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Under the theme of Space, I would implement the lesson on Dancing Raisins again. I did this with First Class many moons ago. We are always on the look out for the next new lesson which is a good thing but keeping a stock of tried and trusted science lessons is good too.
Going forward I would use planning template system – Engage, Investigate, Take the Next Step, Reflection and the correlating sub headings to help focus on an effective inquiry based approach. Thereby getting the most out of the activity.
When we did this experiment with water and and 7Up, the children suggested many other liquids to experiment with eg. milk, washing up liquid in water, water and 7up together. They really owned and developed it further. One discovery was that the raisins need to be nice juicy ones, the cheap bag didn’t work as well. This was learning in itself! Interesting that children did not know that a raisin is a dried grape. They experimented in a follow up lesson with objects in a floating and sinking experiment and used grapes in this for comparative purposes.
A lovely poem “Raisins” by Arron Brown
Raisins
Wrinkled Morsel
Formerly plump round grape
Sundried, shrivelled, concentrated
A sweet snack savoured by grand ‘ol granny
Concentrated, shrivelled, sun dried
Formerly plump round girl
Wise and wrinkled raisin.
This poem provides lots of related cross curricular learning opportunities in literacy, SPHE, Geography and History It links with Natural Environments – climate, habitats.
In fact it links right back to what we need to live on earth – soil, water, oxygen which are not on the Moon. Hence the difference between life and no life and the link with Space theme.