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ASSIGNMENT
Explore a Minecraft Education Demo Lesson
Using the same demo lesson route, open the Minecraft Education demo lesson library.
Choose one demo world that interests you, other than Hour of Code: Generation AI.
Review the lesson page, lesson plan and associated resources.
You may also play through the world if you wish, but this is optional.
In your forum post, include:
- the name of the demo world you chose
- a short overview of what the lesson or world is about
- a brief summary of the lesson plan, learning objectives and associated resources
- a short reflection on one possible Irish curriculum link or Focus of Learning
- whether you would use the world as it is, or modify the support, pacing or follow-up discussion for your pupils
Then reply to at least one other participant.
Leave a constructive comment that:
- comments on how their chosen demo lesson could support purposeful game-based learning and STEM Education
- suggests one meaningful link to another curriculum area, based on what pupils would do, discuss, create or explain
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Using the “Where Do You Live?” and “Weather – Animals in the Cold” classroom activities would provide an engaging way to introduce STEM learning through real-world connections. In my classroom, I would begin with the “Where Do You Live?” activity by encouraging pupils to explore different types of homes and habitats around the world. They could compare human homes with animal habitats, use maps to identify locations, and discuss how climate influences where people and animals live. This would integrate science, geography, mathematics, and literacy.
The “Animals in the Cold” activity would allow pupils to investigate how animals survive in cold environments. Learners could predict which materials provide the best insulation by carrying out simple experiments using ice cubes wrapped in different materials. They could record results, measure temperature changes, create graphs, and discuss why certain adaptations help animals survive. This develops scientific inquiry, critical thinking, and data-handling skills.
As part of a STEM-focused School Self-Evaluation (SSE), I would build on these activities by encouraging collaborative problem-solving, increasing opportunities for investigation-based learning, and integrating digital technologies such as weather apps or online climate data. Pupils could also design and test shelters for animals or create models of habitats using recycled materials. Reflection on pupil engagement, assessment evidence, and cross-curricular links would help evaluate the impact of these activities and identify areas for further improvement. Overall, these activities promote curiosity, creativity, and the practical application of STEM concepts while encouraging pupils to think about the relationship between living things and their environments.-
I think the activities you have outlines effectively link real-world contexts to STEM learning through homes, habitats and climate. Using comparison, prediction and simple experiments supports inquiry skills and understanding of adaptation. Integration of maths, science etc would create good cross curricular links for the children.
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I would use a lesson based on animals living in the cold and cold climates to help the children learn about The World We Live In. The lesson will begin by reading a book about Tom Crean’s journey to Antarctica. The story will help the children learn about one of the coldest places in the world and the challenges people face there. It will also introduce them to the animals, weather and environment of Antarctica. The children will talk about what they notice in the story and share what they already know about cold places.
The children will then become weather scientists by observing the weather outside the classroom. They will look at the temperature, the wind and the clouds and compare the weather in Ireland with the weather in Antarctica. They will learn that scientists use weather information to help people and protect the environment.
Next, the children will learn about animals that live in cold places, such as penguins and seals. They will explore how these animals stay warm by looking at their feathers, fur or blubber. As a STEM activity, the children will test different materials to find out which one keeps an ice cube cold for the longest time. They will make predictions, carry out the investigation and record their results.
The children will also work in groups to design and build a shelter for an Arctic or Antarctic animal using classroom materials. They will test their shelters and think about how they could make them stronger or warmer. This will help them understand how engineers solve real-life problems.
Throughout the lesson, the children will use maths to measure and compare, English to talk and write about their learning, and science to investigate and ask questions. They will make connections between what they learn in the classroom and the real world by learning about scientists, engineers, weather forecasters and explorers like Tom Crean.
To support STEM-focused School Self-Evaluation, the children will reflect on their learning by thinking about what they discovered, what worked well, what they would change next time and how they worked with others. This will help them develop problem-solving, teamwork and thinking skills while making learning meaningful and enjoyable.
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Thank you for sharing your activity Sharon. I really enjoyed reading about your lesson on animals living in cold climates because it connects science with real-life experiences in a very meaningful way. I especially liked how you combined the story of Tom Crean’s journey with practical STEM activities, as this gives children a context and helps them understand why scientists and explorers need to study extreme environments.
