A busy week for myself and Marcella Haddad as we prepare for two back-to-back trips to the Amazon! On board with us today were nearly 150 Key Stage 2 pupils and their teachers from three schools throughout the western half of the UK, namely Raeburn Primary School in Bromborough on The Wirral (https://raeburn.wirral.sch.uk/); Vernon Primary School in Poynton, Cheshire (https://www.vernonprimaryschool.com/) and Lakefield C of E Primary School in Frampton-on-Severn, Gloucestershire (https://www.lakefield.gloucs.sch.uk/gloucs/primary/lakefield).
After a formal welcome and introductions, as well as sharing the aims of the workshop and proposed format for the session, we moved on to our ‘starter’. I launched Digimap for Schools and projected a map of the UK to pinpoint our locations (https://digimapforschools.edina.ac.uk/). Never miss an opportunity to enhance pupils’ locational and place knowledge!
Our first task was to challenge any misconceptions that pupils had. We asked them what they thought Brazil was like and where they believed the Amazon was located. Some interesting comments were added to the chat feed or shared with us by unmuting their microphones! We then played a movie clip, which the children watched intently: https://stepintotheamazon.co.uk/resources/
Next, with help from Marcella and her box of Brazilian artefacts, kindly lent to her by our colleague, Adriana Meirelles, we explored aspects of the tropical rainforest biome, e.g. its climate; soils; fauna and flora. After quizzing pupils, some background information was provided about each item and Marcella then added in anecdotes from her first-hand experiences of the Amazon rainforest.
We needed a change of state, so the below activity was instigated.
When challenged by their teachers and ourselves, pupils were able to justify their positions well.
Afterwards, we considered the importance of the Amazon together. We touched upon its biodiversity, the number of resources it contains, its role as a carbon sink and a climate regulator, why it is also known as a ‘pharmaceutical wonderland’ and as a home to many indigenous communities.
Through a think-pair-share and 5Ws+how activity, we contemplated some of the issues facing the Amazon.
It was wonderful to witness so much interaction and discussion taking place in each classroom.
Since we had all concentrated very hard and given our all, we took a short screen break.
On our return, we embarked upon a layers of inference activity to stimulate further higher-order thinking.
Youngsters embraced this activity enthusiastically and had some profound responses to share when we zoomed into each classroom.
We then played a ten minute movie clip, created using audio and visual footage that both Marcella and Adriana had captured during their time spent with the Kambeba indigenous community within the heart of the Amazon. The children were asked to think about how the Kambebas live in harmony with their natural surroundings and what we can learn from them in order to lead more sustainable lifestyles. Pupils were mesmerised and had plenty of questions to ask Marcella afterwards, which she answered willingly and comprehensively.
We also shared details about Taissa (one of the young Kambebas)’s recent experiences of COP28 in Dubai, where she was invited to speak.
Our final activity of the morning encouraged a degree of reflection.
Pupils were able to recall lots from the information drip-fed throughout the morning and listed many actions that they now intended to take in order to reduce their impact on our planet and contribute to its sustainability. The link between local actions and global impact was also reinforced.
Teachers were asked to complete a short online feedback form with the children so that we could capture some staff and pupil voice; this is important to us at Step into the Amazon as it enables us to perfect our workshop content and delivery.
Some of their ‘concluding comments’ can be found below.
Great opportunity to speak to someone who has been in the Amazon.
Very informative and interesting to talk to people with first-hand experience.
Inspiring and fascinating! Brilliant session – the children were hooked!
Thank you for the session, my class loved it and found it really informative.
Many thanks again – the children had an amazing time!
An enjoyable and worthwhile way to spend a Monday morning, it seems!
Schools were also provided with an extension task to complete during the remainder of the week if they so wished. This is proving to be an effective means of connecting children here in the UK with youngsters of a similar age within the Kambebas indigenous community in the heart of the Amazon. The written and audio-visual material that is being created through this activity is truly wonderful.
Our next virtual multi-schools event will take place on Friday 9th February 2024, from 9.30 am until 12 noon. Why not join in too?
