The Park Keeper’s Helpers
Theme: Autumn; Parks
Main Curriculum Focus
The changing seasons, characteristics of each season.
Different kinds of plants – flowers, trees, bushes, grass, etc
Some trees lose their leaves, drop seeds
Trees grow season by season; different parts of a tree
Different kinds of animals – mammals, fish, birds, insects, etc
Listening to an adult in role; asking questions; following instructions; understanding narrative
Sharing ideas, collaborating, solving problems
Using resources and materials
Tidying, sorting, planning, building, observing, repairing
Learning the past is different to the present
That things deteriorate over time if not cared for and maintained
The purpose of a community park
Taking responsibility and helping others
The different purposes of writing – to remember, to inform, to entertain
Inquiry Question
"What jobs need to be done to maintain the environment?
What responsibility do we have to one another, to help and give people a hand?
What happens as people grow old, what effects does it have on their bodies, how does growing old affect their ability to work and do the things they like doing?
How does time pass? the year is divided into seasons – that come and go – while living things grow old and change over time.
How do buildings, plants, and people need to be cared for, maintained and looked after?
How can information be communicated through words and images so we can tell people things they need to know? (i.e. “Please put your rubbish in the bin)."
Expert Team: A Team of helpers
Client(s): An elderly park keeper
Commission
The first job for the Team is to help the Park Keeper tidy up the leaves. They bring their brooms and shovels and wheelbarrows and collect up all the leaves and put them in a big pile. The next job is to help cut the branches off the old oak tree in the middle of the park, it’s needed doing for a while, but the Park Keeper can’t get up the ladder like they used too.
Once that’s done, the team build a big bonfire and (after checking no hedgehogs or other animals have made a home inside) they invite local people to a bonfire party, where they safely light the fire and set off fireworks.
An elderly park keeper is struggling to keep on top of all the work that needs doing in his park, especially during autumn when some of the trees lose their leaves.
A team of helpers come to the rescue and give the park keeper help in sweeping up the leaves and dealing with all the other problems in the park – maintaining the swings and slides, clearing up dog mess, emptying the bins, putting up signs, locking the gates at night, repairing the lawn mower… etc.
The park has seen better days. There is a plaque, near the old pond saying, “Jubilee Park, opened in 1977 by her Majesty the Queen.”
Very few people visit the park nowadays – mostly dog walkers (some who don’t keep an eye on their dogs), some teenagers who hang around near the derelict bandstand, occasionally a parent and a child might come in to play on the swing and slide, but mostly it is empty and forgotten.
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