On June 22, the day we have been looking forward to for a long time finally arrived, the start of our Environmental Education Project ‘Sulyap sa Karagatan’. Twenty-five classes of five elementary schools in Puerto Princesa City will participate in this project. We started with the school in the village where we live; Tagburos Elementary School. For each class, the project will last four days. Each day a different theme all related with life in and around the sea, will be covered. The first day is all about Mangroves.
At eight in the morning, all pupils of grade 5 (age 10-12) of Tagburos Elementary School were waiting, excited for the project to start. Miss Mila, the science teacher, welcomed Sander ter Meulen (project manager) the volunteers Honey Rose and Phobis and me in her classroom.
After introducing ourselves, we started with warming up the children with a song. All children received a booklet containing information, exercises, games and puzzles on the different topics. Then Phobis, a graduate in education studies, started an interactive class on the biology of mangroves. She also explained which animals live in the mangrove forests and their features. After the break, in which the kids got lemonade and snacks, Honey Rose, graduate in environmental sciences, continued the lecture, talking about the importance of mangroves and on how we can protect them. The volunteers kept the attention of the kids by showing them pictures, asking questions and doing exercises from the booklet.
We finished the morning with playing the ‘Mangrove game’, for which the class is divided into 4 groups. Each group protects their mangrove area with different plants and animals in it. In the meanwhile, kids who are acting as fishermen are trying to get the plants and animals from mangrove areas of other groups to try and get four of the same animal or plant species. If fishermen are caught by the protector, they have to go back to their own area to get a new life. The group with the most quartets wins the game.
For me, it was great to see the enthusiasm of both volunteers and kids on all the activities we developed. For the kids it was also a great experience; they had fun and learned about nature at the same time.
Next time you will read about volunteers Esther and Florence, teaching grade 6 about ‘Animals of the Sea’.
At eight in the morning, all pupils of grade 5 (age 10-12) of Tagburos Elementary School were waiting, excited for the project to start. Miss Mila, the science teacher, welcomed Sander ter Meulen (project manager) the volunteers Honey Rose and Phobis and me in her classroom.
After introducing ourselves, we started with warming up the children with a song. All children received a booklet containing information, exercises, games and puzzles on the different topics. Then Phobis, a graduate in education studies, started an interactive class on the biology of mangroves. She also explained which animals live in the mangrove forests and their features. After the break, in which the kids got lemonade and snacks, Honey Rose, graduate in environmental sciences, continued the lecture, talking about the importance of mangroves and on how we can protect them. The volunteers kept the attention of the kids by showing them pictures, asking questions and doing exercises from the booklet.
We finished the morning with playing the ‘Mangrove game’, for which the class is divided into 4 groups. Each group protects their mangrove area with different plants and animals in it. In the meanwhile, kids who are acting as fishermen are trying to get the plants and animals from mangrove areas of other groups to try and get four of the same animal or plant species. If fishermen are caught by the protector, they have to go back to their own area to get a new life. The group with the most quartets wins the game.
For me, it was great to see the enthusiasm of both volunteers and kids on all the activities we developed. For the kids it was also a great experience; they had fun and learned about nature at the same time.
Next time you will read about volunteers Esther and Florence, teaching grade 6 about ‘Animals of the Sea’.
Kids in line for lemonade during the break.
All kids want to answer Phobis' question.
Protecting the mangroves during the game.
Protecting the mangroves during the game.
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