Teachers' Resources

The book includes a range of Irish species, such as the red squirrel, hedgehog, pygmy shrew, rabbit, Irish mountain hare, Irish stoat, pine marten, red fox, and the various species of deer, bats, seals, whales and dolphins. There is also a section on tips to support wildlife and to help your pupils connect with nature.

Also, your purchase supports Irish wildlife, for each copy sold, the Irish Wildlife Trust will receive a commission from Juanita.  The book costs €9.99, plus €2.50 doe postage and packaging.

Use this task to develop the children’s awareness of these little critters and the great job they do in keeping our ecosystem going: pollinating flowers and crops, aerating and nourishing the soil, providing food for other wildlife and generally maintaining the balance of nature. It also introduces the children to bugs and insects in a non-threatening manner.

Things To do
1.    Find little monsters! Download the Little Monsters worksheet below and bring the children out to the school grounds or local park and ask them to find (but not touch!) the insects and bugs on the sheet.

Things To do
1.    A nature ramble to the local park to collect different types of leaves and see if the children can match them to the Leaf Hunt worksheet below or if this not possible bring in some leaves and see if the children can match them.
2.    Repeat this exercise in all four seasons and explain the differences in the colours and shapes
3.    Take part in National Tree Week and plant a tree in the school grounds.

Download the resources below to explore the history, science and geography relating to Kilkenny’s water.

Each show sees host Neil Delamere risk life and limb to celebrate the greatest ‘Eureka Moments’ of our time – he channels 4 million volts of electricity and shoots lightning out of his fingertips (and a couple of other places while he’s at it), he creates an earthquake in Westmeath, undergoes astronaut training in a human centrifuge and goes freediving in a freezing quarry – all in the name of science.

Eureka! The Big Bang Query was made with the support of Science Foundation Ireland and the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.

Things To do
1.    Grow Celtic Cress (this will take about 4-5 days).

What you will need:
1.    Cress seeds, paper towels and a flat plate.

What to do:
1.    Download the Celtic Cress worksheet below and cut out the first initial of the student’s name.
2.    Wet some towels until they are soaking.
3.    Lay the letter shape onto the towels.
4.    Sprinkle lots of cress seeds in the letter shape. Make sure you cover the whole of the letter shape. Press the seeds down gently.
5.    Lift the letter shape, leaving the seed shapes. Place the plate in a warm sunny spot.
6.    Use a spoon to water around the letter shapes every day. Don’t put water on the seeds.
7.    Watch them grow (around 4-5 days). When the cress is as long as your finger, cut it off and eat it!

Things To do
1.    Download the Flower Parts worksheet below and name the parts of a flower.
2.    Grow a plant from seed (this will take about 2 - 3 weeks).

What you will need:
1.    A clean glass jar, paper napkins

What to do:
1.    Rinse the jar in cold water. Empty it out - but do not dry it.
2.    Fold a paper napkin in half, curl it into a circle and slip it inside the jar.
3.    Press the napkin against the side of the jar (let it soak up the remaining water residue).
4.    Peel back part of the napkin and push three seeds (broad bean seeds are good for this) evenly spaced around the inside of the glass jar.
5.    Wet the napkins with lots of water.
6.    Put the jar in a bright warm place (the windowsill is perfect!).
7.    Add water often to keep the napkins wet.
8.    The roots will start to grown first and then the shoots.

Things to do
1.    Visit a local forest - you can find a list of forests and trails in your area here.
2.    Here you can download information and worksheets about trees. These worksheets are suitable for primary school children and are a fun way for children to learn about trees and the environment. Learn more about trees here.

This plant grows commonly in lawns and fields. Early in the year only its leaves are obvious. These are described as trefoil leaves - three leaflets from one stem. These trefoil leaves are easy to find and to recognise. Each leaflet is heart shaped with a pale V-shaped mark. The Irish word for clover is seamair. In spring when there are no flowers out yet, the leaves are young clover - seamair óg or shamrock.

There is a tradition that St Patrick used the leaf of the shamrock to illustrate his teachings about the Holy Trinity to the Irish people long ago. Just as there were three leaflets united in one leaf of the shamrock - so were the three deities of the holy trinity united as one God. To commemorate this, Irish people wear a bunch of shamrock in their lapels on March 17th - St Patrick’s Day.

The plant begins to flower in April and there are white clover flowers all summer long until the end of September. The white clover flower head is actually a cluster of small individual flower heads. The flowers can be visited by honey bees who gather the nectar to make particularly delicious clover honey. As the clover is a member of the pea family, its seeds are carried in pods.

Clover was planted by farmers in their pastures to improve the fertility of the soil. Plants need nitrogen in order to grow and usually, to get a good crop, the farmer must add nitrogen as a fertiliser to the soil. All members of the pea family - including the clovers - are able to take in the nitrogen from the air and use it to grow. They are able to fix nitrogen in this way because they have special nodules on their roots. These nodules are formed because the plant can form an association with a particular type of nitrogen-fixing bacteria and together the plant and bacteria work in a symbiotic relationship to fix nitrogen from the air. Thus, in the days before farmers had large quantities of cattle slurry to restore the nitrogen levels in their soil, they were very glad to plant clover and let it improve the nutrient quality of their soil.

Things to do with Senior Infants
1.    Around St Patrick’s Day, the class can be brought out to collect shamrock from the school lawn or field. They can be told about the tradition of St Patrick and the shamrock.
2.    In May or June the class can go out to look for clover in flower. White clover has obvious white flower heads. Pupils may also find red clover which has purple flowers which are larger than those of the white clover. They may also find small yellow clover flowers. These belong to a different species - yellow clover - which grows in the drier parts of grassland areas.