The investigation with ice cubes and different materials is a great hands-on activity because it encourages children to make predictions, test their ideas, and analyse their results. I also think the animal shelter design challenge is an excellent way to develop creativity, teamwork, and problem-solving skills.
I like that your lesson includes different curriculum areas, such as science, maths, and language, while allowing children to actively participate in their learning. It is a great example of how STEM activities can be engaging and accessible for all pupils.
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Hi Sharon, I think thats a great idea to start the lesson off with Tom Crean. It makes it more engaging for the children as they can think about a person who had expeince going to a very different environment than the children are use to. It also motivates the children in listening to stories about others and teaches them the history of an Irish explorer that maybe some have never heard of.
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Hi Sharon, I really enjoyed reading your post. I love how you’ve linked the lesson to Tom Crean, I think the children would really engage with the story before exploring Antarctica and the animals that live there. The ice cube investigation is a great idea too as it gives the children the chance to make predictions and test their own ideas. I also like that you’ve brought in so many different curriculum areas without it feeling forced. It sounds like a really fun and meaningful way to teach the topic.
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I really liked your emphasis on using online STEM resources to increase pupil engagement. Your point about providing pupils with opportunities to investigate real-world problems was particularly interesting. I also agree that digital tools can support differentiated learning by allowing pupils to explore concepts at their own pace. Reading your post has given me some new ideas for incorporating more online resources alongside hands-on activities to create a balanced and engaging STEM learning environment.
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Hi Sharon,
I really love your lesson ideas. I think Tom Crean is a great starting point and children always love a real life connection, especially to a real life explorer from Ireland! Investigating what materials keep an ice cube cold for longest is a lovely hands-on experiment. Building any structure is always exciting so building a shelter for an Artic/Antarctic animal would incite lots of excitement and great vocabulary I would imagine! I love that you have integrated it across lots of subjects and included teamwork and thinking skills. Great lesson!
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Hi Sharon ,Some wonderful ideas thank you for sharing. I particularly liked the idea of designing and building shelters for the animals. Testing and reviewing their designs and thinking like engineers with real-life problems. Reflection at the end of the lesson is always a great way to consolidate new learning.
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I really liked reading this lesson idea. Using Tom Crean’s journey as the starting point is a lovely way to introduce the topic, and I think it would really capture the children’s imagination. It gives them a real-life connection to Antarctica before exploring the animals and environment in more detail.
The activity with the ice cubes stood out to me because it is something that is simple to set up but would get the children thinking and talking. They would enjoy making predictions, testing the different materials and comparing their results with their classmates. I also like the idea of building shelters for the animals, as it gives the children a chance to work together and try out different ideas. It would be interesting to see how each group’s shelter is different and what they learn from testing them.
I think this lesson has a nice balance of discussion, practical activities and reflection, while also making good links across different curriculum areas in a way that feels natural. -
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Hi Sharon, I really enjoyed reading your answer. Your lesson plan sounds fantastic and you have included many meaningful cross-curricular links. The children becoming weather scientists and working in teams to build and test animal shelters would support purposeful game-based learning. These activities make STEM enjoyable while developing prediction, problem-solving, teamwork and engineering skills. A meaningful link could also be made with Geography. The children could locate Ireland and Antarctica on a map or globe and explain the differences in climate, weather and animal habitats.
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I would choose a lesson about ‘Animals in the Cold’. I teach Infants and we always cover this topic in the Winter. I have always found that the children are so intrigued by animals from colder countries. I usually just focus on penguins but last year I had a child who had a huge interest polar bears so we looked at both animals from the Artic and Antarctic regions. It gave us a great opportunity to compare animals from both regions. Animals in the Cold is great topic to cover for Aistear. I have often put mini animals into ice cubes and have the children free the animals during play time. This has been something that was so simple to plan and gives the children great enjoyment when finding ways to free the animals. This has often lead to a conversation about how the ice would melt if the Artic Regions had warmer weather and how some of the animals would not survive the warmer weather.
