[Una Halpin]

Hi Kelly

It is great that you have included lots of time for preparation and discussion into your activity. Learning about the purpose of Dark Sky places and about those that already exist in Ireland is a good start as it will help the children to understand the purpose of their project. Highlighting the different forms of light pollution and the problems with them is also good. You mentioned ding lots of roleplay and discussion as preparation and this is also very positive. Having discussed the issues and done some roleplay in advance, the children will be better equipped to get into character and think about the creation of their Dark Sky Place from a number of different perspectives.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Edel

I love the idea of setting up a weather station in your sensory garden and making the most of it by getting different classes to record different aspects of the weather. Creating a whole school display on the wall would really add to this project. Adding the weather proverbs and a section on Ireland’s climate would be a lovely way to tie it all together. You could even add some graphs of long term climate patterns and get the children to write their own explanations of weather and climate to add to the display.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Colette

I hadn’t heard of Dún na Sí before and I’ve just looked up the website. It looks like a place I’d love to visit so thank you for highlighting it. You have outlined a lovely mix of activities there all inspired by the history, heritage and amenities of the park and encompassing a wide range of curricular areas. I particularly like that you have used a blend of the natural and man made features as inspiration including the engineering design project of creating a zipline.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Niamh

Assessing pupils prior knowledge using a KWL chart or other means is always a nice way to start a lesson, especially with greenhouse gases and climate change where both children and adults have so many misconceptions. Allowing discussion based on the Paxi video will help to explain some of the science and also help to counter the misconceptions they may have. Allowing them time for free exploration of the TEAL tool is a great idea but you might want to start with a simple demonstration for the whole class or by having a few specific tasks either for the whole class to complete or for groups who need a little extra guidance on how to start exploring the tool.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Marian

I like your approach here. You yourself have watched Home and gained valuable information and insights into the problems we face on Earth with Biodiversity collapse and water shortages and have used that information to design practical activities to introduce the concepts to your pupils in an accessible way. I particularly like your idea for a water saving game. I’m sure the children will enjoy completing the tasks and challenging themselves but will also learn a lot from the experience.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Eoghan

Art and music can be great ways of opening up discussion on the night sky and the differences between what the artists saw and the children’s own experiences of the night sky.  Asking them to imagine or paint their own version of “Starry Night” based on what they see in the night sky is a nice exercise in thinking about light pollution. They might also consider if the “Starry Night” that Vincent Van Gogh saw would have been similar to the “Sky Full of Stars” that Coldplay were imaging in the song 125 years later when the impact of light pollution was much greater and it was much rarer to see a good display of stars in the night sky.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Andrea

I like you idea of getting the children in groups to research the planets and find the information on the gravitational pull of their planet for themselves as this gives them more ownership of their project. You  might need to spend some time in advance of this or during the research process on making sure that they understand what we mean by gravitational pull and explaining the difference between weight and mass. Asking them to predict whether an object will be heavier or lighter than on Earth will allow you to assess their understanding and work on addressing misconceptions..

[Una Halpin]

Hi Kathleen

That sounds like a lovely lesson with lots of simple practical demonstrations to illustrate both the negative and positive effects that agriculture can have and highlight how we can produce food more sustainably. The demonstration on composting will also benefit them in other ways as it will encourage them to think about what they do with their own food waste. I love the idea of planting a seed and keeping track of it as a follow up exercise and drawing their own idea of their ideal farm will help to draw all of the ideas together.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Niamh

That sounds like a lovely project to carry out with your senior infant class as it is practical and hands on and suitable for their level. Children love exploring trees and bringing them out to local parks to explore, observe, investigate and measure trees will be a fun learning experience for everyone and taking photographs and drawing sketches of what they find is a great way of recording. You might also consider doing leaf and bark rubbings.  If you have the space in your school, it would be a lovely idea for the children to choose a suitable location to plant some native trees as a next step or if you don’t have space for trees, perhaps they could plant some pollinator friendly herbs or flowers in pots.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Michelle

It sounds like you have a lovely garden and are making great efforts to make it wildlife friendly.  It is great that you have registered your garden with the All Ireland Pollinator Plan.  I’m sorry to hear about your Knotweed problem. Make sure to seek expert advice on that one, as it’s tricky to deal with and easy to spread and is one of the more difficult invasive species to eradicate.

It is a great idea to use what you have learned from making your own garden more biodiversity friendly, to benefit biodiversity in school as you will be able to share your knowledge of what you did and what worked well. It would be great if you could also register the school with the All Ireland Pollinator Plan

[Una Halpin]

Hi Conor

I think light pollution has been a problem in our towns and cities for a long time but like you I live in a rural area and it is very noticable in recent years that there is very little darkness anymore. The presence of very bright outdoor lighting around rural houses has become so common and the shelves of garden centres are filled with a huge array of solar garden lights. All of these lights are damaging to human health and wellbeing and disastrous for wildlife, very wasteful of electricity and I find them very distracting and dangerous when driving at night. One or 2 small low intensity shielded lights may be useful for security outside a house but in the majority of cases these lights serve no useful purpose so more education and emphasis on reducing light pollution could as you said bring back the beauty of the night sky and bring benefits to both people and wildlife.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Kathleen

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the Nose High Up in the Sky resource. As you said integration of subjects is key to being able to cover the different curriculum subjects and strands and I’m glad that this resource and others will help you to do that. As you have mentioned, that is the beauty of many of the ESERO and Curious Minds resources in that they offer many opportunities for subject integration but also promote the development of a wide range of STEM  and other skills through inquiry based learning and give you suggestions and opportunities to extend the learning in many different directions.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Sinead

You have some great ideas there for monitoring biodiversity in your school and then using that information to make a biodiversity map to help plan your improvements. If you loom after biodiversity in general, this will also benefit nocturnal species but learning about nocturnal species and considering their needs is a nice touch when making plans. A wildlife camera could be a  nice addition and hopefully a lovely way for the children to see some nocturnal visitors. Just be warned that you may have to experiment with locations and move the camera a few times before you spot something.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Jacqui

That sounds like a great project based on trees with a very practical purpose.  I love the way that you have structured the research projects with each group focussing on a different benefit of trees. It would be lovely if you could incorporate a local walk or field trip after the children have presented their findings so they could look for examples of where trees are helping to prevent soil erosion on a slope or providing shade and improving air quality on a town or city street or spending time investigating the minibeasts that live in or around a particular tree.  They could use what they have learned in their research projects when choosing what trees to plant and where to locate them and then enjoy the satisfaction of planting their trees and watching how they grow over the years. We have planted many trees in our garden and I love to walk around the garden and watch their progress. You might be interested in this resource from the Tree council https://www.treecouncil.ie/the-right-tree-in-the-right-place to help with choosing trees. The resource names both native and non native trees but native trees will often grow better in the space and will always provide the best benefits for climate and biodiversity,

[Una Halpin]

Hi Patrick

That sounds like a fun and engaging lesson on mirrors for your class. You have structured it well with plenty of time for independent exploration and for the pupils to discuss and explain their findings and report back to the class. Integrating with a topic that you have already covered in maths is a great way to revisit the topic of symmetry and demonstrate its practical application which will help to bring maths alive for the children. I also like the prompt idea of the fun house mirrors which is a nice way to introduce the different types of mirrors and demonstrate the difference between plane, convex and concave mirrors and their uses,

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