I have used some of these lessons before in class and the children have loved them. We explored shadows in the yard using chalk to draw around the children’s standing position and the point where their shadow ended. We returned to the yard at midday and again in the afternoon and marked the new shadow end and drew conclusions as to what had happened. The children came to the conclusion that the sun had moved- the day and night video helped explain what really happens!
This year I am in SEN again linked to Junior Infants and I think the lesson Spherical Earth could be used very effectively – making the origami ship might be a bit too challenging but a small toy ship would be a simpler alternative. Watching the ship sail away from the figure would create an opportunity to describe what is happening by simply describing what they see!
This lesson could be followed up with the lesson 2.2 up and down. The visual aspect of the lesson, the starting dialogue and the follow up earth mosaic would create a valuable opportunity for language development and in the process an understanding of up and down in relation to the Earth.