Wider Curriculum Coursework Presentation By Team Tree Sara
Batley, Elizabeth Ferris, Tom Ormston, Karen Vousden and Kirsty
Watt
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If Trees Could Talk
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Planting the Seeds This term, Year 4 is focusing on the idea If
Trees could talk, this is an opportunity for the children to engage
with their natural surroundings and encourage them to have a
greater appreciation for the world around them. It is a process of
discovery that will allow Year 4 to be more aware of themselves and
learn more about the valuable contribution of other living things
to their environment. There are many benefits to learning outside
the Classroom, which the DfES have outlined in their Learning
Outside the Classroom Manifesto: Improve academic achievement
Provide a bridge to higher order learning Develop skills and
independence in a widening range of environmentsNuture creativity
Make learning more engaging and relevant to young peopleStimulate,
inspire and improve motivation Develop active citizens and stewards
of the environmentDevelop the ability to deal with uncertainty
Provide opportunities for informal learning through playReduce
behaviour problems and improve attendance Provide challenge and the
opportunity to take acceptable levels of riskImprove young peoples
attitudes to learning(DfES, 2006)
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Why Abington Park Abington Park is an incredibly valuable local
resource that gives our children the perfect opportunity visit in
order to explore the nature environment and learn a variety of
skills from within a range of subject areas. The multisensory
approach necessary to discover the depths of Abington Park promotes
a deeper level of understanding that envelopes all aspects of
intelligences from kinaesthetic, visual, naturalist and existential
within Abington Park. This development of learning can then be
expanded on within the school setting to cultivate the childrens
ability to comprehend the information presented to them in a
logical intrapersonal fashion that can then be expressed in a
variety of mediums.
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The Green Stuff Abington Park is the best option for a prompt
for learning outside the classroom for the school because it is
reasonably local to our school. The children will be able to
readily apply understanding and context of the topics as well as
themes being studied over the course of the term. The total cost of
the trip including coach travel and use of the museum and
educational ambassador workshop is 430. With each child
contributing 6 the school budget can supply the remaining 10. This
is a demonstration of how cost effective the trip is, for the
opportunity to develop the childrens minds and engage them in their
learning.
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What we can do There is a wide variety of opportunities
available to advance childrens learning when visiting Abington
Park. We are not only restricted to the Historical Educational
experience from the Museum Ambassador, which is a fantastic
opportunity within itself, but we also have the chance to work
through the childrens interaction with the Park itself; allowing
them to perceive the wonders of the natural world and extend their
awareness of their own surroundings. Through teaching in this
different environment, the children will participate more in the
activities through the day, as they will learn through the
exploratory manner that comes with the discovery of new skills and
the challenges presented to them.
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Seeing the wood through the trees At Abington Park, the
children will have the experience of discovering more about their
environment through the use of technology. In order to empower the
childrens learning, their research will be facilitated through the
use of QR Codes and iPads which will reveal the clue to the next
tree, this will permit the children to determine which tree they
must go to next through the use of their prior learning, in order
to go further along the interactive trail.
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QR Codes The children are to use their prior learning to move
through Abington Park via the QR Code Tree Trail. The learning
experience of going through the Trail will promote discussion, team
building skills and be a prompt for further exploration on the
focus of our topic If Trees could Talk.
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Making use of Natural Resources Within Abington Park, there is
an old manor house, that old house is now a Museum; and in the
Museum there is lectures aimed at primary school children so that
they might access history at a deeper level. The history of
Abington Park blends well with the idea If Trees Could Talk, as the
trees have observed the many different uses that the land has been
put to. Having grown within the ruins of the former village of
Abington, been in the grounds of the manor house, as it was
occupied by Shakespeares granddaughter Elizabeth Bernard before
passing to the Thursby family. The trees have also witnessed the
transformation from a lunatic asylum (1845-1892) before the
donation of the grounds by Lady Wantage to Northampton, turning it
into Abington Park.
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Seeing through the eyes of Trees Having a historical insight
into Abington Park will allow a further depth of perspective for
the children, to progress them from observing the impact of the
present on the world around them, to the consideration of the
influences imparted by the past on the world around them.
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Looking at Nature The development of the creative processes is
enhanced through visiting Abington Park as it enables the children
to participate in the active discovery of their environment. The
activity of taking Art from the environment, is not merely the
visual appreciation of the image of the surrounding landscape but,
is the literal representation of nature in Art. The action of
taking the patterns of the plants themselves, through the imprints
created through leaf printing and bark rubbing, dictates the very
expression of nature through Art.
