Hi everyone,this year I will be teaching junior infants. My favourite space fact is that there are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on all the earth’s beaches!
An inquiry based activity that I have previously used in my classroom and which I would love to use again was based on how we would create a suitable home for a friendly alien here on earth. The children discussed what the alien might need to live here, the type of house he would live in, how he would communicate with humans, and so on. This also led to a discussion on how we could maintain the earth so as it is a welcoming place for others to visit, we linked in with caring for the environment, conserving water etc. The children also then designed a home for the alien using cardboard boxes and other materials. They discussed what materials would be best to use, what the alien might need in his house to adapt to life on earth and also what his options might be if he decided to return to his alien planet. This also led to a further investigation of space travel and how space travel and exploration has developed over the years.