Again, this module is so interesting and full of lovely ideas and resources. I particularly love the Design a Martian activity.
I intend to do a theme of Space for the month, so after learning about the sun, moon and stars, I would focus on the planets – Mars in particular.
The children would watch and look at images of Mars from the Mars Webcam or the Red plaet Report. We would discuss shape, size, colours, texture of the surface,weather, etc.
After reading a book like There’s an Alien in Your Book, by Tom Fletcher and based on what they have learned about Mars, the children would then be asked to imagine what a martian might look like. They would be put into groups at first, to encourage listening skills but also to encourage the children to use their imagination and to have fun with it. There would be lots of oral language and scaffolding here, if necessary.
Once they have discussed in groups, the chidlren are left to sketch their own martian. The images and vocabulary from the book as well as the open discussion should get the creative juices flowing.
Art: The children would then use clay, pipe cleaners, googly eyesand a range of other materials to make their own martian. Children always surprise me wiith the ideas they have. They are able to use anything to create. After they finish, we would disucss colours / shapes /etc incorporating more OL and Maths into the lesson.
Maths: Children could sort the martians into groups by size / colour / number of arms, legs eyes. They would compare the different martians.
Literacy:
Oral Language is obviously a huge part of the lesson.
Sight words / phonics could be incorporated when discussing.
Senior Infants and some Junior Infants (depending on ability and the time of year), could label their alien, write a letter to their martian to come to earth – including why Earth is so special. (This would obviously have to be pre taught and discussed in a diffrent lesson).
Music: I’m not overly keen on the songs about Mars that I gooogled, but I’m sure I’d find one, or we could make up a Mars rap!
Drama: Dramatise the story of the martians landing on earth and what happpens next!
We would finish up with a display of our Martians and a disccusion to reinforce vocabulary. This could also be extended by asking the chidlren to go back to Mars with the martian. This could lead to a lesson on designing the Mars landscape – similar to the one of the moon in the previous module.