Highlights from World Environment Week, 23 – 27 May Nursery by Jane Andrews, Class Teacher A magnificent recycled rainforest hiding an array of creatures from big monkeys to teeny-weeny bugs was the result of everyone working together in the Nursery unit. Using only recycled materials made it extra fun because we all had to use our imagination to think of different ways to use each piece. Recycled boxes, real leaves and recycled green card leaves were used to create a magical tree house. Colourful creatures were created from recycled magazines and all the children enjoyed learning about the many animals which call the rainforest home.
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The children also had the opportunity to recycle an old white t-shirt by creating images of the rainforest on the front as a reminder to all of us to look after the world in which we live.
Reception by Tess McCabe, Class Teacher Inspired by the story of ‘Michael Recycle’ and ‘Litterbug Doug’, the children in Reception were keen to be environmental superheroes and follow the 3 R’s to look after our planet. Using the work of the artist Andy Goldsworthy as a stimulus, the children showcased their creative talents using a selection of stones, twigs, flowers, pine cones and other resources found naturally in the environment – the results were stunning! A highlight of the week was our ‘Trashion Parade’ where the children took to the ‘catwalk’ to show off a wide range of fashion accessories made from ‘junk’ materials to compliment their recycled costumes. In both Nursery and Reception the children were introduced to the many animals around the world which are becoming endangered. Our young children were also entertained by the author Shamini Flint who read them the story of ‘Panda packs her bags’ and talked to them about the importance of protecting the bamboo forests.
Year 1 by Tushi Hore, Class Teacher The children in Y1 are all very aware of the importance of doing whatever they can to protect our environment and regularly recycle paper and plastic, bringing in materials from home to reuse at our junk modelling areas. The importance of tree conservation was the focus for our Year 1 children and they were keen to discover how they could make their own paper from used paper and plastic bottles! The process was great fun and the children were fascinated by the outcome. Classes were then able to use their ‘new’ paper to make notebooks and bookmarks. The children in Year 1 now have a much greater understanding of the impact of cutting down trees on animal habitats and the ways in which we can all be more ‘forest friendly’ in the future.
Year 2 by Karen Ormerod, Class Teacher Through focused discussions in classes and in our year group assemblies the children in Y2 were able to take a closer look at the impact of deforestation on the many creatures that live in the forests of neighbouring countries. The children were encouraged to reflect on our use of paper in school and how by changing our actions we could make a difference to the lives of some of the animals we love. In Y2 we also ran a competition to come up with imaginative ideas for reusing plastic bottles. We had over 50 creative entries and our five winners were presented with a plant, certificate and gift from the Singapore branch of World Wildlife Fund. On this occasion Miss Dawson also had the opportunity to present a cheque to WWF for S$1,239 raised from our ‘Friends of the Forest’ non-uniform day.
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10/21/11 9:35 AM