Lesson plans/Activities Archives

Healthy Living: Lesson plans/Activities

BEMED Educational Resource Pack – Clean Seas by Eco-Schools Malta

Plastic pollution is one of the greatest environmental disasters affecting the oceans. Once discarded into the natural environment, plastic can take up to 500 years to disappear. Every year, more than 8 million tons of plastic litter is thrown into the ocean. Drifting between waters, it can be ingested and can strangle or suffocate many animal species. Under the effect of the sun, it breaks into fragments called microplastics that can be ingested by fishes and enter the food-chain, which can have lasting impacts on human health. With more than 3000 billion of microplastic particles, the Mediterranean Sea is the most polluted sea in the world. With this conclusion, the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation approached the Tara Ocean Foundation, Surfrider Foundation Europe and the MAVA Foundation to join forces and launch the Beyond Plastic Med initiative (BeMed) at the international conference “Plastic in the Mediterranean: beyond the observations, what are the solutions?” in Monaco in March 2015. The association Beyond plastic Med was created in January 2019 and the IUCN has since become part of it, as they were eager to become involved alongside the founding members. (https://www.beyondplasticmed.org/) This educator’s resource pack collated by Nature Trust – FEE Malta was produced with the financial assistance of Beyond Plastic Med. It includes lessons for students of all ages and abilities covering various subjects and providing cross-curricular links. Educators are invited to use these plans and are also encouraged to send an email with feedback, suggestions and comments to [email protected] Each lesson plan also provides all necessary information and resources necessary, links to the SDGs, adaptations, follow up activities, etc. All that a teacher would find useful to spread the word and create awareness about marine litter, plastic pollution and the dangers wildlife is experiencing.

Our Future with Clean Air

Years: All, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 Duration: 60mins Subjects: Art, Cross Curricular, D&T, English, PSHE, Science 60 minute to 240 minute lesson plans, which can be completed as individual lessons or a series of lessons. While the effects of poor air quality are felt worldwide, the sources are usually local. Every day, air pollution and carbon emissions are produced by our commutes to work, by heating our homes, or through our daily lifestyles. Understanding how we live – and the restrictions we face in those choices – is key to improving air quality. Solutions at a local level can make a big difference. Through scientific investigation, discussion and a variety of writing activities, we can empower our pupils to create local change in their own lives, those of family and friends, school life and local communities. Engaging young people on these issues is critical – they are future voters! Many young people want to be heard and it is the responsibility of educators to give them a platform to voice their opinion. The resources contained within this pack are the result of the collective effort of partner organisations across Europe, and the many young people who tried and tested them. These resources aim to empower young people to lead the way towards a clean air and zero carbon future! Curriculum Objectives English Key Stage 2 (Age 7-11) Year 3 and 4 (Age 7-9) Discuss and record ideas. Discuss words and phrases that capture the reader’s interest and imagination. Draw and justify inferences with evidence. Year 5 and 6 (Age 9-11) Ask questions to improve their understanding. Assess the effectiveness of their own and others’ writing. Discuss and evaluate how authors use language, considering the impact on the reader. Distinguish between statements of fact and opinion. Draw inferences and justify them with evidence. Identify the audience for and purpose of writing, selecting the appropriate form and using other similar writing as models. Note and develop initial ideas, drawing on reading and research where necessary. Perform their own compositions, using appropriate intonation, volume, and movement so that meaning is clear. Proof-read for spelling and punctuation errors. Propose changes to vocabulary, grammar and punctuation to enhance effects and clarify meaning. Provide reasoned justifications for their views. Punctuate bullet points consistently. Select appropriate grammar and vocabulary, understanding how such choices can change and enhance meaning. Age 7-11)https://www.sustainablelearning.com/resource/our-future-clean-air?destination=teaching-resources Identify scientific evidence that has been used to support or refute ideas or arguments Record data and results of increasing complexity using scientific diagrams and labels, classification keys, tables, scatter graphs, bar and line graphs Report and present findings from enquiries, including conclusions, causal relationships and explanations of and degree of trust in results, in oral and written forms such as displays and other presentations Take measurements, using a range of scientific equipment, with increasing accuracy and precision, taking repeat readings when appropriate Use test results to make predictions to set up further comparative and fair tests Year 3 (Age 7-8) Ask relevant questions and use different types of scientific enquiries to answer them Identify …

Wild Classrooms Workout

Come on! Work out your wild side! Get your students and children up and moving while teaching them the importance of species and habitats with Wild Classroom’s Work Out Your Wild Side challenge! Enjoy daily exercises tied to fun facts about species found in each of our five habitat-themed weeks. Pick and choose your exercises or complete all five weeks in full. Follow up the challenge by having your students/children complete the reflective writing assignment!

