Choose one of the activities or activity sets outlined in this module – How would you use the activity in your classroom? or consolidate your experiences and action plans in the course by creating a class plan to engage with Space Week.
I have used Chris Hadfield’s ‘The Darkest Dark’ with my first class and it was a joy to watch their enthusiasm and interest grow. There is a wealth of videos of Chris discussing Space and performing various experiments on YouTube. These are all done using child-friendly language and Chris is a character! I would highly recommend this as an introduction to the general topic of space/astronauts.
Any science experiments are a sure bet in primary school. I would use Marvin and Milo to access the balloon/penny rocket experiments with my class. We would read the comic, make predictions and carry out our own investigation. Posing a starter question is a great way to increase motivation. We could display the question on our window, assign a discussion for homework, and then complete the investigation the following day. Paper aeroplane making is a great extension to this.