Rang 5: Trees

The theme highlights the importance of trees in the environment and encourages pupils to adopt attitudes and behaviours which promote tree conservation and management. The activities encourage pupils to gain a deeper insight into the properties and physical characteristics of trees. The activities also explore the relationship between people's attitudes to the environment and their treatment of it, the global distribution of trees, the characteristics of the rainforest ecosystem, rainforest destruction and actions for the preservation and protection of trees.

The 20 activities involve:

• Outdoor activities
• Reading exercises
• Creative writing
• Letter writing
• Group discussions
• Pair work
• Picture exercises

Sample activities - 'How Tall is your Tree', 'Fruits of the Forest', 'An Timpeallacht: Tuairmi Daoine Eile', 'Why cut down the Trees?', 'The Planning Game'

Note on fieldwork: planned nature walks could be organised in conjunction with this theme, so that key issues and concepts can be raised in a meaningful way prior to their exploration in the classroom.

Rang 6: Earthlinks

This theme focuses on the links between people and the planet. The character Eddie Earthlink features throughout the activities. The principles of sustainable and unsustainable actions are explored. The concept of justice and the rights of future generations are also addressed. The activities aim to encourage pupils to discover how the daily actions of individuals, communities and society relate to the environment. Pupils are encouraged to recognise and support environmentally friendly actions.

The 27 activities involve:

• Outdoor activities
• Reading exercises
• Creative writing
• Letter writing
• Group discussions
• Pair work
• Picture exercises
• Poster making

Resources include - 'A Fragile Planet', 'The Rights of Future Generations', 'Towards a more Just Planet', 'Link the world in 80 Ways'