Learning Objectives To know the three key issues affecting the lake (phosphates, sediment and invasive species) To understand how they affect the environment To suggest solutions to these problems What do you need? Large picture of mountains and a lake Pictures of: Deciduous and evergreen trees Native plants such as Globe Flowers Himalayan Balsam Arctic charr Osprey Squirrels Soil Walkers and cyclists Boat House Dishwashing tablets Fertiliser Bus of tourists Rain clouds Sunshine Blue-green algae What to do? 1) Build a big picture Give pictures of trees, plants (such as non-native Himalayan Balsam and native Globe Flowers), fish, birds, houses, fertiliser, dishwashing tablets, houses, walkers, boats, soil and rain to the children. Discuss which ones they think are natural and which ones are human features. A beautiful felt picture approximately 3m x 2m is available from CDEC for schools in Cumbria, along with all the resources required for this activity. Place a large picture of a lake and mountain on the floor and arrange the class around the picture. Build up the picture step by step, asking the children to place the trees and plants on the picture where they think they would grow (opportunity to bring in concepts of different climate and soil depth at different altitudes – temperature decreases roughly by 1 ◦ C per 100m height gain). Ask the children to add the native plants first and then introduce the Himalayan Balsam. Discuss how Himalayan Balsam will out-compete the other plants, starving them of space, light and nutrients. Each plant produces up to 600 seeds, quickly dominating an area. Ask the children what they think will happen to the other plants and what will happen to the river bank in winter when the balsam dies back leaving the banks exposed. Add the pictures of the human features, and discuss what impact each might have on the environment, e.g. walkers eroding footpaths, phosphates getting into the lake, etc. Now introduce the rain. Ask the children to add the rain clouds to the sky and discuss how much it rains in the Lake District. It rains on average 3,800mm/year in Langdale compared to 600mm/year in London. Ask the children what they think will be washed into the lake. Move the rain clouds into the lake with the soil, the dishwashing tablets, the fertiliser and the seeds from the Himalayan Balsam. Discuss the impact of the soil in the lake affecting the spawning grounds of fish such as the Arctic charr. Kill off the fish and then the osprey (as the fish are its prey). Next bring out the sunshine. However, all is not well. Talk about how the algae in the lake will now grow because of the phosphates and the sunshine. This will block out the light and make less oxygen available for the creatures to breath at the bottom of the lake. What are the issues? 21

2) Introduce the cartoon characters Use ‘Trudy the Intruder’ (Himalayan Balsam), ‘Dermot the Destroyer’ (Phosphates) and ‘Murky Merv’ (Sediment)to highlight the three key environmental issues affecting the lake. Soft toys of the characters are available from CDEC for schools in Cumbria in addition to the digital cartoon characters shown here. 3) Story-time Read out the story of Lauren and her encounters with Trudy the Intruder. Use the PowerPoint on the white board to give visuals to the story. There are also stories for the other two characters. 6) Make up a story Give the children the hand-out of the cartoon characters or put them up on the white board. Ask them to create their own story. Encourage imagination. Hand out the ‘Picture Storyboard’ worksheet. Review how to write speech bubbles on the board and encourage the pupils to write in speech bubbles rather than describing the story. Set a maximum number of words per picture. 7) Scratch Develop the story further by using Scratch. The cartoon characters are all available as sprites to create interactive digital animations using this very accessible programming software. Type in Windermere Reflections to find work by other pupils.Scratch 8) TV Documentary Give the children the brief that they are award-winning TV documentary producing teams. This week they are making a short 5 minute special for ‘BBC News’ on the future of England’s longest lake – Lake Windermere. Each group will need a tablet or a camera, some props such as pictures of the issues and the hand-out ‘TV Documentary’ to help them plan the activity. Allow them time to choose which issue they would like to present and how they are going to set it up, before giving out the camera. Suggest they give each other roles, e.g. director, studio presenter, presenter in the field, people they are going to interview, e.g. Trudy or real people such as a tourist. Alternatively, allocate the roles in advance. You will need editing software such as Splice (free app) to piece the videos together. 9) Windermere Song and Lyrics Sing along and learn the words to this fantastic song written and performed by Amy Boud. Shown at cinemas in Cumbria it has become a great talking point and internet hit. Follow this link to the video on You Tube.video on You Tube 4) How did Lauren feel? Discuss how Lauren felt during the story. What emotions did she have? Use the worksheets ‘How does Lauren feel?’ and ‘How does the story make you feel?’ to look at how these issues can make us feel? 5) Reviewing the Story Ask the children to complete the comprehension task to write down what they felt was the problem and the solution. 22

10) Problem or Solution Review the activities using this game. Place the cards ‘Problem’ and ‘Solution’ at opposing ends of the playground or classroom. Read out a problem or solution from the list below and ask the children to go to whichever answer they think it is. Alternatively use mini-white boards and ask the pupils to write down their answer. Not following the footpath (problem) Leaky septic tanks (problem) Using chemical fertilisers in the garden (problem) Phosphate dishwasher tablets (problem) Planting Himalayan Balsam (problem) Planting invasive plant species (problem) Using Phosphate -free dishwashing liquid/tablets (solution) Pulling out invasive non-native plants like Himalayan Balsam (solution) Planting trees (solution) Picking up litter (solution) Planting willow along river banks (solution) 11) What’s your impact? This activity aims to encourage the pupils to recognise that it is our responsibility to do something to look after the place we treasure. Arrange the pupils in a circle on the floor and give five tokens to each child. You will need about twenty tokens per child. Read out one of the questions from the activity sheets ‘what’s your impact?’ to the class and ask the pupils to answer the question as truthfully as possible. If it is something good for the environment (either physically or educationally), the child gains tokens. If it is something which could be improved the child has to hand a token back to you. Alternatively, place the questions up around the room or playground and ask the children to come to you to pick up/give back the tokens. Beautiful, tactile wooden tokens are available from CDEC for schools in Cumbria. Use the homework activity to help the children find out how lake-friendly they are at home. 12) Pledge What can we do? Brainstorm some ideas as a class of things which you could do as a class or as individuals. Could you check that the school’s cleaning products are environmentally-friendly? Are there any conservation tasks that you could get involve in such as tree planting or pulling out Himalayan Balsam? Perhaps you could design posters to tell other people about the impact of phosphates in dishwasher tablets. Agree on a class pledge and use the worksheet ‘making a pledge’ to record it and put it up in the classroom. Alternatively complete individual pledges to take home. How does it link to the curriculum? Science -Recognise that environments can change and that this can pose dangers to living things. (Y4 POS) Geography Key Stage 1: Use basic geographical vocabulary to refer to:  key physical features, including: beach, forest, hill, mountain, sea, ocean, river, soil, valley, vegetation, season and weather  key human features, including: city, town, village, factory, farm, house, office, port, harbour and shop Key Stage 2: Describe and understand key aspects of:  physical geography, including: rivers, mountains and the water cycle  human geography, including: land use, economic activity 23