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Developing science skills through hands-on learning is an important part of creating an engaging and effective STEM environment in the primary classroom. As a teacher of Second and Third Class, I would use themed STEM activities to encourage pupils to ask questions, investigate, predict, observe, record results, and communicate their findings. Activities linked to topics such as space, weather, plants, or forces provide meaningful opportunities for children to develop these skills through practical exploration.
Online resources and digital tools can further enrich learning. Interactive simulations, short educational videos, digital quizzes, and pupil-friendly research websites can help explain scientific concepts in an accessible way. Pupils could also use tablets to photograph investigations, record observations, or create short presentations to share their learning. These digital records would provide valuable evidence of progress and encourage pupils to reflect on their work.From a School Self-Evaluation (SSE) perspective, I would support the development of a STEM-focused approach by encouraging greater collaboration among staff, sharing successful classroom practices, and identifying opportunities to integrate STEM across different curriculum areas. Collecting examples of pupils’ work, teacher observations, and pupil voice would help evaluate the impact of STEM initiatives and identify areas for further improvement. I would also encourage links with local STEM events or science initiatives to provide authentic learning experiences.</p>
Overall, I believe that combining practical investigations with digital technology creates a positive learning environment where pupils are actively engaged and motivated. A whole-school commitment to developing STEM through the SSE process would help build pupils’ confidence, curiosity, creativity, and problem-solving skills while fostering a lifelong interest in science and learning. -
Hi there,
I feel the same as you re SSE. Collaboration is key to positive learning expreiences for the children.
SEE can as help focus teachers and school staff and make teaching and learning more specific and meaningful to our individual schools.
Linking learning to the local community can only provide positive engagemnet from all involved.
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Hi,
I completely agree r.e. collaboration being key to teacher development and enhancing our own skills especially in STEAM. We can learn so much from the teachers around us once we are given the time to do so, as you mention peer observation being a really practical way to learn and also establish comfort and open door policies amongst staff!
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Lots of great ideas. Don’t forget you can also bring space into the discussion by using the ESA Kids lessons. And you can also get the kids to imagine a world in which it’s always cold or always hot and build lessons around hypothetical worlds that encourage the kids to imagine not only the worlds, but also the implications for life of living on those worlds.
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Hi Markey, I really enjoyed reading your post. I think ‘Animals in the Cold’ is such a great topic for infants, especially because children are naturally so curious about animals they don’t see every day. I love how you expanded beyond penguins and included polar bears, as it gives children a great chance to compare different habitats and develop their understanding of the world around them. Your ice cube activity idea is such a simple but engaging way to bring learning into play, and I might steal that idea for my own class. It would be a great interactive experience with lots of opportunities for discussion and exploration. Could be linked to the Hot & Cold activity too.
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Senior Infants Science Lesson: Animals in the Cold
Learning Outcome
Children will: Know that there are different types of weather.
Identify the characteristics of animals that live in cold environments.
Recognise how polar bears and penguins are adapted to keep warm.Materials
Say Hello to the Snowy Animals (story)
Pictures of snowy weather, polar bears and penguins
Vaseline
Toy polar bears, penguins and other Arctic animals
Arctic-themed Aistear small world set-up (ice, snow, blue fabric, blocks, etc.)Inquiry Question
How do animals stay warm in very cold places?Introduction
Read Say Hello to the Snowy Animals.
Discuss the animals in the story and where they live.
Show pictures of snowy weather and ask: What is the weather like?
Would you feel hot or cold there?
Which animals live in places like this?Investigation
Discuss different types of weather
Look at pictures showing sunny, rainy, windy, snowy and icy weather.
Compare the weather children experience with very cold Arctic weather.
How do polar bears and penguins keep warm?
Using pictures, discuss:Polar bear has thick white fur
Layer of fat (blubber) under its skin
Large furry paws for walking on ice
Penguin has thick layer of blubber
Waterproof feathers
Huddle together to stay warmVaseline Investigation: Rub a small amount of Vaseline onto one child’s hand (or children’s fingertips).
Sprinkle a few drops of cold water onto a hand with Vaseline.
Discuss how the water rolls off the Vaseline-covered skin.
Explain that a penguin’s waterproof feathers help keep it dry and warm, just as the Vaseline helps stop water soaking in.
Discussion: Which animal has thick fur?
Which animal has waterproof feathers?
Why do these animals need to stay warm?
