Sarah from Rediscovery Centre was our tutor today at Sandyfeet Farm. 4th Class looked at Plastic Problems, which tied in nicely with what they were learning about in SESE. Sarah asked us to think about all the plastics we used this morning from our toothbrushes to our clothes, our buttons and our lunchboxes and coats. The class knew all about how plastic is made and where oil comes from. We learned about the different types of plastics and the numbers correspondiong to these. Type 1-plastic bottles, Type 2-Milk cartons, Type 3-Chairs and pipes, Type 4- food wrappers, Type 5-butter containers, Type 6-polysterene (take away containers) and Type 7-everything else.We learned about sorting, cleaning out plastics before we recycle them. Wash, dry and then recycle or else your plastics will not be able to be recycled! Sustainability means to last forever. Every action we take has an effect on the world and people around us. We need to make these actions positive ones. In Ireland, we each create 61kg per person per year- more than any other country in Europe. We were baffled with photos of foods being sold with unnecessary plastic. 1/3 of Europe's plastic goes to landfill. Plastic landfills release greenhouse gases which contribute to climate change. Apple core takes 2 months to decompose. A newspaper takes 6 weeks. Wet wipes take 100 years. Fishing line takes 600 years. A light plastic bag takes up to 1000 years! A ketchup bottle would take 450 years! A plastic bottle top is 500 years. A plastic straw is 200 years. A biodegradable plastic bag would take 3-6 months. Bubble gum never ever decomposes so we have a lot that promised they’d never chew gum again. We discussed how plastic harms wildlife. We chatted about what we can do to help. It really got us thinking today. We will definitely stop using wipes in our school after today.
Rediscovery Centre Workshop-Senior Infants
Senior Infants looked at Biodiversity with Sarah. They looked at different animal and plant life in our gardens, oceans, jungle and world. They shared lots of knowledge with Sarah. They got to handle stick insects, hedgehogs and a rabbit and see lots of animals which we had to be very quiet around, in case they got scared. They played games making eco-systems. The children made bird feeders from an old milk carton and painted these to take home and hang in their gardens.
Our Planet
Ms Debbie Moriarty’s 6th class watched the David Attenborough documentary ‘A Life On Our Planet’ and discussed Cop 26. They then researched projects based on ‘Our World’ and presented them today to the class. The standard of work was terrific. Well done to all.
