How was it used?
As a class we had visited a school camp on the coast for a week and also during that time visited a wind farm. So the focus for our work this term within literacy, DT and geography was the environment. We were also working as a school to get our Eco Schools banner and focusing on recycling in school. The resource that I chose on the NGFL website was ‘The Earth’s Materials – are we wasting them?’ was a great choice as it had a range of resources but was also flexible to use within the school scheme of work.
We had already explored different types of pollution around the world. They had also focused on materials and their properties during their last school year so there was an opportunity to reinforce some taught concepts. It wouldn’t be the main focus, but it needed to be re-visited to ensure that children of lower abilities were confident with this.
We didn’t use the resources presented in the same order. It also needed to be translated into Welsh which was easy as the materials were prepared as Power points and in Word documents. We began with the KWHL ‘What do we know about recycling?’ This is a great opportunity to start a unit of work so that you can assess the pupils’ understanding. They also use this framework within other lessons. It gives pupils across the board the confidence to realise the knowledge and understanding that they already have and that learning in the classroom is always about building on that wall.
Impact and Outcomes
By completing the first 3 columns in this opening lesson it gave me the chance to plan this unit of working using their questions and ideas so that they were leading the learning.
More able children were able to complete this task within groups and pairs on the class computer while others worked with teacher support. Groups were asked to report back to other groups within the class so that they were able to be good listeners and learn from each other. I always encourage pupils to question each other within this type of activity rather than just being a passive listener. It makes them become better listeners and thinkers. The pupils will be clearer about goals and standards as they’ve been a part of the planning. It’s made them think rather that the teacher introducing the information to begin the unit. The learning will be more effective as they ask questions, investigate and find out further on in this unit of work.
Learner Feedback
They really enjoy being presented with a framework for learning so that they know where they’re going. Using the interactive whiteboard always has a positive effect. Some children find it difficult to think about what they know already but are keen express this in their self-assessment. They enjoy and benefit from working as a group. It’s a topic that they can relate to easily.
Other Resources
Resources were translated/table transferred to class computers
Lessons Learnt