Would these animals like to live somewhere hot?
Which adaptation helps each animal survive in the cold?
Emphasise that different animals have different features that help them live in their habitats.Conclusion
Review what the children have learned about cold weather and Arctic animals.
Revisit the inquiry question:
“How do animals stay warm in very cold places?”
Invite children to share one fact they learned about a polar bear or penguin.
Finish the lesson with Aistear play at an Arctic small-world scene where children can explore, role-play and sort toy Arctic animals while talking about how they survive in the cold. This allows them to reinforce the vocabulary and concepts learned during the lesson through play. -
I love the idea of using vaseline as a way of showing the children exactly what is meant by waterproof and how these is what many animals have which helps them to stay warm in Arctic conditions. I also really enjoy the book ‘Say hello to the Snowy Animals’ as a way of having the children think of different Arctic animals and maybe getting them thinking of how these animals manage to stay warm in cold places.
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I love the idea of using vaseline on the childrens hands to replicate the insulating properties of blubber. Ingenious!! Great to read simple yet very effective lessons to better our teaching andthe children’s learning! I often find myself relying on the same run of the mill lessons so this is fantastic for me. Thank you
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Hi Doireann,
That is a really useful lesson plan with some great ideas that I will use in the coming year. The story you mentioned is such a lovely story and a great way of introducing the animals and their habitat. I have taught the topic of Arctic animal a couple of times and never once thought of Vaseline as the way of demonstrating waterproof- so clever and kids will love it!
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This is a great lesson Doireann. The use of Vaseline will really enable the pupils to understand the concept of waterproof. Your story “say hello to snowy animals” along with your images will provide the pupils with many second hand experiences further enhancing their comprehension and understanding of the topic.
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This module got me thinking about SSE and it changed my understanding of the process. Whereas previously I would have looked at it as a cycle of reflection on practice, now I recognise that meaningful improvements in teaching and learning isn’t just based on teacher reflection and assessment, but rather, should be informed also by the children’s voices.
For me, the children’s voices has always been an important factor in my room, where I have used it to inform and guide future learning and activities, but I now see how their voices can practically and importantly be included in SSE focuses on a while-school level.
Looking specifically at STEM, a core area of the new curriculum, I think choosing the skills of scientific enquiry would be great focus for SSE. The skills are an integrated set which focus on real-world learning and problem solving, therefore allowing a single SSE focus target a multi-curriculum areas. I have learned that, as we shift from teacher-led instruction to more child-led enquiry, we now have a perfect opportunity to access and include the children’s reflections in our own evaluations. Even if we just chose a couple of skills at a time, for example observing, questioning and predicting, we could use things like learning journals, smiley face rating, wonder walls etc. to have the children provide their feedback, communicate things that worked, and inform the direction they would like to go next.
This feedback would be invaluable in the SSE process, ensuring those at the centre of the learning process are those whose voices are included. So I now think that choosing a skill or set of skills, rather than the traditional subject focus, while including the children’s voices more, would be a great SSE focus.
For my classroom, I hope come September to focus much more on the process rather than the product in STEM teaching. I want to slow down and work on units/themes rather just prescribed content. Project work will be a useful approach for me and from this module, I really want to allow more time for reflection to ensure scientific skills are discreetly focussed on too.
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I really enjoyed reading your reflection Laura. I agree that SSE can sometimes be viewed too narrowly as teacher reflection on practice, and your arguement about placing greater emphasis on children’s voices is particularly relevant today. Involving pupils in evaluating their own learning not only improves engagement but also provides much richer evidence of impact than teacher observation alone.
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Hi Lucy, this is a really strong reflection. I love the fact that you recognise that meaningful improvements comes from listening to, and integrating, the kids voices/experiences/interactions. This is not always easy, but it’s very powerful. Focusing on the process is also a key observation of yours, and moving away from “prescribed content” towards units/themes is progressive.
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I completely agree Lucy. I feel teachers can often underestimate students’ knowledge and competence in areas of STEM. As a mum of 4, I know my children were always more drawn to books with scientific facts and based on inquiry so its very important to assess prior knowledge and areas of personal interest among our students, allowing them to use their student agency prior and during our lessons as well as in conclusion for assessment purposes. I have often had students who in fact will know more than I had intended to teach, which allows them to share their expertise and area of interest with their peers.
