Education for Sustainability through Geography & CCE - Wk 5
Hi all,
Welcome to our unit on Bushfires!!!!
This
may be a sensitive topic for some but it is an important one to cover.Through learning about bushfires students are empowered to
be better prepared for natural hazards, they improve their decision making
skills, have an increase in their resilience, are more likely to get involved
in developing fire safety plans at home, and learn they can be active
participants in theirs and others safety (Gibbs, Block, Ireton & Taunt,
2018).
Through the content descriptors (CD) below, students will
explore the following:
The cross-curricular priority of
Sustainability is embedded throughout this unit. In particular taking action individually and as a school
community in response to past events (bushfires) to help preserve the
environment and reduce environmental impacts of bushfires in the future.
To start our unit, students will complete
a What we Know about bushfires chart
and add to this throughout the unit
5L will then read and find their own
bushfire articles. Some articles that we will
explore in class are as follows:
Alison Bevege-https://www.reuters.com/article/us-australia-bushfire/record-australian-heat-brings-fire-to-a-scorched-land-idUSKCN1QK018
Simon Atkinson & Hywel Griffith-https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-47038202
To gain an insight on the impact
bushfires have, students will watch the Bushfire
Recovery YouTube clip-
Students will visit our local fire station to learn about Fire Danger Ratings and Fire Bans, as well as essential community information such as designated meeting places, evacuation plans, etc.
(Country Fire Authority, 2018)
We will create our own Bushfire Survival Plan for school. Students will be able to share their newfound knowledge with you to create a Bushfire Survival Plan at home for a homework task.
For their final assessment piece, students
will complete a community observation task to determine houses that are at risk
during bushfire season (using our template below). Students will create posters
and a cover letter and do a letterbox drop to inform community members and
house owners of these risks and ways to prevent fires in our neighbourhood. Students
will also think of other ways they can help such as: volunteering to help
elderly or disabled residents prepare for bushfire season and set up a schedule
to do so. Students will create a class blog and make it available for community
members; the link for this will be included in the information letterbox drop.
How can you help at home?
The
resources above are a great starting point; they will give you an idea of the
type of information we are looking at in class.
The
Better Health Channel (State Government of Victoria) provides some great tips
when talking to children about bushfires.
Other
useful websites full of wonderful resources and information for you and your
child:
NSW Rural Fire Service – Fire Danger
Ratings & Fire Bans - https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/fire-information/fdr-and-tobans
Your help in completing the at home bushfire safety plan will be greatly appreciated.
Once again, please feel free to come and see me to
discuss any issues.
Lara
Thank- you Lara for sharing your draft blog with me 😊. Your blog is engaging, informed and concise, and I commend you on this.
ReplyDeleteYou have created a relevant unit of work for children and families living in both rural and urban areas, with an engaging introduction, relevant activities and supportive online sources that may assist families in implementing a fire plan.
This unit of work is well thought out and organized. I especially like the assessment that focusses on looking after the vulnerable members of society. Well done! This is the most important act of citizenship.
I have only two points to highlight:
• Recent fires in Victoria – ‘Black Saturday’ and in Tasmania require sensitivity. You may like to include this in your introduction such as ‘I understand this is a sensitive subject for many in the community but children need to learn protective strategies in order to deal with bush fires’.
• The spelling of neighborhood
Over all, you have produced a thorough unit on fire management and as a future teacher I would feel confident that students would develop the understanding, skills and kindness
in teaching this lesson.
Thank you
Kim