In2edu I.C.T. Resources Enhancing Education & Learning

Life Cycle Thematic Unit Rich Topic
A theme looking at "life cycles" and the pattern of a circle. Brings in the golden rectangle and other patterns of inspiration.
The "Circle of Life" Theme can range into a lot of different curriculum areas. It is theme that connects a number of ideas or patterns to give that sense of wonder. What immediately comes to my mind is the movie "Lion King" and within this theme you can be looking at stages of human life cycle (as appropriate to your pupils ages), life cycles of any number of animals, concepts of planets cycling in space, circles and patterns in maths, logo, recycling, sports involving wheels, technology of wheels and cogs, the list goes on.
The "Circle of Life" can also overlap into the systems thematic unit that we have created.

Circle of Life Online Activities: Spider Life Cycle Activities

Circle of Life Online Bookmarks: Series of screened "Spider" links from the Internet. Links covering and range of information, integrated unit plans and other sub-topics within this theme. See also Systems online links, Bees links here and Ants links here.
When you visit the collection page type in "life-cycle" or "keywords of the circle-of-life topic you would like to get the best links. Star rating or *** or **** and rarely ***** are either the newer or better sites.

Circle of Life Unit Integrated unit still coming

Circle of Life Banner Check out our banner for this topic. Clicking on this link will take you to bannersandawards.com banners section. Click on science section and choose the "Circle of Life" banner from the display. Register free here to get your free download.

Circle of Life Science: Spider Life Cycle Activities Also pull out your units on circles, gears and pulleys. See Simple Machines and Machines links.
Here is a very simple presentation on how Machines do work that could be done in various forms by junior pupils. Add extra pages for your own.

Circle of Life Social Studies/Sciences: Put together Powerpoint presentations, digital camera pictures and Video with other display items from your unit.. voile.. a show!

Circle of Life Health & P.E:
Still Coming

Circle of Life Technology Look at circles have helped us in terms of technology (wheels, pulleys, gears, cylinders, pipes, construction, arches,) You can create technology activities around these ideas. Use of Lego Mindstorm is another possibility. Also use Google SketchUp to investigate some 3d aspects of gears, pulleys, levers. See Simple Machines and Machines links.

Circle of Life Maths:
What do a pinecone, snail shell, pineapple, and sunflower have in common?
Look at patterns in nature: Fibonacci spiral (golden ratio) in shells, bilateral and radial symmetry, shapes (hexagons in honeycomb, cones in volcanoes etc.). There are Cyclic Patterns: Day and night, Seasons of the year, Stages of the moon, Stars and planets, Life cycles of plants and animals, Personal and weather cycles, Flight patterns of birds

Circle of Life Gallery: Send us digital pictures of your experiences, with a short descriptive paragraph, and we will put them on line.

Circle of Life Art: Look at how an artist gets an eye to "flow" around a page from the central point, through use of colour, texture, shape, size and position. This will lead on to elements of graphic design/ art that can be used within reporting back in other areas of the unit. Modern artist Benjamin Heine has some amazing material.. check out his blog.
Look at symbols in art (Yin Yang, Celtic) look t use of circles or points in artwork by Australian Aborigines or pointillism. Use of the art colour wheel (note a lot of drawing/art programs have the color wheel inbuilt).
Why is circle more pleasing to the eye than other shapes? How many logos you look at are circular?

Circle of Life English/Language Ideas & links: Still coming

Circle of Life Music/Drama/Dance: See integrated unit. Summarise aspects of knowledge learned in a drama/video re-enactment.
Look at Natures Audio patterns: bird calls, animal noises and water Rhythm, drum beats, music, Birds’ song and mating patterns, Bees’ dances to direct others to food, Wave and sound movements.
We could interpretate these as many native aborigines around the work do.. what are the patterns that are recreated in music and dance.

Circle of Life Daily Activities: Still Coming

Circle of Life Teacher/ Learning Resources: Community Links: any business involved in any of the areas above. From midwife (beginning of life) to those working in the end (nurses in rest homes).
Life Cycles Banner