TASIS Wildlife Club
Each Wednesday, 20 children from 3rd and 4th grade (aged 8-10) meet for Wildlife Club with Lower School teacher Wendy Gediman. We have been learning about British wildlife. The students have looked at habitats for a variety of animals, and how mankind has changed the natural habitat of these animals. Students have had the chance to see live animals every other week in the classroom. Anne Brummer, from Harper Asprey Wildlife Rescue, comes and shares animals that have been rescued. The goal she has is for animals to be given the care needed to eventually be well enough to be released back into nature. There have been a few animals where this is not possible, including a 30kg …

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Something that our Green Team has been waiting for a long time for are our new editions to the school farm.  Three weeks ago two chickens, Victoria and Betty, and two rabbits, Rhubarb and Custard, came to stay.

The two light Sussex chickens have already started laying eggs, which are now being sold to the staff and the rabbits are creating a real buzz around the farm.  The idea of having the animals is to develop an empathy in students for all our living creatures and help students gain a sense of responsibility and commitment in their lives at school.

Each week two members of the Green team are chosen to look after the animals, visiting them everyday to feed and check on them during lunchtimes and the animals are more than …

Read all of Our new farm editions!

A ONE PLANET FUTURE
This account, written by Agent H and a number of Chrono-bots gives details of the small measures we have taken during the summer term to increase students’ understanding of animals, people and the environment. We measure every student’s carbon footprint at the end of Year 7 and cannot claim that many of us could live on the resources of less than three plants. We have therefore called this project ‘A One Planet Future’
ANIMALS
Although this is an account of our summer term activities, we will start by saying that in January, we adopted two chimpanzees through the Jane Goodall Institute. We have also adopted an orphan orangutan, a Galapagos tortoise, a blue footed booby and a coral atoll! …

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Animals
The students were introduced to the Roots & Shoots Programme and Jane Goodall’s work in a group setting and then science and geography lessons were used to explore topics of adaptations and habitats.
An outdoor education visit was planned for Chester Zoo to investigate animal adaptations and observe the created habitats.

Educational visit to Chester Zoo 12th November 2010.
A group of students visited the zoo and took part in a workshop to learn more about animal adaptations specific to a Rainforest environment.
Live Animals
Madagascan Hissing Cockroach

 

The students discovered that the cockroach was well equipped for a life on the forest floor. It had perfect camouflage as it was exactly the same colour …

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Animal Emotions <http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/animal-emotions
Do animals think and feel?
by Marc Bekoff

Wild animals banned in UK circuses: Animal suffering matters
Despite political dirty tricks and intimidation animals gain protection
Published on June 24, 2011 by Marc Bekoff

http://www.psychologytoday.com/experts/marc-bekoff

in Animal Emotions

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/animal-emotions

In a remarkable victory for animals and the many people working on their behalf, lions, tigers, elephants, and other wild animals have been banned from being used and abused in the circus.

This decision came despite pressure, bribing, and bullying from influential people.
Animals do not belong in circuses
http://www.idausa.org/facts/circusfacts.html

see also

http://www.bornfreeusa.org/a1a_circus.php

and

http://www.bornfreeusa.org/a1a2_circus.php

There is no educational or conservation value to these venues and this historic vote should set a precedent for other countries to follow.

Here is a message from Marc Bekoff, a former Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and co-founder with Jane Goodall of Ethologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals:

“Hello!

It is a great pleasure to provide the link to a new online book, Kids & Animals: Drawings From the Hands and Hearts of Children & Youth (Text by Marc Bekoff, Foreword by Jane Goodall). It is the result of a happy collaboration between myself and the Children, Youth and Environments Center at the University of Colorado to feature the drawings, writing, and activities of children and youth engaged in Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots programs in countries around the world. It is our goal that this …

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As Ringwood’s work on the One World theme continued throughout the Summer term, we tried to meet the Roots & Shoots challenge of spreading the word of Roots & Shoots (Exercise 2 of J’s Lost Notebook). The many school and community projects that we have been involved with and that are described below, have allowed us to share the ideas of Roots & Shoots.

We agree with the Roots & Shoots principle that is so beautifully demonstrated with the Greater Gombe ecosystem, that making small scale local changes can make a big difference over time. Our first application of this principle relates to Fairtrade. Our Chronobots have worked throughout the year to raise the profile of Fairtrade in the community. To …

Read all of One World: People in a Global Village – Mission Update!!

Dust Bowl Project:
Animal Factors
Carrying on from our investigations into how Dust Bowl conditions bring detrimental change to affected environments, the agents spent time looking at the consequences of such a change to Kent’s interdependent ecosystem.
Our aim was to demonstrate that the first signs of change to an environment can easily go unnoticed if we fail to take account of all the elements contained within a specific area, the destruction or demise of which, can often act as the catalyst for preventable catastrophe.
However, we are also aware that some of our agents struggle with issues, such as literalism, which can sometimes be a detrimental obstacle to appropriate learning experiences and as such, we are often forced to take a very …

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I can’t begin to write this posting without first offering a huge Thank-You to everyone at Roots & Shoots for our Gold Award. It helps that we are family based and that the agents who are able bodied do not appear to perceive other agents’ difficulties as a barrier to certain experiences. I think one of the greatest assets of the group is their willingness to adapt and accommodate the array of strategies we employ.

One of the …

Read all of Hi from the thawing North! – Highlands Mission Update!

The Reception Class have been learning about animal habitats near and far.