Today, we were joined by Year 4 pupils and their teacher from St. Mary Magdalen’s Catholic Primary School in Richmond, London (https://www.st-marymagdalens.richmond.sch.uk/), and did they wow us too!
After formally welcoming everybody and introducing myself and Marcella, as well as sharing the aims of the workshop and proposed format for the sessions, we moved on to our ‘starter’. I launched Digimap for Schools and projected a map of the UK to pinpoint our locations and explore our connections with these places (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. We then played an animation, which the children watched intently: https://stepintotheamazon.co.uk/resources/
Next, the children attempted a true or false quiz based upon a series of images and statements about the tropical rainforest biome, e.g. its climate; soils; fauna and flora. When revealing the answers, further detail was provided about this fascinating biome and anecdotes added from Marcella’s first-hand experiences of the Amazon rainforest.
We needed a change of state, so the below activity was instigated. When challenged by their teacher 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.
Break called. On our return, we contemplated some of the issues facing the Amazon through a think-pair-share and 5Ws+how activity. It was wonderful to witness so much interaction and discussion taking place in their classroom.
Next, we attempted a rather challenging jigsaw puzzle and questioning activity in pairs or small groups to stimulate further higher-order thinking. Youngsters embraced this activity enthusiastically and had some profound responses to share when we zoomed into their classroom. Well done to the Year 4 pupils (XXXX) who completed the puzzle first.
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 offered many thoughtful responses to my questions.
We also mentioned about Taissa’s experiences of COP28 in Dubai and COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, where she spoke with great confidence, conviction and passion (https://www.instagram.com/reel/DCiMH64vjvS/?igsh=OGUzbW5jd2RzcjM0).
Two optional extension tasks were set for the teacher to complete with pupils over the next couple of days should they wish.
In fact, all pupils engaged whole-heartedly with both activities and the results shared with us throughout the week were very moving. On the Friday afternoon, we questioned the youngsters from the Kambeba indigenous community, who had joined us in ‘real time’ despite it being in the midst of their summer holiday. Marcella and a close friend of hers, Olivia Pires Zamprogna, proficiently translated the Kambebas’ responses to the questions that UK pupils had posed to them. Individuals, both in the UK and Brazil, were also encouraged to share images of objects or places special to them and explain why this was the case. Whilst there were many differences due to their contrasting locations, there were, however, several similarities; this task really emphasises what matters to us all. Having pupils in the UK connecting with children of a similar age from the heart of the Amazon was truly heart-warming and rather magical too.
Our final activity of the afternoon encouraged a degree of reflection.
Pupils were able to recall lots from the information drip-fed throughout the week 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.
The teacher was 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:
Thank you so much for a wonderful day in the Amazon! We all had a lovely time and learnt so much!
Thank you again for such a wonderful afternoon! It was so interesting to hear from Taissa. The children had a great time.
Our next virtual multi-schools event will take place in early March. See the below flyer for further details or contact Emma Espley directly to reserve a specific date (emma.espley@gmail.com).
