Hi, my name is Luke and I will be teaching 3rd and 4th class this coming September. My favourite space fact is that it would take 1.3 million Earths to fill the Sun’s volume. Which is astonishing when you consider that our sun is only an average sized star compared to others.
An inquiry based lesson I have done a few times is to investigate how light from the sun creates shadows and how the angle of light affects the length and position of shadows. To do this I turn the lights in the room off and pull down blinds. Children investigate shadows using torches and spherical objects. They then measure with the torch at different angles to the sphere. I would then discuss with children how the the experiment relates to the movement of the sun in the sky and the changing length and direction of shadows throughout the day.