The lesson I would choose to teach is The Sun and Shadows with senior infants.
We would begin by having a class discussion about how shadows are made. We would discuss the sun and how light travels in straight lines and what happens when an object gets in the way of the sun shining. I would then turn out the lights in the classroom and shine a bright light in front of the interactive white board. I would then invite children to come up and see what shape of shadows they can make using their bodies. Next I would read Hand shadows by Usborne to the class and I would demonstrate different animal shadows that can be formed using our hands such as a bird, a rabbit or a frog. I would invite the children to take turns trying these out. We would then read the book Jack’s Amazing Shadow by Tom Percival.
We would then go out to the yard and play a game of shadow tag. Children would then be encouraged to observe how long/short their shadows are. They could also observe how much longer teacher’s shadow is. They could then trace each other’s shadows using colourful chalk.
In an art lesson children would make their own sun dials using a lollipop stick stuck into a tub of playdough. Throughout the day they could observe how the sun moves in the sky and they could record the position of the shadow formed each hour.
I would finish the lesson by singing ‘Mr. Golden Sun’ from YouTube with the whole class.