Written by: Lucas Cheung 2/5
Approval for an outdoor learning journey to Sky Greens
I am Samuel from class 2/5. Being the ambassador of Riverside’s Green Society, I am writing this letter to seek your approval regarding an outdoor learning journey to Sky Greens for the Secondary two students.
The learning journey to Sky Greens will take place on 29 May 2020, from 10 am to 2 pm. Sky Greens is the world’s first low-carbon vertical urban farm located in Lim Chu Kang. It uses green urban solutions to achieve the production of safe, fresh, and delicious vegetables, using minimal land, water, and energy resources.
The main purpose of this learning journey is to enrich students with environmental knowledge and at the same time, allow them to learn more about the technologies used in this day and age. At Sky Greens, advanced technology is used to monitor the plants. For example, vegetables are grown on 9m-tall towers made of tiers of planting troughs rotating around an aluminum frame. With each rotation, technology ensures that plants receive uniform sunlight, irrigation, and nutrients. In addition to the technologies used at Sky Greens, I chose this place because many of my friends from other schools’ green society had been there before. They were extremely satisfied with the workshops and recommended me to plan a learning journey there if possible.
During the learning journey, students will participate in two activities. The first activity will be the Hydroponic Experience. In this activity, students can learn how farmers carry out day-to-day duties like transplanting and harvesting. I feel that this workshop will be an eye-opener for all students, as it will allow them to get to know more about traditional farming. Moreover, students always have a tendency to overlook and stereotype farmers, thinking that their jobs serve little purpose in our society. Thus, I feel that this workshop can allow them to more appreciate farmers and indirectly appreciate the food they eat. Knowing that harvesting is an extremely strenuous job that requires a lot of resilience and patience to complete, this will benefits the students by inculcating in them the value of empathy in their daily life.
The second activity will be Traditional Soil Farming Production. This workshop allows students to see the automated seeding system and nursery. And how to maintain plant quality and pack with the help of an automated packing machine. I chose this activity as I feel that it can expose students to modern-day technology and simultaneously teach them how to use it. Nowadays, many students are engrossed with mobile phone technology like voice activation that they often omit how good other modern-day technology is. It can make your job more convenient, make it less strenuous or it can take over your job. I feel that this activity can benefit the students immensely as they would be able to fit into society better when exposed to the working world. How? In the future, technology will be advanced as ever, from automated cars to self-flying planes, the world is currently in the phase of development. Thus I feel we should be exposed to technology from young in order to keep up with the rapidly developing world.
This learning journey will definitely be an eye-opener to the Secondary two students, allowing them to gain more environmental knowledge and awareness to the world around them. I will like to meet you in person to share more about my plans.
Thank you for your time in reading this letter and I look forward to your favourable reply.
Yours sincerely,
Samuel
Writers by the River 