The weather has been amazing over the past few weeks. I know that if this lockdown had happened during the winter I would have been in a much worse mood. Getting out and enjoying the sunshine has really helped me to stay positive and enjoy this unusual time. I strongly believe that getting children involved in gardening and nature, no matter how simple can have a great benefit. I know online teaching is difficult and I can imagine that it will be even more difficult to keep children engaged throughout June. With this in mind I decided to put together a few ideas to encourage children to explore the outdoors. The Innocent Big Grow are sending out free seed packs to families. All you have to do is sign up online for your chance to win one. Click here to sign up. GIY have partnered with Energia to Get Ireland growing. you can register here to be in with a chance of winning your very own Growbox. GIY also have a fantasic website which includes vidoes showing how to grow lots of different vegetables. They are currently running a free online course where they teach you how to grow 12 vegetables over 12 weeks. I signed up this week and am looking forward to getting lots of tips and motivation. PDST have online webinars available for teachers. These include STEM and the Garden and STEM and the Kitchen which are available to view as recording. Click here for more information or to sign up for upcoming webinars. I, like many other teachers did a course with Paddy Madden a few years ago. I absolutely loved it and got so much out of the course. I was introduced to this website through the PDST course, STEM & the Garden, and was delighted to see that Paddy Madden is one of the main contributors. The website is fantastic and has a section for Parents/Childrens activities. It has guides for growing spring onions in a milk carton, sowing potatoes and also making bio-degradable pots. It is definitely well worth checking out. I am hoping to upload one nature based activity for my students each week. I find both of these book a great help when it comes to growing vegetables. They are both very child friendly and give simple step by step instructions. The first is the Know-It-Allmanac from GIY and the second is The Usborne Guide to Growing Food. I have put together a few activities that you may like to share with your students:
Anokha Learing are offering their schools programme for €40 per course. I have done several of these over the past few years and I always find them very enjoyable. The courses available are:
Their Scared Kids course with David Coleman currently has 50% off and is now €100. I am thinking of doing this one myself as I have heard so many good things about it and feel that it will be very useful for when I go back to school. I saw a link to this course on Muinteoir Valerie's page last week and I plan to do it. A few friends of mine have also completed it and reccomend it. The course is Self Care for Teachers, it is a 45minute course that introduces teachers to the concept of self-care. It covers the importance of self-care in the life of a teacher and ways to ensure it is part of their teaching. They also provide a Mental Health eLearning Programme for teachers. this is aimed at secondary school teachers but others might find it useful. Activities I have attached alink below to my table of activities for fourteen days. I am planning on creating an Easter themed one and will upload that as soon as it is ready.
I am very lucky to be part of the Creative Schools Porgramme and our wonderful Creative Associate along with her coleagues have put together some very useful resources. You can download them here :
GIY are a fantastic organisation and are doing their bit to support people at this time. Go check out their website or social media pages for some great inspiration and competitions. They are also uploading copies of their Know it Allmanac which is full of ideas of what to do in the garden. They have lots of other lovely resources for children and adults.
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AuthorI have been teaching for several years and hope to share some of my ideas and experiences with you. Archives
March 2020
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