My name is Coral. I taught Third Class for the past few years but will be taking Junior Infants class in September.
One of my favorite facts about space is that on Neptune and Uranus, it rains diamonds. The extreme pressure and temperature inside these planets can turn carbon into solid diamonds, which then fall like rain.
I chose this course because I wanted some ideas as to how best I could teach a topic like Space to the younger children.
A simple inquiry-based activity I frequently used in Third was growing seeds in various conditions:
Introduction: Discuss what plants need to grow (soil, water, sunlight) and the concept of an experiment.
Hypothesis: Students predict the outcome of seeds grown under different conditions (e.g., no sunlight, too much water).
Setup: In groups, students plant seeds in labeled pots and place them in different environments (dark cupboard, extra water, sunny spot).
Observation: Students water the plants as needed and record daily observations about growth and health.
Analysis: After two weeks, students compare observations, discuss which conditions were best for growth, and why.
Conclusion: Groups present their findings, compare predictions to results, and discuss the role of experiments in learning.
The children loved checking the progress of their seeds each day and changing their predictions depending on what they noticed!