Check it! - Fairtrade - Year 5

The concept of 'Fairtrade' is an important topic for Year 5 students, prompting them to consider the wider implications of the goods they consume. Fairtrade is a global movement aimed at achieving better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in developing countries. By supporting Fairtrade, consumers can make a positive impact on the lives of those who produce the items they buy. To ensure that students retain and understand the significance of Fairtrade, teachers are encouraged to build regular opportunities for children to review their learning through various methods such as brain dumps, 'Give me FIVE!' activities, mind maps, and retrieval pyramids.

The 'CHECK IT!' activities provide engaging ways for students to interact with the subject matter. For example, 'Give me 5' could involve naming five goods imported into and exported out of the UK, encouraging students to think about the global trade network. Expanding and elaborating on statements like "The USA is a developed country" and "More than 80% of the world’s population live in poverty" helps students to delve deeper into the context of Fairtrade. Additionally, challenging questions such as naming developed and developing countries, explaining the Fairtrade Foundation, understanding raw products, and the concepts of import and export, as well as discussing solutions to global poverty, are designed to stretch students' understanding and instil the importance of Fairtrade in a global context.