School Tour Week 2nd-5th June

 

School Tour  

 

This week you’re going on a few different virtual tours. There are different activities for each tour that will keep you busy this week. Do as much as you can. Each Virtual Tour has an education section on the website which we will link to below. Check out these activities too and see if there is something that catches your eye. Also, if they inspire you to do something that we haven’t listed, feel free to do that as well. Enjoy!  

 

International:  

 

The San Diego Zoo is a world-famous zoo located in San Diego, California. It is home to an incredible range of animals and wildlife including many endangered species. It has set up loads of web cams all over the zoo. Click on the links and explore the zoo. Go wild!  

 

https://zoo.sandiegozoo.org/live-cams  

 

Activities for the Week:  

Science 

• There are many endangered species in the world. Do some research and write a list of five animals that are close to extinction. Do some research on these animals. See if you can find out why they are becoming extinct. Try and research different projects or groups that are working to protect endangered species. Here are some links to help you. 
• https://www.activewild.com/endangered-animals-facts-for-kids/ 

• https://kids.kiddle.co/Endangered_species 

 

English 

• Write a letter to a zoo of your choice. In your letter outline 
• Your opinion of the zoo (what you thought of it, liked/disliked) 

• Explain why you think zoos are good for animals/bad for animals 
• Tell them what you thought of the animals’ living conditions. Were you impressed? Were you happy with the way they were being looked after/ the care they were given/all the space they had? 
• Ask them questions and ask for additional information about how they ensure their Zoo is ethical and that the animals are happy.  

Art 

• Draw from observation what you are seeing on the web cam.  

 

• Choose a style of painting, pointillism, impressionism, abstract etc. Paint a picture of one of the animals in their habitat using one of the styles.  

 

• Create a 3-D representation of the scene if possible, using junk materials and other media.  

 

• Create a postcard that would represent the San Diego Zoo well. Maybe you could use an old cereal box to back onto your picture.  

 

Ireland:  

Here is a list of links for interesting places to visit in Ireland. Try to visit as many as possible.  

 

Áras an Úachtaráin 

Tour: https://president.ie/en/explore-visit/interactive-tour 

Children’s section: https://president.ie/en/childrens-section 

Áras an Uachtaráin is the official home of the President of Ireland. It is located in the Phoenix Park. Before being the President’s House, it was home of the Viceroy of Ireland, the representative of the Crown in Ireland.  

 

Cork City Gaol  

Tour: http://www.storywise.ie/Cork_City_Gaol/Cork_City_Gaol_Virtual_Tour.html   

Cork City Goal was a prison in Cork City which housed many prisoners over the years. While it might look like a fancy Victorian Castle it was a working prison with very difficult conditions for the people being held there.  

 

Chester Beatty Library  

Tour: https://chesterbeatty.ie/about/3d-virtual-tours/ 

Children’s section: https://chesterbeatty.ie/learning/ 

The Chester Beatty Library includes many of the artefacts collected by Alfred Chester Beatty over the course of his life. He was a rich man who made a lot of money from mining and used this money to collect rare historical items from all over the world particularly the Far East, as it would have been known in his lifetime. When he died, he donated his entire collection to the people of Ireland.  

 

Activities:  

 

English:  

• Write a story inspired by one of the tours. A tea party in Áras an Uachtaráin, the story of a prisoner in Cork Gaol, the story of one of the artefacts from Chester Beatty Library. Make the story as imaginative as you can and illustrate it with pictures to bring the story to life.  

Drama:  

• Imagine you a person attached to one of these places e.g. a president, a prisoner or somebody from the past who owned one of the things from Chester Beatty Library. Record the story of your life (voice only or video if you have permission) and upload it to Seesaw. Try to capture the realities of the time in your piece. Maybe find a costume if possible, at home.  

Art:  

• Create a 3-D replica of one of the items from the Chester Beatty Library. Look up the history of the object and try to recreate it. Upload a picture of your work to Seesaw if you like.  

Geography:  

• Research some of the items from the Chester Beatty Library. Find where they come from. Locate them on the map and draw a map to show them travelling to Ireland. Try to think of how they might have been transported in a time before air travel was as common as it is today. Why do you think this item was important to the people of that place? What can we learn about their culture from this artefact? Why might Chester Beatty have wanted to include it in his collection?