1. Wider Curriculum Coursework Presentation By Team Tree Sara Batley, Elizabeth Ferris, Tom Ormston, Karen Vousden and Kirsty Watt

3. If Trees Could Talk

4. Planting the Seeds This term, Year 4 is focusing on the idea ‘If Trees could talk’, this is an opportunity for the children to engage with their natural surroundings and encourage them to have a greater appreciation for the world around them. It is a process of discovery that will allow Year 4 to be more aware of themselves and learn more about the valuable contribution of other living things to their environment. There are many benefits to learning outside the Classroom, which the DfES have outlined in their Learning Outside the Classroom Manifesto: Improve academic achievement Provide a bridge to higher order learning Develop skills and independence in a widening range of environmentsNuture creativity Make learning more engaging and relevant to young peopleStimulate, inspire and improve motivation Develop active citizens and stewards of the environmentDevelop the ability to deal with uncertainty Provide opportunities for informal learning through playReduce behaviour problems and improve attendance Provide challenge and the opportunity to take acceptable levels of riskImprove young people’s attitudes to learning(DfES, 2006)

5. Why Abington Park Abington Park is an incredibly valuable local resource that gives our children the perfect opportunity visit in order to explore the nature environment and learn a variety of skills from within a range of subject areas. The multisensory approach necessary to discover the depths of Abington Park promotes a deeper level of understanding that envelopes all aspects of intelligences from kinaesthetic, visual, naturalist and existential within Abington Park. This development of learning can then be expanded on within the school setting to cultivate the children’s ability to comprehend the information presented to them in a logical intrapersonal fashion that can then be expressed in a variety of mediums.

6. The Green Stuff Abington Park is the best option for a prompt for learning outside the classroom for the school because it is reasonably local to our school. The children will be able to readily apply understanding and context of the topics as well as themes being studied over the course of the term. The total cost of the trip including coach travel and use of the museum and educational ambassador workshop is £430. With each child contributing £6 the school budget can supply the remaining £10. This is a demonstration of how cost effective the trip is, for the opportunity to develop the children’s minds and engage them in their learning.

7. What we can do There is a wide variety of opportunities available to advance children’s learning when visiting Abington Park. We are not only restricted to the Historical Educational experience from the Museum Ambassador, which is a fantastic opportunity within itself, but we also have the chance to work through the children’s interaction with the Park itself; allowing them to perceive the wonders of the natural world and extend their awareness of their own surroundings. Through teaching in this different environment, the children will participate more in the activities through the day, as they will learn through the exploratory manner that comes with the discovery of new skills and the challenges presented to them.

8. Seeing the wood through the trees At Abington Park, the children will have the experience of discovering more about their environment through the use of technology. In order to empower the children’s learning, their research will be facilitated through the use of QR Codes and iPads which will reveal the clue to the next tree, this will permit the children to determine which tree they must go to next through the use of their prior learning, in order to go further along the interactive trail.

9. QR Codes The children are to use their prior learning to move through Abington Park via the QR Code Tree Trail. The learning experience of going through the Trail will promote discussion, team building skills and be a prompt for further exploration on the focus of our topic ‘If Trees could Talk’.

10. Making use of Natural Resources Within Abington Park, there is an old manor house, that old house is now a Museum; and in the Museum there is lectures aimed at primary school children so that they might access history at a deeper level. The history of Abington Park blends well with the idea ‘If Trees Could Talk’, as the trees have observed the many different uses that the land has been put to. Having grown within the ruins of the former village of Abington, been in the grounds of the manor house, as it was occupied by Shakespeare’s granddaughter Elizabeth Bernard before passing to the Thursby family. The trees have also witnessed the transformation from a lunatic asylum (1845-1892) before the donation of the grounds by Lady Wantage to Northampton, turning it into Abington Park.

11. Seeing through the eyes of Trees Having a historical insight into Abington Park will allow a further depth of perspective for the children, to progress them from observing the impact of the present on the world around them, to the consideration of the influences imparted by the past on the world around them.

12. Looking at Nature The development of the creative processes is enhanced through visiting Abington Park as it enables the children to participate in the active discovery of their environment. The activity of taking Art from the environment, is not merely the visual appreciation of the image of the surrounding landscape but, is the literal representation of nature in Art. The action of taking the patterns of the plants themselves, through the imprints created through leaf printing and bark rubbing, dictates the very expression of nature through Art.

