Teacher preparation for a visit to ErinEarth

Roles and Responsibilities

  • It is the responsibility of the school staff to supervise the children at all times. Volunteers from Erin Earth will be available to assist and support staff as well as providing the students with an introduction to Erin Earth.
  • It is recommended that teachers visit ErinEarth and ErinEarth Website before bringing students on site. This will help teachers identify possibilities for seasonal activities, check out special facilities needed and available resources.
  • Parents and helpers accompanying the students need to be informed of protocols and activities. Teachers should ensure that parents are informed and parents should be encouraged to visit ErinEarth and the website prior to coming.
  • A number of resources will be needed for some of the prescribed activities. Ensure you have filled in the required resources on the form emailed to ErinEarth before visiting.

Getting the most from the educational experience at ErinEarth

We strongly recommend that the suggested pre-visit activities and post-visit activities are done so that children obtain the greatest benefit from visiting ErinEarth.

You are provided with two choices for designing your visit. A programme has been developed for each learning stage (Early Stage 1, Stage 1; Stage 2 and Stage 3)

  1. Firstly we have suggested a number of ‘general learning opportunities at ErinEarth’ that might assist you to design your own program for the visit. A list of seasonal happenings may also help with your planning (hyperlink)

  2. Second choice is a more prescriptive ‘Programme of Work’ that consists of three parts pre-visit activities, onsite activities and follow-up activities. There are specific activities for each stage, return to the appropriate stage for your students.

A brief description is provided below. This prescriptive program can be supplemented by seasonal activities.

Pre-visit activities
You will find a number of suggestions of activities you might organise for your visit. These learning opportunities attempt to prepare students with the necessary background knowledge prior to the visit and to raise their interest and enthusiasm for the visit.

Onsite activities The format for the activities we have designed looks like this:
A greeting by an ErinEarth volunteer when the group first arrives. The volunteer will give a brief history of and introduction to ErinEarth. Activities will follow this greeting.

    Follow-up Activities
    We have made some suggestions for follow-up activities but these should depend on what was done on site. Onsite activities could be extended, research pursued, personal interests explored or onsite activities applied in some way to the school environment.

 

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