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This is a great idea Collette and a great way of having the children in charge of their own learning.
One of the issues around climate change that I would have the class investigate would be around the topic of fast fashion. The question I would pose would be ‘Explore the carbon footprint of the clothes you purchase/online stores you purchase from’. I would ask the children to list any clothes shops they buy from in person or online. We would do further investigation on where those stores source their clothes from, where our clothes go when we dump them etc. From this I would have the children list ways in which we could reduce our clothing carbon footprint, for example rewearing, thinking before we buy (or asking their parents to buy!), donating clothes, buying second hand etc. This lesson would be aimed at 5th or 6th class and the children would be reminded throughout that there is no shame or nothing wrong with the clothes they wear or where they are purchased in order for them to feel comfortable throughout.
I totally agree Áine, I loved looking at the photos on the astronauts had on their flickr and I would definitely use those in the classroom aswell to show the class images from space and have a small insight into the work of an astronaut.
Nose up in the sky –
Activity 1: Looking at weather proverbs is a great way of starting a lesson and also can include links with home where the day before you are carrying out this activity you could have the children ask their parents and grandparents of any older proverbs they know of, then list those in class and compare them.
Activity 2: Using our senses to describe the weather is a fantastic way to create an oral language activity with the class. I would link this with an English lesson where the children would make use of their thesaurus to try and use various words for their descriptions.
Activity 3: Building a weather station and creating forecasts is a fantastic activity that I would use as group work. I would give each group the opportunity to build weather stations and then I would provide each group with an I-Pad so that they could then record themselves carrying out a weather forecast. This activity would probably take nearly a week to complete in full so that at the end of the week I would play the individual weather forecasts for the whole class where they could then self evaluate. We would use the ‘What worked well? What could/would you/we do differently next time?’ method.
Hi Triona I have to agree while I felt the images in the beginning were beautiful there were some clips that I didn’t find appropriate for young children. David Attenboroughs work would be a lot more appropriate in order to not heighten anxiety for the children.
The video ‘Home’ shows beautiful images of around the world. One statement that really struck me was how humanity is only 200,000 years old but we have changed the face of the world. In the beginning of the video we can see how when things were simpler and work was done by hand the earth flourished but then that drastically changes when we see the introduction of oil, coal and gas. The children I teach live in a rural area where many of their families work in agriculture. By showing them this video they can see how things were done years ago. While of course using machinery makes the work easier and completed quicker the children could maybe work together to come up with some small steps that could be taken where maybe they could complete even parts of some tasks without the use of fossil fuels.
The video of Greta Thunbergs TED talk would be a fantastic resource to show the children too as it gives them the opportunity to listen to one of their peers speaking in clear and concise language on the issue of climate change.
This is a really interesting and engaging lesson plan. Following on from the previous activities on weather, climate and being weather detectives I would then ask the children for their prior knowledge of greenhouse gases, make a list of those and then a list of what we want to learn more about them and their effect on the earth. The Paxi video is really well put together for the children to be able to understand and engage with the topic on their own level. Having previously set up a weather station and then becoming weather detectives, noticing patterns in the weather and making future predictions of the weather I feel the children would be better able to approach the subject of climate change. Working in groups they would be able to do small projects on what we as humans are doing day to day to damage the environment, while coming up with ideas around the school in which we could improve. These suggestions could then be brought to the green schools committee to see if there is anything that we aren’t already doing daily.
This is a great layout for lesson Ann. Really active and engaging and I like how you are bringing in ways they can make changes for the wider school community too.
Hi Martina that is a fantastic idea of getting the Green Schools Committee in charge of the weather station as it will bring some pupils from different classes together and encourage them to get their whole class involved.
Having reviewed and completed the activities I can see huge benefits to bringing them into the classroom and I look forward to doing so in the coming year. I love carrying out lessons where the children are active and in charge of their own learning. With the integration links of literacy and numeracy the cross curricular opportunities are endless.
Creating a whole school approach is something I would be interested in as I teach in a relatively small country school. Setting up a weather station and allowing different classes to record the weather over different weeks and then bringing the data together to note any weather patterns would be fun and engaging. I would encourage the children to bring in cups and bottles etc from home in order to try and make some of the equipment for the weather station ourselves which could also integrate the arts into. The infant classes could also make great use of it during Aistear!