13. A Child’s Eye View The purpose of the creative expression within Abington Park, is for the children to explore the art techniques and methods of (leaf) printing using paints and enacting bark rubbing through the use of different media such as charcoal, pencil and crayon. The children will be able to develop their resourcefulness and be able to imaginatively consider the impact of their artistic creations as well as how they can display their own learning over the course of the topic.

14. Setting Sail As part of the preparation for the visit to Abington Park, the children will have engaged in a Science and Design Technology project that will have motivated their learning to produce inspired designs and outstanding creations that are effectively Bark Boats. The children will have learnt about the materials necessary to make a floating object and will have created their boats which have a bark base, with other materials acting as the sail. The investigative nature of this project means that not only will the children have designed and produced their Bark Boats, they will also have to conduct an scientific investigation of the Bark Boats where the only independent variable is the changed materials/construction of each Bark Boat and the dependent variable is whether the Bark boats will float or move across the lake at Abington Park. The children will have written predictions about what they think will happen when they test their boats on the lake and will record the results of their investigation during the visit to Abington Park.

15. Just Barking Along As the children will have tested their Bark Boats at Abington Park, the record of results will be expanded upon once back within the school setting. The excitement and potential risks of testing their Bark Boats on a lake in Abington Park should teach the children a real understanding of uncontrollable variables, such as the weather, which they will then later be able to reflect upon in their evaluations of the experiment and of their Bark Boat product. The evaluation process will extend their learning process as they consider potential improvements.

16. How Abington Park will progress learning Our visit to Abington Park and subsequent 6 weeks’ planning for lessons includes a plethora of benefits for teaching and learning in a variety of academic subjects. The aim of the visit is to provide the children with an encouraging experience that then inspires them and ensures they enjoy the further lessons. Once they enjoy the theme they will invest more in it and their interaction will aid, not only their academic performance, but also their social and emotional wellbeing. Throughout the different school subjects covered over the term’s planning, the children should be given ample opportunities to enhance their learning academically, as well as socially and emotionally. The members of staff too have occasions to further their teaching of subjects and develop their professional development. The visit will allow for expression, teamwork, kinaesthetic involvement, physical hands on learning, team building, enhancing of self-esteem, self-confidence and an understanding of the environment in which we live. The sessions in class over the 6 week term are designed to build on the experiences that the children will have had, draw on their imagination, creativity and entrepreneurial dexterity. The finished products should be something that the children are proud of, and remember for years to come.

17. Inside the Classroom The visit to Abington Park will make a huge effect on the work produced, inside and outside the classroom, either during our visit in the learning activities mentioned or generated through inspirational homework tasks due to the motivation that the children will have gained though the visit. In their English work, the children will cover different styles of writing by completing a diary of the trip, writing haiku and shape poems, as well as a story based on ‘If Trees Could Talk’. The poems will also be performed, to encourage the skills necessary for public speaking while extending their confidence in themselves and their work. The Maths has cross curricular links with Science, Geography and ICT. The children will measure lengths around the park and calculate area and perimeter. They will also look at volume of rainfall, and their data handling of habitats will encourage comparisons and an understanding of other countries and the effects that weather has on people’s lives there. This will help the children develop an understanding of their own locale and an appreciation of the circumstances that they live in. Science and Design and Technology provides another core area for teaching and learning; prior to the trip the children will make bark boats, to then test them at the park, as well as take photos for a scrapbook on habitats, build birdhouses and learn about photosynthesis.

18. Exploration of the Wider Curriculum History is touched on through the visit on the trip to the museum. Back in the classroom the History focus switches to looking at Abington Park 100 years ago, comparing it to how it is now, and imagining what it will look like 100 years in the future. Children will then reflect on the trip and analyse how the park is now, alongside research into the past and imagine into the future. They must also consider how people feel living in the surrounding area. Developing a sense of sympathy and empathy for people in the past who would have seen their homes on the present day Park site destroyed is an advanced skill for children to develop, but a crucial one to take into the world outside the classroom. Art is used on the both on the trip and in the classroom. In art, as in music and performing arts, there is much scope for expression and the children should feel a sense of success and a lack of judgement. The children will create musical soundscapes, and use their artistic skills to design CD covers. This project is cross curricular through ICT and Enterprise as the children will be given the opportunity to further hone their creative skills, through recording, manufacturing, designing, marketing and selling CDs of soundscapes from Abington Park, the children are given a plethora of chances that they would not normally get in school. It is a big responsibility for Year 4 children but one that they should rise to.

19. Thank you for watching this presentation. Team Tree