Finite Resources

Big Green World

Posted on Jun 6, 2013 in Finite Resources

Big Green World

This is our final post for the year! Thank you to all our parents, friends and teachers who have followed us from around the world. It has been a wonderful year in Grade 4 and we are very proud of our learning. To finish the year, we’d like to share our very own music video, “Big Green World”. (Read more about our environmental project in this previous post) While preparing this environmental message, we learned a lot about persuasive language, filming techniques and digital editing. We were inspired by Joni Mitchell’s original classic “Big Yellow Taxi”. We hope you are inspired to save the trees!  ...

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Water Matters

Posted on May 29, 2013 in Finite Resources

Water Matters

Over the last few weeks, Grade 4 has been investigating water. We have discovered that fresh water is a precious resource. We also learned that it is often polluted. Agriculture, sewage, industry and detergents can make water unsafe to drink. Many people around the world do not have clean water. In China, over 100 million people are drinking unsafe water every day. This causes diseases. Today, special guests from  RISE  Tsinghua University visited to teach us how to keep water safe and make it clean. They have invented a special filter called a bio-sand filter. It uses sand to trap the germs in water. They travel around China, teaching communities how to protect their water and make it cleaner. After watching their presentation, we went outside to make our own filters!  We were in 4 teams for “The Cleanest Water Competition”. We prepared bottles, stones, sand and dirty water. In this order, we added water, large stones, smaller stones and then sand to the bottles. At last, each group’s filter was ready! We took turns to pour dirty water into our filters. Then we looked at the water coming out  and it was very clean! The University student chose the winner by judging which team had the clearest colour. Benedict, Joshua, Jack and Geon Woo’s team were the winners! We had a great lesson with RISE  Tsinghua University students. We learned a lot about water pollution and ways to clean water. We think their work is very important in China. By:  Geon Woo & Hyun Seo   Why is water so precious as a resource? How can you conserve water in your own life? How can you conserve other finite resources in your...

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Grade 4 Goes Green!

Posted on May 23, 2013 in Finite Resources

Grade 4 Goes Green!

We have discovered a big problem! We are using resources faster than we can replace them!  To understand the issue better, we watched videos about fossil fuels, energy consumption, pollution and greener solutions. Then we began to collect our own data. We audited energy use in our homes and at BISS, and oh dear, what a shock! We are wasting resources every day! We found lights on in unoccupied classrooms, air-conditioners set below 18 degrees, electrical devices drawing power when not in use and even leaky taps. But the thing that upset us most was that many classrooms in our school didn’t have paper recycling systems. So we are going to change that! We made new recycling bins, then taught a lesson to each class about how to separate their trash and why recycling is important. It was tricky to talk to the youngest students in Pre-K, but now they are our best recyclers! Each day, we are collecting the recyclable paper & card from the classrooms and storing it. We are noticing less waste and better sorting in the younger classes. In a few weeks, we will take all the materials to a recycling plant. This will save trees, electricity, water, chemicals and a lot of pollution.   Why is it important to save trees? Why is recycling a helpful solution? How can people reduce paper use?...

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