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A Childs Eye View The purpose of the creative expression within
Abington Park, is for the children to explore the art techniques
and methods of (leaf) printing using paints and enacting bark
rubbing through the use of different media such as charcoal, pencil
and crayon. The children will be able to develop their
resourcefulness and be able to imaginatively consider the impact of
their artistic creations as well as how they can display their own
learning over the course of the topic.
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Setting Sail As part of the preparation for the visit to
Abington Park, the children will have engaged in a Science and
Design Technology project that will have motivated their learning
to produce inspired designs and outstanding creations that are
effectively Bark Boats. The children will have learnt about the
materials necessary to make a floating object and will have created
their boats which have a bark base, with other materials acting as
the sail. The investigative nature of this project means that not
only will the children have designed and produced their Bark Boats,
they will also have to conduct an scientific investigation of the
Bark Boats where the only independent variable is the changed
materials/construction of each Bark Boat and the dependent variable
is whether the Bark boats will float or move across the lake at
Abington Park. The children will have written predictions about
what they think will happen when they test their boats on the lake
and will record the results of their investigation during the visit
to Abington Park.
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Just Barking Along As the children will have tested their Bark
Boats at Abington Park, the record of results will be expanded upon
once back within the school setting. The excitement and potential
risks of testing their Bark Boats on a lake in Abington Park should
teach the children a real understanding of uncontrollable
variables, such as the weather, which they will then later be able
to reflect upon in their evaluations of the experiment and of their
Bark Boat product. The evaluation process will extend their
learning process as they consider potential improvements.
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How Abington Park will progress learning Our visit to Abington
Park and subsequent 6 weeks planning for lessons includes a
plethora of benefits for teaching and learning in a variety of
academic subjects. The aim of the visit is to provide the children
with an encouraging experience that then inspires them and ensures
they enjoy the further lessons. Once they enjoy the theme they will
invest more in it and their interaction will aid, not only their
academic performance, but also their social and emotional
wellbeing. Throughout the different school subjects covered over
the terms planning, the children should be given ample
opportunities to enhance their learning academically, as well as
socially and emotionally. The members of staff too have occasions
to further their teaching of subjects and develop their
professional development. The visit will allow for expression,
teamwork, kinaesthetic involvement, physical hands on learning,
team building, enhancing of self-esteem, self-confidence and an
understanding of the environment in which we live. The sessions in
class over the 6 week term are designed to build on the experiences
that the children will have had, draw on their imagination,
creativity and entrepreneurial dexterity. The finished products
should be something that the children are proud of, and remember
for years to come.
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Inside the Classroom The visit to Abington Park will make a
huge effect on the work produced, inside and outside the classroom,
either during our visit in the learning activities mentioned or
generated through inspirational homework tasks due to the
motivation that the children will have gained though the visit. In
their English work, the children will cover different styles of
writing by completing a diary of the trip, writing haiku and shape
poems, as well as a story based on If Trees Could Talk. The poems
will also be performed, to encourage the skills necessary for
public speaking while extending their confidence in themselves and
their work. The Maths has cross curricular links with Science,
Geography and ICT. The children will measure lengths around the
park and calculate area and perimeter. They will also look at
volume of rainfall, and their data handling of habitats will
encourage comparisons and an understanding of other countries and
the effects that weather has on peoples lives there. This will help
the children develop an understanding of their own locale and an
appreciation of the circumstances that they live in. Science and
Design and Technology provides another core area for teaching and
learning; prior to the trip the children will make bark boats, to
then test them at the park, as well as take photos for a scrapbook
on habitats, build birdhouses and learn about photosynthesis.
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Exploration of the Wider Curriculum History is touched on
through the visit on the trip to the museum. Back in the classroom
the History focus switches to looking at Abington Park 100 years
ago, comparing it to how it is now, and imagining what it will look
like 100 years in the future. Children will then reflect on the
trip and analyse how the park is now, alongside research into the
past and imagine into the future. They must also consider how
people feel living in the surrounding area. Developing a sense of
sympathy and empathy for people in the past who would have seen
their homes on the present day Park site destroyed is an advanced
skill for children to develop, but a crucial one to take into the
world outside the classroom. Art is used on the both on the trip
and in the classroom. In art, as in music and performing arts,
there is much scope for expression and the children should feel a
sense of success and a lack of judgement. The children will create
musical soundscapes, and use their artistic skills to design CD
covers. This project is cross curricular through ICT and Enterprise
as the children will be given the opportunity to further hone their
creative skills, through recording, manufacturing, designing,
marketing and selling CDs of soundscapes from Abington Park, the
children are given a plethora of chances that they would not
normally get in school. It is a big responsibility for Year 4
children but one that they should rise to.
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Thank you for watching this presentation. Team Tree