Stages of growth
Team work
Natural processes and human responses
Scientific measurement and interpretation
Earth structures
Safe practices
Production process
Planning and production of products and systems
Nutrition
Content:
This unit of work is designed to raise the awareness in students that energy:
1. from fossil fuels is a finite resource
2. from fossil fuels is the leading cause of emission in Australia
3. reduction in consumption can make a difference
They will learn:
1. Energy is an essential resource
2. There are renewable and non-renewable resources
3. Human consumption has a major effect upon energy resources
4. We can reduce our energy consumption and lessen the environmental impact
5. Sustainable practices will ensure energy for the future and extend our existing energy resources.
Processes
Students will be introduced to the key components of energy. They will explore the issues of:
1. what is energy and where it comes from?
2. how our actions have an impact on the planet
3. how our energy needs have changed over time
4. what the social and physical implications of energy use are.
5. the inequitable distribution of energy resources across the globe
6. how we can conserve energy and better use our energy resources Read the rest of this entry »
Content
Students will learn about:
1. Global warming and climate change.
2. The opinions and predictions of individuals, governments, countries, scientists, organisations vary depending on needs,
understandings and values.
2. Our modern lifestyle and need for energy is having an effect on our environment.
3. Making informed choices to find a balance to live comfortably and sustainably.
Processes
Students will learn to:
1. Investigate climate change, its history and how scientists collect data to predict future changes to climate in different regions
of the world.
2. Research current views about climate change as well as the processes associated with scientific research.
3. Identify the affect and impact of global warming on different parts of the world.
4. Investigate our need for energy and water and the effects these are having on our environment.
Rationale
By developing an understanding of the essential resources that are required for survival, humans are able to develop a respect
for the various components of their environment.
Through increasing awareness, we are more inclined to take responsibility.
Investigation Into
Increased temperatures, changing sea levels and rainfalls are affecting different regions of the world.
Different theories are proposed by scientists to explain the phenomena of global warming.
Our modern lifestyle has made us very dependent on energy.
We can reduce greenhouse emissions by making informed choices.
Our eco-footprint measures our demands on the Earth’s resources. Read the rest of this entry »
We started with Household waste (what is it? How can we reduce it?), then moved into the 3Rs (including an excursion to the Gould League for 3Rs+C and a visit from the Shire about what happens to the contents of our recycle bin). As a homework task, the students were asked to make something useful from recycling /preloved items around their house (mainly recycle bins) and present it to their class. They are displayed in the corridor outside the staffroom (in case you were wondering what they were!!).
In the second half of the term we have (naturally) moved into composting by making our own individual compost bins, which sit on our tables in the classroom and we have a class compost bin for fruit and vege scraps (contents of which will be added to the JS compost bin in the food garden). Now we are all interested in Earthworms. We have a worm farm in each classroom and the kids are busy observing and finding out more about them. We have a discussion happening on our class Wiki where they are sharing Earthworm facts. Some of the facts and photos are in the Year2 2009 folder on the I drive. When the time comes, we will give our worms to the JS food garden also.
Fascinating Facts
MORE FASCINATING FACTS
EARTHWORMS
• Make garden journals to keep throughout the year (Use a book making technique and include monthly divisions, lined, plain, and graph paper for pages. Provide time to write, draw, record, and glue after each garden session
• MAKE A SCARECROW! Hammer two narrow boards in a cross. Use one of your old shirts, pants, shoes, mittens, and accessories for the body. Head can be an old t-shirt stuffed and rubberbanded. Read, The Little Old Lady Who Wasn’t Afraid of Anything
• Plant a bulb here and there to have some early spring flowers – ‘SURPRISE’
• Transplant a perennial (you might even need to research what they are)
• Plant garlic cloves (one small section will harvest a whole by the end of school)
• Gather seeds from native plants around the school and in the wetlands. Try to identify the seed types. Plant them or use them in a drawing or collage
• Press flowers. Lay a sheet of cardboard on ground. Add two sheets of newspaper. Lay flowers separately and cover with two more sheets of newspaper. Keep adding layers and top off with another sheet of cardboard. Tie up with rubberbands or string and place under something heavy. Try to store pressed flowers in a cool, dry place. Wait ten days then take apart carefully Read the rest of this entry »
Water Week
Sustainability Curriculum Development
Staff will be presented with curriculum documents and websites to assist them in developing units of work based on specific areas of sustainability. Units of work will be created using Electronic Unit Planner. Time should be given to teachers during curriculum meetings.
Food Garden
To do
From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It’ll teach you something, it’ll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.
Jeff and I visited a two local schools to gather information about their sustainability programs.
Of particular interest was Westernport Secondary College. We met with Hannah Lewis (Assist Prin) who is the driving force behind the sustainability program in the school. The school has been very successful in reducing its carbon footprint and in doing so has saved tens of thousands of dollars and won several awards. She showed us a very useful program (SETS which they use to audit and monitor energy consumption. We were rather impressed with it and thought it would be an excellent way to demonstrate how we can work together – students and staff – in reducing energy consumption.
Besides this we looked at their sustainable gardens and observed students actively involved in them.
The School Environment Tracking System
We developed SETS because after years of searching the only energy management programs we could find that were any good were stand alone systems (ie one user only) that cost thousands of dollars. Now, to many schools a effective energy monitoring program would be worth thousands of dollars in benefits. Identifying in May that your gas use is unusually high, and acting on it, will save hundreds of dollars in August in a smaller school, and thousands in a large school. Being able to tell the school community just how many thousands of millions of litres of water you have saved raises your standing in the community, with the multiple benefits that brings. If you apply for an award for environmental excellence, and you can make your submission sparkle with tables, graphs and numbers quantifying the savings, this could give you the edge that makes your school the winner.
Present: Jennyann North, Jeff Welsh, Paul Prendagast, Paul Shorten
Nude Food: Paul P to organise presentation of trophy for Nude Food winning class at Tuesday Assembly. Promote Nude Food Day for Wednesday
Sustainable Garden Ideas: Showed relevant slides from Melbourne Garden Show
Pergola in centre of courtyard
Raised garden beds using water tanks outside Year 6 Class room
Dry stone river bed leading into a sand pit “lake”
Cubby house with small water tank connected to cubby
Speak to Colin Brennan and Steve Colley re process of organising garden development – Paul S
Recycle Bins: SRC reps to paint reycle wheelie bins
Two tubs per class – one for recycling paper and one for reusing
Tuesday 28th April Assembly – SRC to promote recycling and reusing paper and the use of the classroom tubs.
Sustainability Curriculum – to be discussed at next meeting
Other Business
Visit to Westernport Secondary College on 8th May?