Learn About SDG 3 – Good Health (Early Years – Year 3)

Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages LEARN about SDG 3 by clicking on this link. For all the details and statistics about the targets of SDG No 3 access these links: UN SDG Tracker EU policies and actions

Learn About SDG 3 – Good Health (Year 4 – Year 8)

Learn About SDG 3 – Good health (Year 9 – Year 11)

Follow Up SDG 3 – If you’re happy and you know it! (Early Years – Year 2)

An all-time favourite with all kids. A fun way to learn about the importance of being active and happy. Sing along with your kids! You can sing it again by including important steps we all must do to stay healthy and practice proper personal hygiene. Phrases they all can mimic and sing along to: Wash your hands. Brush your teeth. Eat some fruit. Ride a bike.

Follow Up SDG 3 – Germs (Early Years – Year 2)

Germ activity Place some water in a bowl. Sprinkle some pepper on the water surface. Then have your child put some of the “germs” on their hands and rub them together. Shake hands with each other or let them touch different surfaces to learn about how germs can be spread. Than ask them to place some washing liquid on the tip and dip into the water again and watch what happens.

Follow Up SDG 3 – Colour in Fun! (Early Years – Year 2)

Download and print the colour-in dirty hand – clean hand template below. You can use the hand washing technique poster below to remind them how it should be done and sing the Happy Birthday song twice. Remember that there is also the Maltese version – Ferħ u Awguri which you can find here. You can play it along whilst they are colouring in so that they learn the Maltese version as well.

Follow Up SDG 3 – Eating Naughty Cars (Year 3 – Year 4)

Watch this video together with the kids to learn more about the concept of the game. The idea is to remove (eat) those cars that are creating a problem to our health and well-being. Ask the kids to make a dino from a used sock and stand next to a window overlooking a busy road. If you don’t have any windows overlooking busy roads try to log into the live cams network across Malta here.

Follow Up SDG 3 – Be The Pond! (Year 3 – Year 4)

Be the Pond – Cosmic Kids Zen Den – Mindfulness for kids Take a short break. Sit down and do this exercise with your kids. De-stress, relax and enjoy!

Follow Up SDG 3 – Animals Save the planet! (Year 3 – Year 4)

Watch this video to explain why it is important to use other forms of transport. Some follow up questions: In what way are bicycles better than cars? Is it safe to ride a bicycle on our roads? Can you think of ways to render the bicycle use on our roads safer? Can you look up a picture of a recent bike lane that has been constructed lately in the various road widening exercises across the islands. Make them be on the look-out for signs of bicycle lanes if you venture out for a quick ride.

Follow Up SDG 3 – Rare diseases! (Year 9 – Year 11)

In small countries like Malta, because there is a small number of patients with rare diseases, some medicines are not available or are very expensive. All Member States including small states like Malta should have fair, equal and affordable access.

Follow Up SDG 3 – Covid-19 stress busters! (Year 9 – Year 11)

Feeling…. Bored? Angry? Frustrated? Lonely? It is normal to feel that way due to the imposed measures to limit the spread during COVID-19 school shut down. It is a tough time for everyone. Here is an interesting manual that might help you while away the time and help you appreciate more life notwithstanding the current situation. Have a look! Many great ideas…

Follow Up SDG 3 – COVID – 19 hits developing countries! (Year 9 – Year 11)

In very poor countries they do not have means to tackle the COVID 19 for the following reasons:

St Micheal School EkoSkola Newsletter – Diċembru 2019

Eco-Gozo Resources

Various resources for schools available here

ESD Expert Net – Manual for teaching the SDGs

Song: Eating Responsibly

St Benedict College Birzebbugia Primary created this song as their EkoSkola Eco-code. Original lyrics by Ms Isabelle Incorvaja and original music composed by Maestro John Zammit. The song is all about responsible food consumption as the lyrics indicate…

EAThink 2015 – Food Learning units

“EAThink2015 – eat local, think global” is a project that aims to enhance European students and teachers critical understanding and active engagement on global development challenges with a specific focus on food security and sovereignty, sustainable food systems and smallholder farming.