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Hi Lucy this is a really helped me when thinking of SSE with regards to STEM and reinforced what we learnt in this module. I will be taking a similar approach in September with a focus on process and more inquiry based activities. The importance of the children’s voice is also something I will be placing extra emphasis on. While it is something I have always done, I do feel I could do more in this area.
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Theme: Where Do You Live?
- Children discuss their homes with a partner or small groups(colour, roof, type of home, garden, how many windows, storeys, terrace, semi detached etc).
- Walk and learn- children will walk around the room, when I say stop they tell the person beside them about their home. I would support and scaffold for children who find speaking to a group challenging.
- Children complete a cut and stick/ drawing making it similar to their home- apartments, houses, boat house, mobile home.
- Linkage to art and Englis- read The House that Grew.
- Children build a model of their home using playdoh, blocks, design using ict if possible
- Children create additional model buildings (e.g. school, shop, park, library).
- For lesson and theme progression we would look at different homes animals live in- nests, burrows and then bigger habitats.
- STEM and SEE opportunities- creating model homes using materials available in the classroom and testing their structures.
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With a return to the Moon in the next few years, “where do you live” might mean something more expansive in the near future for those first lunar inhabitants. What advances might the kids think would need to be achieved to make it possible to live on the Moon? This approach can be used to show that many of the same ideas they have to consider when discussing habitation on earth is faced in space. And that’s useful because it reinforces that by using an inquiry-based approach you can address challenges wherever they come from.
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<p class=”pdq2pgselectionanchorcontainer”>I would choose the <strong data-start=”117″ data-end=”153″>”Investigating Children’s Coats” activity with my first and second class because it is practical, relevant to the children’s everyday lives and provides excellent opportunities for inquiry-based learning. The activity encourages pupils to investigate which materials are most suitable for different weather conditions and to think about why certain coats keep us warm and dry. It also links directly to the curriculum objective of exploring the suitability of clothing for different weather conditions and investigating materials.</p>
<p data-start=”691″ data-end=”1343″>I would begin the lesson by asking the children to bring in different types of coats or look at the coats they are wearing. Together we would discuss questions such as, <em data-start=”860″ data-end=”939″>Which coat would be best for a rainy day? Which would keep us warm in winter? The children would make predictions before carrying out simple investigations to test different materials for waterproofing or warmth. They would observe, compare and record their findings using pictures, simple tables or oral discussion, allowing them to develop important science skills such as questioning, predicting, observing, investigating and communicating.</p>
<p data-start=”1345″ data-end=”1833″>To ensure all children could participate successfully, I would differentiate the activity according to ability. Children who need additional support could work with a partner, use picture cards and record their findings through drawings or verbal explanations. More able pupils could explain their reasoning in greater detail, compare results between groups and design their own coat for a particular type of weather, just as suggested in the module.</p>
<p data-start=”1835″ data-end=”2198″>This activity also provides opportunities for cross-curricular learning. In Visual Arts, pupils could design and decorate a weather-proof coat. In English, they could describe their investigations orally and write simple sentences about their results. In Maths, they could sort coats by material or weather type and create simple charts to display their findings.</p>
<p data-start=”2200″ data-end=”2563″>I believe this activity would be highly engaging for first and second class because it is hands-on, familiar and encourages children to learn through exploration. It supports a mixed-ability classroom by allowing every child to participate at their own level while developing curiosity, confidence and essential scientific skills through meaningful investigation</p> -
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I realy like your insulation experiment with ice cubes. It’s such a child friendly way to introduce prediction, testing, and recording results. In my class, I could see the children getting very excited about checking which material kept the ice coldest and talking about why.
The idea of designing shelters or building small habitats with recycled materials is something I’d love to try too. It brings creativity and STEM together nicely.
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Science Skills and SSE
As our school continues to implement the redeveloped Primary Curriculum Framework, a key priority will be strengthening our approach to STEM through the School Self-Evaluation (SSE) process. Although we already have comprehensive Whole School Curriculum Plans in place, we recognise the need to review and update our STEM provision to ensure a consistent, high-quality learning experience for all pupils. Our aim is to provide children with the scientific inquiry, mathematical thinking and problem-solving skills they will need in an increasingly technological and innovative world.
