Charlotte Verity Professional Learning (School Based)

Earlier Blog Piece My Year 1-2 students and I undertook inquiry learning into our local river and its creatures. We discovered much about the creatures who rely on the river for life, and also about some of the challenges caused by pollution. A small group of my students were particularly concerned that rubbish, likely dropped in and around our school, was one of the challenges facing the fish, ducks and other aquatic life in the river. I contacted the local Council to see if their education staff could help us take action, to both complete the cycle of Inquiry learning and to satisfy my students' desire to make a difference. The students wanted to create a series of signs, alerting local people to notice and pick up the rubbish they see, to reduce litter pollution. Over several weeks, we worked with a local council representative, writing letters and refining design ideas. The students presented their ideas at a local Council Community Board meeting, and after several mont...

We (my class of 23 Year 1-2 students and I) recently learnt about the state of our river (using our school inquiry model, local exploration to the ponds and ECAN's Waitaha Wai resource ). The learning involved: * Learning about the unique birds and fish in Canterbury rivers * Learning about our cultural narrative, and how the ponds and river were an important food source for local Maori * Learning about the storm water system * Creating pastel pictures of fish and animals, as well as fact charts and posters * Picking up rubbish locally * Visiting the local ponds to notice animal life and pollution * Understanding our role as Kaitiaki The group shared their learning by creating a collective art work, using rubbish we found in the local area and our own illustrations of marine life: After the learning a team of 5 students were keen to take more action to improve water quality in our rivers. The issue they focused on was rubbish, and the fact that rubbish on our street...