CoReflect – Collaboration and reflection

Project CoReflect (Title: Digital support for Inquiry, Collaboration, and Reflection on Socio-Scientific Debates) is a three year (2008-2011) research program, funded by the European Commission, under the FP7 Science in Society program. Bringing together eight diverse and multi-disciplinary teams from seven European states, the project members promoted evidence-based practice in science teaching and learning, by collaborating to iteratively design, enact, critique, and validate problem-based innovative inquiry learning environments.

Consumer Classroom – also in Maltese…

Consumer Classroom is a new collaborative website for teachers about consumer education. It provides free, high quality resources for teachers along with interactive and collaborative tools to help teachers prepare lesson plans to share with students and other teachers from across the EU. Sign Up now on www.ConsumerClassroom.eu

Where food comes from – Bucket farming

Farm to Table In this lesson, students explore the concepts of sustainability and systems thinking while considering the question of where their food comes from. As students construct their own self-watering container system to grow edible plants, they continuously address issues related to systems thinking while participating in food production. They weigh the importance of biodiversity and, after harvest, reflect on mistakes made and recommendations for future bucket farmers.

EkoSkola f’Tagħna t-Tfal – Diċembru 2013

F’din il-paġna se nibdew niltaqgħu ma’ żewġ nemliet, Ninu u Nina, li jgħaddu minn ħafna avventuri flimkien. Illum ma’ Ninu u Nina nitgħallmu dwar il-prodotti li jkollhom GMOs.

The Enviromental Effects of Smoking

What are cigarettes made up from?… Air pollution from cigarette smoke… Cigarette related littering… Tobacco hurts people and their environment… Cigarette filters – silent killers… want to learn more? Download the PDF document given below. You will find more information and links about the topic.

Fonzu l-Fenek – Educational Song

A children’s song in Maltese featuring a day in the life of Fonzu l-Fenek. Kanzunetta bil-Malti għat-tfal dwar ġurnata tipika ta’ Fonzu l-Fenek.

EkoSkola f’Tagħna t-Tfal – Frar 2013

This time, Mandy and Raymond went to the market with their aunt Lily. They were happily singing about the importance to eat fruits and vegetables everyday. During a short discussion between the vegetables we hear about how we can avoid using plastic bags and why. And how about the stamp Raymond discovered on the eggs, that is, before he made an omelete out of them…?

Road to Rio + 20 workbook – Activities and Lesson plans

This publication is designed to introduce young people to the issues that will be central to Rio+20, by first providing you with a useful context of the project (Part 1 -Overview) and then moving forward to what you and the young people you work with can do as part of a classroom or youth group activity (Part2 – Activities & Lessonplans).

What’s on your fork?

Does what you eat really have impact on our planet? Could mealtime choices actually help promote clean drinking water? What’s On Your Fork? is a new, free downloadable action guide and collection of supplementary educational tools from EarthEcho International designed to help educators and students explore the environmental and community impact of daily food choices.

Heart Healthy Food Musical Chairs

This twist on the game of musical chairs helps reinforce which foods are healthy for your heart and which foods are not. Ages 3-6 years

The Sun Wise Program

The SunWise Program provides a variety of educational tools for use in schools and in less formal settings. Program participants receive a “tool kit” of materials to help them teach sun-wise behavior in classrooms, community organizations, and homes. Pledge to teach about sun safety in your spring and summer activities. In an effort to raise awareness about a health issue that is largely preventable and too often ignored – skin cancer – EPA encourages you to participate in the third annual national sun safety day. Being smart in the sun is important today and every day.

PollinatorLIVE: A Distance Learning Adventure

While pollinators may come in small sizes, they play a large and often undervalued role in the production of the food we eat, the health of flowering plants, and the future of wildlife. A decline in the numbers and health of pollinators over the last several years poses a significant threat to the integrity of biodiversity, to global food webs, and to human health. PollinatorLIVE: A Distance Learning Adventure will provide a series of live interactive Web casts, Web seminars, and satellite field trips about pollinators, gardening, and conservation. All resources are free and geared toward grades 4–8.

Earth Day Network

Teach about the history of the environmental movement with Earth Day Network’s newest curriculum unit. This online resource for all ages and users provides lesson plans, activity ideas, and digital multimedia resources for the classroom. http://www.earthday.org