The first stage of the SSE process will involve gathering evidence from the entire school community. Staff will collaborate during professional learning meetings to reflect on current practice, identify strengths and discuss areas for development within STEM education. Pupil voice will also play an important role. Older children may complete questionnaires or participate in focus groups, while younger pupils can share their ideas through discussions, drawings or other creative activities. Parents and guardians will be invited to contribute their views through an online survey.
Once the information has been collected, an SSE team will analyse the findings alongside the Looking at Our School (LAOS) framework and the aims of the redeveloped curriculum. This evidence will help identify a small number of achievable priorities that will have the greatest impact on teaching and learning. These agreed targets will then be shared with the wider school community so that everyone understands the focus and intended outcomes.
Throughout the implementation phase, progress will be monitored regularly using a range of evidence, including classroom observations, examples of children’s work, photographs and teacher reflections stored in a shared digital folder. STEM will remain a standing item on staff meeting agendas to encourage ongoing collaboration and reflection. The In-School Leadership (ISL) team will oversee the review process, ensuring that the agreed actions are evaluated regularly and refined where necessary to support continuous improvement in STEM teaching and learning.
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“Why don’t polar bears need to wear coats?” would be the question I would use to introduce a winter theme based on animals that live in freezing environments. This type of question immediately encourages young children to share their ideas about fur, feathers, snow and ice.
The lesson could begin by exploring how different animals are suited to life in extremely cold places. Rather than concentrating on one animal, the children could investigate polar bears, penguins, seals and Arctic foxes. We would discuss their body coverings, how they find food and the ways they keep warm. The children could also compare the Arctic and Antarctic and discover that polar bears and penguins do not actually live in the same region.This theme would work particularly well during Aistear. I could create a frozen-world investigation area by placing small animal figures inside blocks of ice. The children would work together to rescue them using warm water, droppers, spoons and other safe classroom materials. They could predict which method would melt the ice most quickly and describe the changes they observe.
The activity could naturally lead into an age-appropriate conversation about climate change. We could consider what might happen to cold-climate animals if their environment became warmer and the sea ice began to disappear. This would allow the children to develop scientific language and problem-solving skills while also encouraging empathy and care for the natural world.
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The online resources I found most useful for teaching Space in a 1st Class classroom are Curious Minds , ESERO Ireland, ESA Education, NASA Kids’ Club, Universe in a Box, Space Scoop, UNAWE, Marlin and Milo, Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD), and Stellarium Web. These resources provide engaging, age-appropriate activities that encourage children to explore space through play, investigation and discussion.
I would use Curious Minds and ESERO Ireland as my main planning resources because they are closely linked to the Irish Primary Curriculum and include practical, inquiry-based STEM lessons. Activities such as making simple rockets, investigating shadows, exploring the Moon and learning about the planets encourage children to predict, observe, question and work collaboratively.
To spark curiosity, I would use NASA Kids’ Club and ESA Education, where children can watch short videos, play interactive games and explore child-friendly information about astronauts, rockets and the Solar System. Universe in a Box and UNAWE provide excellent hands-on activities and stories that help children understand big ideas about space through active learning. I particularly like Space Scoop, which shares current space discoveries in language children can understand. I could use these stories as part of our oral language lessons, encouraging children to ask questions, predict outcomes and discuss new discoveries.
I would also introduce Marlin and Milo for simple science investigations linked to space, helping children develop their scientific skills through practical experiments. Astronomy Picture of the Day would be a wonderful way to begin each lesson by showing an amazing image of space to promote discussion, observation and new vocabulary. Using Stellarium Web, I could display the night sky on the interactive whiteboard, allowing children to identify the Moon, stars and constellations and helping them understand that the sky changes over time.
I would integrate these resources across the curriculum. In SESE, children would investigate the Earth, Moon and stars. In Science, they would carry out simple investigations and make predictions. In English, they could write space fact files, create stories about astronauts and discuss what they have learned. Visual Arts could include designing rockets, planets and starry night paintings, while in Mathematics, children could sort, count and compare planets or create simple graphs based on class surveys about favourite planets. In Drama and PE, they could role-play astronauts and move like rockets travelling through space.
