Activity Log
We thought educating children about the value of trees would be a good idea because there where lots of things to talk about especially as issues such as global warming are now becoming a problem. We decided to talk to a group of younger children as we felt it would be more interesting for them and they would be more likely to listen and get involved. I also feel it is important to educate the children at an earlier age, so they will interested in helping by recycling, turning of lights etc at an earlier age, and get into a routine of it so it will carry on when they are older. Even though there was quite a bit of work involved I am still glad I decided to do the project because both the group and the children found it fun, although it was a bit disappointing that we did not get to plant the trees.
When the headmaster replied to our letter, me and Katie went to see him which although was a bit daunting, it was also very helpful as he gave us some ideas and tips that could help us prepare the presentation and improve our work, which soon made us feel much better about going to see him again. Going to see the headmaster also helped me to see what it would be like in the future going to see an employer as I now know what its like to be questioned about what I want to do. I was so relived when he said yes because it was a school I was familiar with and also one of the easiest to get to, which made everything a lot easier to organise. It took quite a long time to prepare the presentation as we had to fit it all together, and find times when we all could get together at the end to edit the power point and make sure we all thought it was informational, yet not to complicated for the children to understand. We also had to make sure the booklets where informational yet fun so the children will take interest in them. A lot of the information we included we thought of ourselves, but researched facts that we could include to show them more clearly how bad problems like global warming and deforestation where getting, but telling them other things like what we can do to help we came up with ourselves from things we already knew. Team work played an important part in our project as we had to all do equal parts in order to make it fair, but we also had to be happy with the part we where given which we where. On my own it would have taken me much longer to do and also would have been more scary to do the presentation, so I’m glad I was able to work in a team as it made the experience more enjoyable.
List of Supporting Evidence
We have kept a copy the letter we wrote to the headmaster as proof of our visit, and we have also kept copies of the power point presentation and booklets. We where also given some copies of the letters that the headmaster sent out to the parents of the children to make them aware of our visit and our intentions, which has his signature and contact details of the school. There where also other documents that where created whilst organising dates etc which the headmaster, but we have not included them as they where just notes as a reminder of the date and time and other details like what age the children where. The power point was really just a background that would help us to give our speeches by showing facts and other details, and it also make the talk more interesting for the children, as we used bright colours and pictures. We choose a green theme as we thought that would be the most appropriate colour, and included pictures of animals as we told of how they could be affected if all the trees where cut down, because I think it is important the children know the effects global warming and deforestation has on the animals, as well as ourselves. I think creating the power point was the hardest part, because we had to make informational, but complicated to understand, which meant we had to be careful about what we talked about and our vocabulary, because if we mentioned something or said words that the children did not understand they would become confused, so we asked other people like our parents what they thought before we went back to tell him it was finished. The booklets where something we made as an extra for the for the children and consisted of activities like dot to sots and bullet pointed some information and facts that where mentioned during the presentation. We made them as an encouragement for children to do something more, like convincing their parents to recycle more etc, as they would be able to remember facts and what they can do to help better. We also included the Tree for All website on them, so they will be able to go on there and get more information and ideas.
Use of Supporting Evidence
I think writing the letter to the headmaster was the most important part of our work, because without it we would not have been able to do our presentation, and may have ended up doing something else, which would have been really disappointing. The power point was also important as it helped keep the children from getting bored, as well as reminding us what to say by showing facts and information, as without we would have had to memorise a speech which would have been hard to remember and probably quite boring for the children, which would have made it quite nerve wrecking and probably not as enjoyable. I also think it was better that we made booklets for them even thought they where not necessary, as it meant the children would be more likely to get involved as they had something that could tell them how, and them doing something like, turning of lights, recycling, etc would still be and achievement as our aim wasn’t just to inform, but to try and convince them to get involved. Once we finished the presentation we questioned the children on what they had learnt, and this proved that we where successful in capturing their interest, as we where afraid of none of them getting involved and putting their hands up, but many of them did which was very pleasing as it meant our visit has had some kind of effect. Doing this presentation has also taught me some new things, especially when we where creating the power point, for example I now know that the Amazon Rainforest gives us more than 20% of our oxygen, and that nearly half of it has been cut down. I found this quite shocking, and it made me realise just how bad things are getting environmentally, and made me think more about what could be drastic effects that these damages could have, like more illnesses due to less trees removing the air pollution. I am really disappointed that we did not get to plant the trees as it would have been nice to give them and example, and it would have been a new experience for me, and a lot of the children who have never planted a tree before, although hopefully they will get chances in the future now that the school is getting trees to plant from the woodlands trust. I hope that they will enjoy doing this and that our visit will encourage them to do things outside of school and suggest ideas to any outer school clubs they go to, or get involved with activities and events that go on within the community.
Evaluation of my Own Contribution
I think I done my role within the group well because I created my faire share of slides for the power point, and helped organise the presentation, which meant going to meadow primary after school, as well as working on the slides. I also helped put the power point together and improve other slides that may have been a bit complicated. I think the amount of work we done was all fair and equal and I think we done it quite well, and I was especially pleased with how the presentation went as I was really nervous in case they found us boring or would not listen and where badly behaved, but luckily we managed t interest them as they where eager to answer the questions, although they could sometimes get a bit chatty when we started discussing things, although I am still really with how well behaved they where.
