Hi, my name is Niamh and I am a Special Education Teacher. I have always been fascinated by Space. My favourite Space fact is that there is a possibility that it rains diamonds on Neptune. This is due to extreme weather conditions.
I have used an inquiry-based activity in my classroom on the topic of planets.
Search for the Planets. Can you identify the planets in our Solar System?
We looked at photographs and pictures of the planets and discussed each planet in detail, talking about the various colours we could see, size, patterns and rings. Each of the children drew a planet and coloured it in. We then stuck the planets onto a piece of card and placed the card under a glass dish of water. We added black paint to the water and some glitter to represent the stars. The children used a plastic cup to press down on the bottom of the dish, which would make the planets visible. There was a poster beside the dish displaying pictures and names of the planets. The pupils were then able to match the planet they ‘discovered’ to the planet on the poster. The pupils really enjoyed being astronauts and discovering planets through the night sky.