The Forest Education Network has published a New Primary Forest and Woodland Teaching Resource pack. It contains ideas to use trees woods and forests for curriculum linked teaching & learning. related to KS1 & KS2 curriculum objectives in literacy, maths, science, history, geography, PHSE, art, music and PE.
Wildlife Watch says that if you go down to the woods today … you might be surprised to see children from I CAN’s Meath School enjoying their learning at Willow’s Forest School. Their report begins:
The session starts with the children, all of whom have speech, language and communication needs (SLCN), gathered around and chatting openly: saying “Hello!” to Willow the Fox, talking about their week and what they want to do today, without the pressure and expectations that may come from being in a classroom. There is an emphasis on safety in every activity the pupils do, with lessons that can be applied throughout their daily lives. …
- Exploring values-led education: How does the Common Cause approach apply to Learning for Sustainability? With Poppy Flint, freelance environmental educator, and Alia Al Zougbi, Head of HEC Global Learning Centre.
- Designing theories of change, with Zaria Greenhill, LEEF Fellow and Education Coordinator at River Thames Boat Project.
- Learning principles in action. Philippa Statter, Learning Manager, and Abigail Tinkler, Head of Learning at City of London Open Spaces share the thinking behind their programme design at Hampstead Heath, and the learning principles that underpin their work.
To book, just email leef@leef.london
FACE says that FaceTime/Skype a Farmer is up and running with the first 50 farmers and schools now talking. Whether you’re a teacher wanting to find out more or a farmer who wants to get involved, click here for more details.
Thanks to the Countryside Classroom for information about the NFU‘s launch of three new resources for KS1 Science.
These are:
- Farm food chains: from farm to fork, the perfect example of a food chain
- My carrot diary: a resource pack to watch our intrepid explorers visit a carrot farm, then plant your own carrots and record their growth.
- Farmyard sensory trail: join the investigating team using all their senses on the farm, then create your own sensory trail.
The Development Education Research centre has a new research report on Fair-trade. DERC’s co-Director, Doug Bourn, has worked with the Fairtrade Foundation to examine the nature and impact of the popular Fairtrade School Awards programme. This paper is the latest in a series of articles on the DERC website.
Incentives is a new anti-littering campaign for secondary schools from the Marine Conservation Society that aims to motivates students to take action on litter. Focusing on a series of posters displaying emoji messages, the campaign engages students by rewarding positive behaviour with school-determined rewards.
Outdoor Classroom Day will be on 17 May this year in the UK. It’s is a global campaign to inspire and celebrate outdoor learning and play. On the day, thousands of schools around the world will take lessons outside and prioritise playtime. As well as having fun, they will show how important and easy it is to give children more time outdoors.
LTL is challenging every school in the UK and Ireland to sign up to the 2018 campaign and visit the website to download free lesson and activity ideas. It says that since play has been shown to improve problem-solving skills, creativity and wellbeing, this is a great opportunity to both support pupils and highlight the importance of time outdoors.
Climate Action reports that March brought new wind energy records to the UK. Saturday March 17th saw 14 GW of electricity being generated for the first time (36 % of Britain’s electricity), well ahead of gas on 20%. Nuclear provided 18% and coal 13%. Things change markedly, however. As this is being written (March 21st at 1000), there’s no sign of records. The contributions are:
Gas 39% – Nuclear 19% – Coal 15% – Wind 11% – Solar 8% – Biomass 5% – Other 3%
… and this illustrates the problems the Grid has in keeping all this in balance (and the lights on).