Thursday 10 October 2013

Year 5s enjoying their green curriculum

In September I visited Henry Cavendish Primary School in Balham to talk to the children about my book, 101 Ways to Live Cleaner and Greener for Free.

We started the day with an assembly for Year 2 through to Year 6 where we did a landfill bin audit and then talked about waste and how to reduce it.

After the assembly I spent an hour with each Year 5 class, playing games based on my book and talking through the children's own ideas about the simple everyday things they can do to live cleaner and greener for free.

The children had been working with my book across various areas of the curriculum and it was lovely to see the results displayed on the wall.  Here's a taster of some of the posters they've produced.









The children told me about the wormery, where their fruit peel gets eaten and turned into compost.  They explained about their eco-warriors, who go round each classroom and check that lights, screens and computers have been correctly turned off, and that the correct recycling bins have been used.  Each class is monitored to ensure they are putting into practice all the green measures they can and progress is reported and celebrated to keep everyone on their toes.

For me, it was great to see my book in use in the classroom and as well as seeing the literacy work they had been doing, I heard about the plans for drama sessions, science sessions and the children had even asked to be able to work with some of the maths.

101 Ways to Live Cleaner and Greener for Free gives an insight into the science and maths of going green.  Although aimed principally at Key Stage 3, and therefore challenging for primary level, it just shows that where there's a will there's a way and when children are keen to do something, they will rise to the challenge.

For more information about primary school talks and school discounts for books please email me directly at anna@dustbindiet.com.