Evaluation of Others Contribution
I think everyone in my group worked really well, and I think we functioned well as a group, as we shared the work equally and had now arguments or disagreements about what we where doing , or over who was doing what. I think it was our good teamwork and cooperation that made everything go so well. I think Emma and Katie done a really good job of creating their slides for the power point and explained them in a calm yet interesting way. Kelly also did a really good job with the booklets and finding and creating activities for them. She was also very good with her timing during the presentation as she gave us enough time to do each slide, and also made sure we switched at the right point and stayed within time. I really enjoyed working with my friends and am really happy that everything went so smoothly because of our hard work and motivation.
For my PSHCE project, me and my friends Kelly, Katie and Emma, wanted to do something to help the environment. We choose to do a project based around trees, as they are an important part to the survival of living things as they provide us with oxygen. They also provide homes and food for animals and resources for us. Due to the air pollution that is given off from transport vehicles, burning fossil fuels to make electricity, etc, as more carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere, and traps heat emitted by the sun. This is called the greenhouse effect, and trees reduce the problem as they take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and give off oxygen. Cutting down the trees therefore speeds up the process and can lead to devastating effects like flooding that will be caused by the sea levels rising from the polar ice caps melting from the hotter temperatures. We thought the best way to help, would be to inform younger people as hopefully it would interest them at an early age to recycle, turn off lights and electrical appliances when there not being used, etc, and they would also encourage their parents and brothers and sisters to do the same. We decided the best way to do this would be to go to a primary school and give a small presentation and give out some booklets about trees, why they are important, what is happening and what we can do to help. We also thought that planting a tree with them would be a fun example and reminder of what they can do to help, as they would then see the trees everyday.
The school we decided to contact was Meadow Primary School because it was near by and mine and Katie’s old primary school, so we already knew the headmaster and the contact details. We decided the best way to contact him would be through a letter so we wrote one together explain what we wanted to do, why and what it involved. I put my phone number on the letter, and a couple of days later, he phoned us saying that he would be happy to let us give our presentation, and that we should go and see him after school to arrange some details. Me and Katie went because it was inconvenient for Emma and Kelly as they lived quite far away. Once there we talked about the details like when we should visit, which was preferably Monday afternoon as that is when we have PSHCE and so we would not be missing any of our other lessons. We also discussed which class we would be talking to and decided that our talk would fit in best with a group of year fours who had recently been on a school trip which had involved them learning about nature.
Over the next week we created a power point presentation and some booklets. We decided to split the power point presentation into three sections, and we would each speak about the part that we done. I would be talking about why trees are important and where they are being cut down. Katie was talking about the problems cutting down trees was causing, and why they where being cut down, and Emma talked about what can be done to help. I got information of various websites which helped me to include some facts and figures, like who the Amazon Rainforest gives us 20% of our oxygen. As we where talking to children between the ages of we had to be careful of the language we used and how we phrased things, as they would not know as many words as us, and so may not understand if we said something that we had been taught in our lessons at school. I found this a bit difficult as when I am usually describing something, I like to use a wider vocabulary and try to make it very detailed, but as I had to do the opposite of this, I found I had to keep asking people for their opinion of whether the children would be able to understand, as although we did want to teach them something new, we thought it would be difficult and confusing for them to learn too many new words.
When everyone had finished their part, we fitted the power point together and changed everything so it matched. We also read through it editing and adding in bits, like questions each part offered ideas from all of us making it better. When we where finished we gave Kelly the presentation so she would have the information she needed to create the booklets, which I think she done really well, as she found and created lots of activities for the children to enjoy. When we where happy with our final editing, me and Katie went back to Meadow to arrange a date for our visit, but due to the time we had some trouble, as we where doing exams, and they had Christmas plays, so we went back after Christmas and arranged the date for the 9th January.
On the day we left our fourth lesson early, to get to Meadow before half two so we could prepare the presentation. While we where talking, the children where very quite and didn’t talk at all, which although this was really good as showed they where listening, I did worry that they may be too shy or uninterested to answer the questions, but this was not the case. We found the children answered the questions with a lot of enthusiasm which was really pleasing as it showed they where interested in helping the environment, and capturing their interest was something we wanted to achieve. As it was to wet to plant the trees, instead we decided to spend the last 15 minuets questioning the children about the presentation, which I think went really well as like before, the children where all enthusiastic to answer the questions we asked, and gave us many of the points that where included in the power point. This was great as it showed that they had been listening and showed they where interested in the environment.
I think that everything was really well although it was really disappointing that we did not get to plant the trees as it would have been fun and a great experience for us and the children, but we did get the satisfaction of knowing that they would be planting them some other time, and that they had learnt something. They also seemed to be really interested in the booklets that we made which was pleasing as hopefully they will have taken them home and done the activities and even tried some of the activities we recommended. I also hope that they will have tried to influence their parents and their siblings to help by turning of lights and recycling, as this could spread out through out the community and encourage many more people to start helping, which could have an impact on the amount of trees that are being planted and cut down.
