Blue Star Programme
The children in 5th class learned about the E.U. through various teaching methodologies: direct teaching, collaborative learning, drama, research, group work, group projects, individual projects, celebrating Europe Day on May 9th, MEP questionnaires and a school visit by Irish MEP, Billy Kelleher.
There was great excitement when Billy Kelleher MEP and Cllr. Peter Ormond visited. Fifth class were commended for their enthusiastic participation in the Blue Star Project - EU matters were discussed and the class were keen to learn how our local area is represented in Brussels. Billy answered some challenging questions from the class.
Geographical
Each child did an individual project on an EU country and presented their findings to the class both orally and with a colourful poster display of that country. After each presentation, the other children noted at least one new piece information that they learned about from the presentation.
In groups, they also did a project on Ireland, with each group focusing on a particular aspect (industries, tourist attractions, natural features etc.). Following each groups presentation, they had prepared a quiz for the class.
Institutional
A short child friendly video explaining the EU was shown to the children and three of the institution s were chosen for more in depth explanations which included the European Parliament.
Ireland’s participation in the EU was explored and our thirteen representatives were sent a questionnaire (compiled by the children) to complete and each of the MEPs were invited to visit our school. Some returned the completed questionnaire and three of the MEPs said they would visit.
History
For the history aspect of our blue star project the children decided to research some various Europeans throughout history in groups. Through investigative work on the tablets the pupils researched their respective famous Europeans and compiled key information and facts they found most interesting to them.
Civic Society Element
Fifth class held mock European parliament debates on such issues as whether or not to stop turf cutting and to close the bogs, lowering the voting age for the election of MEPs, banning the sale and use of smart phones to children under the age of sixteen. The motions were rejected or passed by majority votes and the results were interesting.
Cultural and Creative
In groups of twos, the children did projects on various visual artists from the EU (and one Ukranian artist) egs. Picasso, Van Gogh Rembrandt etc. They researched their lives and work, produced a written project and orally presented their projects to the class. Each pair produced a visual art piece based on inspiration from the artist their group had researched.
In another cultural and creative aspect of the project, the children explored countries within the EU which made up the demographic of their class including Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Lithuania. They were keen to find out more information about the languages spoken in EU countries and food traditions. In small groups, the class conducted extensive research online and at home about the focus of their cultural project and settled on exploring a traditional food from each country and the standard greetings.
Europe Day – May 9th
The children really enjoyed taking part in the Kahoots quiz on the Blue Star website . To celebrate Europe Day, they brought in EU country memorabilia (flags, jerseys, etc.), they produced art based on their own EU country project (egs. Landmarks, flags, national dress etc.) They revisited group projects, pair projects and individual projects that they participated in during the year.
