Grade 6 ‘Living Sustainably’ Unit

Grade 6 had a very exciting start to the week! They participated in a special two-day cross-curricular unit ‘Living Sustainably’.

We started learning about sustainability in “the past” on Monday with our special guests and grandparents that joined us for Generations Day. The grade 6 students spent time with their guests learning about what sustainability meant to their grandparents and ways that they have helped repair the Earth while growing up. Were sustainability and environmental initiatives just a ‘normal’ part of the day? Are we actually doing more to help the environment today?

After the interviews, students worked collaboratively to try to ‘Escape to Green Island’ through a series of math problems that pertained to water and energy usage. This was a fun activity, combining all of the subject disciplines of English, Math, Social Studies, and Science!

Students began day-two of the unit completing their own biodiversity hunt in their backyards! What species live there? How do they interact and rely on each other?

On Tuesday afternoon, Oakwood’s Construction Development Manager, Trent Doherty, gave a presentation about the benefits of Net Zero homes and sustainable building solutions. The students had lots of great questions- Can you make a 100 year old home Net Zero? Does it cost more to build a net zero home? If someone wants an outdoor pool, can it be part of the Net Zero system? Trent also shared important lessons for the students that he has learned throughout his own career story- the importance of learning to work with others and that we need to embrace mistakes and learn from them to move forward!

To end our two-days together, students were asked to design their own Net Zero home! Some students chose to design their own home on paper, while others used Minecraft and other programs for the designs!

(Design by Joey Sm.)

We tried something new together and had a lot of fun in the process! Students had the opportunity to give feedback about the two-day cross-curricular unit that the teaching team will look at when we look back at the process of planning and implementing the unit, and what we learned to apply to our teaching next year. And yes, that certainly sounds like a good starting point for another blog post đŸ™‚

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