Earth Week

Since Monday the 10th of February, the students at HD Qingdao have engaged in online learning. Teaching via the computer brings its own challenges, particularly in a bilingual school where many of the students are still in the early stages of developing their levels of English.

Our international team regularly provide online lessons so that they can answer questions and support the children with their English language development.

As a set of teachers we are so proud of the way our students have adapted to this challenging situation and the commitment they have shown to learning online.

Between Tuesday 7th until Monday 13th of April we decided to switch to a Topic based approach. In the mornings the children would take part in their online English lessons as normal but for the rest of the day, to give the students a break from their screens, the children took part in creative ‘offline’ learning.

The theme of the Topic was ‘Earth Week’ and this gave our students and teachers an opportunity to get creative and engage more with the local environment as the lockdown regulations started to relax.

As the Principal of the school I have been amazed at the quality of some of the work the students have produced. Below you will find examples of work from each of the grades and I hope you enjoy looking through our students’ work as much as I did.

Grade 1

In Grade 1 our students were asked to go on a nature trail and then pick and label a flower in English. Our students also went on a minibeast hunt and learned about the life cycle of a butterfly. During the rest of the week, the children were asked to create a rain gauge to measure rainfall and create a bird feeder that was made using a toilet roll, peanut butter and seeds.

Grade 2

In Grade 2 our students initially spent time conducting an environmental survey of the local beaches and some of the students even used their time on the beach to develop their understanding of numbers. As well as several different arts and craft activities over the week, the children also got the opportunity to create their own terrariums out of recycled plastic bottles.

Grade 3

In Grade 3 the children took part in comprehension and grammar activities all related to the ‘Earth Week’ theme. The students also created art works made entirely of leaves and planted seeds which they will observe growing over the coming weeks and months. The students also got the opportunity to learn about volcanoes and engaged in a fun Science activity at home!

Grade 4

Our Grade 4 students learned about the problems caused by plastic packaging and how plastic waste is impacting animals in the Ocean. The students learned about the things they could do, as individuals, to reduce the amount of waste that they produce at home.

As part of their upcycling work, the students in 4B turned some of their old magazines and snack wrappers into colourful drink mats. Our students in 4A turned their old magazines and leaflets into beautifully crafted bowls and heat mats. The students were also set the challenge of designing outfits made entirely of recycled materials and you can see the wonderful results in the photos below.

Grade 5

Our Grade 5 students learned about the impact of global warming on polar bears and learned how they could protect the environment by using less electricity around the house. They also learned about the meat industry and that by consuming less meat, we could all make a huge contribution to reducing greenhouse gases and deforestation.

All our students ended the week by participating in a fun House competition where they were asked to take a pebble and turn it into a minibeast. The colours of the minibeast had to relate to the colours of their school house. We look forward to judging this competition when we eventually return to school.

Our students did a magnificent job of responding to the activities that our teachers set them over the week and learned some important lessons about the need to respect and protect wildlife and the environment. A vital lesson to learn during this current crisis.

I hope our parents are as proud of the work our students’ produced, as I am.