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Sustainability is practiced widely in our school and local area.
– WOW/BOW days: Walk on Wednesday/ Bike on Wednesday is a whole school initiative where the children are encouraged not to come to school by car. The classes collect points if they use the initiative and the winning class per term will receive a prize from the principal. The prize is often sustainable as well such as a walk to our local café for hot chocolate etc.
– Polytunnel: Our 2 ASD’s classes plant, grow and sell lots of different produce from our school polytunnel. Teachers and parents support their sales and the money is used for resources for their classrooms.
– Green school’s committee + student council: When we were awarded the hot lunch scheme this year our in school committees came together to ensure we had proper bin/disposal facilities for the new food coming in. These were presented in assembly and are uniform over each classroom to ensure everyone is on the same page!
We are aware that there is always room for growth and development in these areas and one thing that has struck me across all modules on this course is teaching children to be label aware. I wonder could our student council create posters for display on what the different food labels show and represent. We could have a ‘trolley dash’ with some of our senior children to find Irish, local, sustainable products as suggested in a previous module. Some of our middle classes could create meals from the produce we grow in our polytunnel, over July provision this year we made crisps from our potatoes and the children were surprised by how easy the process was. We are lucky to live near a town with a thriving farmer’s market scene and I wonder would some of our local people visit us to show how their products are created sustainably.
I found this module to be the one of the most interesting and engaging so far. I consciously try to be more mindful of what I am consuming in terms of the journey it has had from farm to fork. A lot of the points raised in this module have opened my eyes to considerations that I had not given time to. For example, I had heard that many Irish people are lacking in vitamin D but had thought the only way to increase this was through supplements and did not know that salmon was a good source of this particular micronutrient.
I teach at the junior end of the school in my context and visual aids are so important. I was really taken when reading about the ‘eye spy’ in the supermarket game, I was considering ways such as using food magazines, supermarket websites etc to make this game adaptable to a mainstream setting. Referring to salmon as ‘brain food’ also resonates with me as I find it important to teach the functions of food in an age relatable manner.
Learning about the MSC and ASC labels was new to me, this is definitely something I will be mindful of when doing my own shopping and would be a very useful label for the children at the senior end of the school to be aware of as well. It is so important that children are active consumers and are aware of what they are buying/eating.
I agree with Niall that food studies and nutrition education is important at every stage.
One thing I have found when teaching SPHE etc is that the information can be quite inaccessible for younger children. I have used visuals to reinforce what nutrients are important for different body functions which I find helpful for allowing the younger children to relate. I have also used this strategy when teaching about different carbs/grains to highlight how the same name doesnt equal the same function e.g. bread etc.
Having spent time looking at the ARC lessons, the one that resonated most with me for my context was be lesson 2; the nutrition of seafood. I think it’s so important to teach children the origins of their food, the nutritional content of their food and the chain of production involved in making and producing their food. We want children to become active and aware consumers and to teach them to question and understand their nutrition. I would use this lesson to expand their understanding of the nutritional content of seafood – protein, vitamins/minerals etc.
There is great scope for cross curricular links using this lesson as a stimulus. I have a special curricular interest in drama and literacy and would be interested in linking these.
Literacy: I would ask the children to design menus using words/pictures and have them come up with innovative ways to write the food description to appeal to different audiences. E.g. could we put salmon fish fingers on a children’s menu? Could we offer mussels as a free treat for children to try?
Drama: I would have them act out different restaurant scenarios such as a customer who didn’t wish try something new, interviewing the chef at the restaurant, having the chef explain the food origins to the waiters etc. I would use techniques such as freeze framing, teacher in role etc to have the children discuss how they would feel in these scenarios.
I really agree with promoting a positive understanding of nutrition through education. By providing clear, child friendly information our pupils will develop self-awareness and autonomy in a healthy way around food, fuel and the origins of their nutrition choices.
Hi Muireann,
I agree with you that this map highlights the urban sprawl and is a really good visual for teaching how there was unfortunately been more of a move towards bigger cities and away from coastal areas. The fact that this is being actively reinvigorated is so encouraging!
I feel like this module took an interesting slant when teaching about national aquaculture. It not only focused on the Geography of our aqua farms but also the communities and families that we support when we buy fresh, local and Irish. In a time where people are becoming more mindful of their personal consumerism, I think this module highlights the importance of teaching this concept to our children in schools. We have often used the ‘farm to fork’ analogy in our school when asking the children to plant, grow, harvest and eat from our school polytunnel. This module provided resources which would help us go one step further and explore our national sea life. This module highlighted the importance of the marine industry along the coastal parts of Ireland and as someone teaching in a small school in Kildare I do feel the impact that these producers have nationally should be shared. I really enjoyed learning more about the Killary Fjord and I think this particular section could be brought alive in the classroom and would create a very interesting SESE project.
This has been such an interesting introduction to this course! I was so intrigued to learn about the ARC, this is not a resource that I knew existed and the thought and innovative energy which has been put into the aesthetic of it is next level! I really think having the layout of the material being opposite to a typical classroom delivers on the ‘wow’ factor and would have children engaged immediately! It is immersive experiences like this that our children remember.
I am teaching in a rural Kildare school while a lot of our children could relate to farming in a ‘typical’ sense I feel that they could benefit hugely from learning about aquafarming. We have a lot of canals on our doorstep, our families would spend weekends fishing and boating and I really think oppurtunities to access resources such as the ARC will deepen their understanding and experiences. We are also very aware of making learning accessible to all and have strived in recent years to always present material in different ways. I know how well some of our audio/visual learners would respond to the VR headsets and cinematic experiences which the ARC offers. I also think including the opportunity to sample seafood would challenge and excite the children and those who may be more hesitant would be spurred along by seeing peers experience the food for the first time as well!