help them turn into global citizens who care about what their future will look like. I think that it is vital that all schools help their students learn about and connect with what’s happening in the world around them.
A fantastic idea to set up a weather station in the school, great way to get the children involved and interactive learning
Fiona, your whole plane was great. I especially liked your ideas for PE. Great to get the children to make up games and explain them to the Aliens, sounds like great fun.
My Class plan for Space week would be the following:
English: Listen to the story ‘Aliens in Underpants Save the World’. Discuss what happened in the story – oral language. Write a postcard from a rocket in outer space.
Science: build a rocket – Marvin and Milo Balloon rocket.
Geography: Look at the planets and discuss what they look like, the order/distance from the sun. How long they take to orbit the sun.
History: The journey into space from the 1950s to today.
Maths: Space themed snakes and ladders game, space bingo, space themed worksheets. Blast off game from the TopMarks website.
Drama: Role play: In groups the children are astronauts on a space rocket and land in space – act out what they see, how they move in space.
Music: Space song
Art: Design and build your own rocket using the different materials. Design and build their own planets using paper mache. – Hang these planets so they are displayed in the classroom/school hall.
This lesson would be aimed at the junior end of the school – probably Senior Infants to 2nd Class. I try and read a story to the children at the end of the day so the day before I planned to do the following lesson I would read the story of the Three Little Pigs to them and for homework ask them to go home and discuss with their parents what type of house they lived in and if they had any pictures of their houses that they could share with the class.
The following I would gather the children in a circle and show them pictures of my house and ask them what type of house was? Does it have an upstairs? Is it big or small? What materials is it made of? Etc.
I would then ask them what types of house they lived in?
I would show them the video Mr. Puell – Different Types of Homes – YouTube and discuss the different types of houses shown.
I would divide them into groups and give them a picture of a particular type of house, give them a few minutes to discuss among themselves and then ask them to give a description of their house and reasons why they would/wouldn’t want to live in this house.
To finish I would get the same groups to build the type of houses they were given using Lego and other materials I had gathered for them.
To finish we would look at all the different types of houses the groups built.
This lesson could be expanded to incorporate Science – materials, Geography – houses from around the world? Maths – number of rooms/doors/ windows on these houses, History – houses throughout the ages, Music – Madness – Our House e.g. , English/ Gaeilge – write a description of the house the live in
