Thursday, February 28, 2013

Field trip: Bamboo House

As a part of their unit on Energy and Sustainability, the grade five students were taken for a field trip to "Bamboo House India", Hyderabad. This is social and environmental enterprise owned by Prasanth and Aruna Lingam. Their main focus is to provide a range of eco-friendly ideas(specifically through the use of bamboo) to people. They have employed artisans to do a variety of things with things with bamboo: from making handicrafts and furniture to constructing an entire house!

They began their journey in 2007 and chose to work with bamboo as it a renewable source, abundantly  available in this part of the world. It does not take very long to harvest and possesses high levels of strength, post treatment and seasoning. They are in the process of increasing awareness about their  products and services.

'Bamboo House' also thrives to make their practices sustainable by training villagers and tribals to construct houses with bamboo and other recyclable materials. They have tied up with many NGOs to help people earn a livelihood with the help of bamboo. They are also training them to make houses with mud and reused plastic bottles. We saw a sample of this at their workshop.

The Grade 5 students were excited to witness the versatility of bamboo during their field trip. They were also shown how bamboo is treated using malathion or boric borax. There were few models of rural and urban building designs. ALL the furniture in the owners' house was made of bamboo, including a roof-top and flooring. There was a pent house which was entirely made of bamboo. There were many smaller articles like jewellery, paintings, toothbrush holders, baskets, fruit bowls - all made of bamboo!




















Reflection by Inaara Ladha:


Reflection on our Journey
Today we the grade 5s went on a field trip to the bamboo house. It was far away from school and when we got their we saw a wall. The wall was made up of old plastic bottles with mud inside and mud on the outside. It has mud because it makes the bottle stay on the wall. The bamboo wall is renewable and the people’s plan is to build houses which are ecofriendly and renewable. Those houses are for people who want ecofriendly houses.

The bamboo has a kind of sugar which ants like, so they used a chemical called boric borax. The people keep the bamboo stick with the chemical for 10 days and then take it out. There are also plants near the place which are bamboo trees, but they need to grow. We also many things made of bamboo.
After seeing the house I knew now that everything was made out of bamboo. A t-shirt was also made out of bamboo and chair, stairs, necklace and the full house!

It was a new thing for me; I never knew that houses can be build from bamboo. The trip told me more and more information about bamboo. When I was there  I learned about bamboo, saw bamboo, and enjoyed it so much. In my class I felt happy!!!!


Reflection by Amaan Rattansey:


Today we went for a field trip to the bamboo house that is located in Uppal, India. We saw the whole house; almost the whole house was made with bamboo. It was also made with mud and bottles for decoration. We learned a lot about bamboo trees. We also learned that bamboo can also be eco-friendly.

We saw many models of Urban and Rural houses that were made out of bamboo. We saw many renewable and non-renewable things. We also saw how the water was purified and treated well so that they could use it for furniture and many more useful things. The chemical for the treatment of the bamboo is called Malathion Boric Borax.

We also saw chairs, tables, artefacts, paintings, carpets, jewellery, toothbrush stands, holders, baskets, bells, T-shirts, fruit baskets, windows, blinds, roofs, stools, coffee tables, etc. Everything in the bamboo house and in their own house was made of bamboo.

We saw many bamboo bundles and many sticks bottles and loads of mud. We also learned small Facts like bamboo is renewable, looks good, comfortable, eco-friendly, never stops growing and costs less. These are small point’s research and find more.

Reflection by Sanil Bhimani:

On the 26-2-13 we went to a field trip.We went to bamboo house Uppal,India. First we went to a rural bamboo house.Over there we all saw a mam she saw us a wall which was made up of plastic bottles and mud.I was also cheap to buy in a village.It was also very helpful to our environment.In that house everything was made up of bamboo,plastic bottles and mud.It was a very ecofriendly to our environment.

After that,we saw a model of a bamboo house.The model was a bamboo house in urban places.We saw a duplex bamboo house and it was load Bering house.It could lift all the weight of the people.It was a renewable house.But today no one use bamboo house.Renewable means which can stay for a long time.

Next,we went to a tank where the bamboos were treated.First they took a bamboo,then they drilled the bamboos on the top and from the bottom and then they poured water in the tank with a chemical called malathion boric borax.They did this because the sap in the bamboo can be attracted from small insects.If the insects attracts then we need to change the bamboo after 2 or 4 years.If we mix it in the chemical so the chemical would take out all the sap and it would be used for 60 years.

After a minute we all saw a bamboo grass.Over there we saw lots and lots of bamboo.Some of them were young and some were normal.Next,we went back to school and the trip was really enjoyable and interesting.Even you would to the bamboo house and enjoy.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

The Energy Museum!!!

The Grade five students are currently learning about Energy and Sustainability: "People can make choices to support the sustainability of the Earth's resources". We first inquired into the 'The different forms of energy and it's sources".

Last week, students were given an assessment. They were given a source of energy and were asked to conduct research about how it works, its uses, advanatages and disadvantages and the various energy transformations that occur when it is used. They were then supposed to apply their knowledge by making a model or by conducting an experiment.

All their models and experiments were displayed on 20th February 2013. The entire school was invited and we called it 'The Energy Museum". The students presented their work very confidently and provided evidences for being inquirers and thinkers.

The next day, they assessed themselves based on an elaborate rubric. They also reflected on the entire project by including the PYP Science Skills.



















Monday, February 25, 2013

Inquire into Energy

http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=kids.kids_index
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/kids/
http://tiki.oneworld.net/energy/energy.html
http://www.kidsenergyzone.com/
http://www.eia.gov/kids/