Activity Set: Space and Aliens
In introducing this topic with a junior class, I would use ‘The Way Back Home” by Oliver Jeffers as a stimulus. Following on from the life in space resource, I would ask the children to imagine the Martian was coming to Earth to visit the boy, what would be the best things to show him about the Earth.
I would also discuss with the children that not all Martians look the same. I would use an oral language alien drawing game. I would model first describing an alien (e.g. long arms, 5 eyes, green head and red body etc). The children will all draw based on what they hear (without looking at anyone elses) and at the end we will reveal them all. Some children will then be invited to be the leader.
I would then engage the children in creating their own aliens. Once these have been created, during maths time, we would engage in sorting the aliens based on different features (by colour, size, number of legs, eyes, etc.)
In SESE, I would invite the children to submit questions to the Martian about life on Mars (children dictating questions and with me notetaking). These question and answers would provide the basis for learning about life on Mars/about Mars (along with some fun questions).
In a following art lesson, we could work on creating the Mars landscape. Once completed, it can serve as a display and basis for a discussion for the difference between Earth and Mars.