Reference
Peggy Willard
Mother of Sorrows School
Second grade
Wild China is a series of six programs produced by the BBC for public television. The programs cover all aspects of nature and the environment throughout various regions of China.
The photography is spectacular and the content wide-ranging.
The topics covered over the six episodes are so widely varied that they appeal to every age group. There is at least one episode that would enhance almost any grade level curriculum. From nature and animals to human impact on the environment, the combination of scientific information and social studies concepts make these films extremely versatile for classroom use.
I field tested two of the episodes in my second grade classroom. Because second graders are interested and fascinated by almost any kind of animal, I chose ‘Shangri-La’ and ‘Land of the Panda’ hoping that they would enjoy and learn from the film. The results were better than I could have hoped. Each child was engaged and entranced throughout the entire film. After viewing they reviewed the film and wrote about what they had learned. Their responses were very insightful and they had a hard time identifying anything about the film they did not like.
There is unlimited potential for the application of the information found in these films. They are visually stunning and give us access to the extensive and diverse natural wonders of China.
