Can you believe that the end of the year is already upon us? With assemblies, awards, completed units and everything else that December brings, lesson planning for the last few classes can be a challenge.
Never fear however, at Oxfam Australia we have some great resources to help you make the last lessons of the year both fun and educational. All these suggestions create meaningful learning opportunities in a lesson or two (or even less) and sure beat DVD days.
Learn about the new Global Goals
Oxfam Australia has partnered with UNICEF Australia to create the handy Global Goals resource kit to help you educate your students about the Global Goals (or Sustainable Development Goals).
The Goals are part of the newest international push to end inequality and poverty by 2030. The kit includes ready-made resources like this ready-to-go presentation that you can use in class to inform your students about the new global development agenda.
If you want to give your students a taste of social activism, they can help put pressure on our politicians to uphold these goals by writing letters or drawing pictures and sending them to their local members of parliaments (MPs). It will take a lesson or two, and they can join the thousands of students across Australia who have already sent postcards to their MPs to show them that young people demand action.
The resource kit meets the Australian Curriculum’s general capabilities and cross-curriculum priorities, meaning you can keep everything curriculum-aligned right up until the end of term.
Take time out with six goals to change the world
These free, downloadable colouring sheets are centred on Oxfam’s human rights principles and goals. You can use the colouring sheets and mindful colouring activity to create a meaningful mindfulness activity in your class that will bring calm at the end of term.
The materials include instructions for the teacher on how to facilitate the activity and a 6–8 minute mindful colouring script that can be used in class.
Mindfulness has been proven to improve student wellbeing — research shows that students who practice mindfulness are more composed and productive. These activities are suitable for anyone over the age of seven, so they are great across a range of year levels.
Kris Kringle with a difference thanks to Oxfam Unwrapped
‘Tis the season for giving! You can bring Oxfam Unwrapped into your classroom and help your students to fight poverty by playing Secret Santa to a family overseas.
Gifts are related to topics such as food, health and education, meaning you can tie to what you’ve been studying to this end of year activity. You can also tap into the power of student voice by getting students to vote on whether they want their money to fund clean water for a school in South Africa, or a duck for a family in Bangladesh.
Gifts start from $9 , meaning this can be a simple last-minute way to spread some festive cheer and to get your students to take a positive approach towards tackling poverty.
Need some inspiration for the 2016 school year? Oxfam has many classroom resources to help you plan.