Overall, these online resources would make learning about space exciting, interactive and meaningful for 1st Class pupils. They promote curiosity, creativity, collaboration and inquiry.
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<p align=”left”>I’m very interested in doing the ‘Animals in the Cold’ lesson. I feel the use of animals around the world is a great stimulus for children. Polar bears and penguins are frequently among children’s’ favourite animals so serve as a very interesting way to teach children about climates on Earth.</p>
<p align=”left”>In this lesson the children will learn about different sorts of weather. They will also learn about the characteristics of animals living in different climates. I feel there is room to include some other animals that live in cold weather here. Particularly the arctic rabbit and fox as they’re known to change their colours depending on the seasons.</p>
<p align=”left”>The children begin discussing types of weather. There is some room here for Gaeilge integration.</p>
<p align=”left”>The children will then think about how certain types of weather occurs more frequently in different parts of the world. The children’s own life experience can be drawn on here as they might have visited or lived in different parts of the world. The level of teacher input will depend on the class level as some of this topic is already known by 1<sup>st</sup> or 2<sup>nd</sup> class.</p>
<p align=”left”>The class then focus on the arctic and Antarctic regions, particularly the polar bear and the penguin. Using the photograph prompts, the class will discuss which features of the animals help them stay warm and survive well in the area they live. Again there is opportunity to draw on children’s own experiences here. Digital resources such as video content can be used here, showing penguins swimming and polar bears walking in the snow.</p>
<p align=”left”>I feel the use of vaseline to illustrate how the penguin stays waterproof is a great idea. While slightly messy, it’s a great hands on approach to explain an unfamiliar topic.</p>
<p align=”left”>There are plenty of extension activities available for this lesson. I’m looking forward to sharing it with my class.</p> -
Reflective Post – Hands-on Classroom Themed Activities
I would use a hands-on STEM activity called “Design and Build a Space Rover” with my First Class pupils. This activity would allow children to explore science, engineering, creativity, and problem-solving while working together on a meaningful challenge.
The activity would begin with a discussion about space exploration and the role of robots in discovering planets. I would show examples of space rovers and ask the children why scientists use them instead of sending people to explore every planet. The pupils would then work in small groups to design and build their own space rover using recycled materials such as cardboard boxes, bottle tops, tubes, and craft materials.
Before building, each group would plan their design by deciding what their rover needs to do, for example, move across a planet, collect samples, or take pictures. During the construction process, children would test their models, identify problems, and make improvements. At the end, each group would present their rover and explain the choices they made.
To record the learning process, I would take photographs and short videos of the planning, building, and testing stages. These digital records could be shared on our class digital platform or included in pupils’ learning portfolios. I believe this type of hands-on STEM activity helps children develop scientific skills in a creative and inclusive way while making learning memorable and enjoyable.
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Class: Junior or Senior Infants
Activity: What clothes to wear? Esero lesson 11
I will have the children stand up, dance and act to seasons of the world song. After this, we will chat as a class. I will ask them what time of year did they see and hear about? I will ask do they know what a season is and can they give me an example of what they would wear for that season. I will then pass out the worksheets to the children. They will work in pairs to colur them in and discuss what they see as well as what season they think it is. Each pair will share their thought with the class and why they think the children are dressed a certain way in their worksheet. I wil give the children the words for the seasons as I write them on the whiteboard, some can help me sound out the sounds to make the words. Children will write down the season that they think their picture is from. These will be gathered and kept for assessment later as well as observations made from a list of higher and lower order questioning with the class.
Next I will show a set of pictures on the screen on the weather on different days, during different seasons. I will ask the children to tell me what they would wear for that day? We will revise the seasons and how the weather is during that time of year. I will also prompt children on what we may celebrate during that time fo year. For example in Winter, we celebrate Christmas, in Spring we celebrate Easter etc. After this, I will take the class bear. I will have a box of clothes to dress the bear in to suit the season as well as small props that suit the season/ time of year. I will show a picture on the screen of the weather for a season. The children will tell me what our bear needs to wear, so it is dressed properly for that day. I will invite a child from each table group to dress the bear to suit the season picture I put on the screen. We will summarise the 4 seasons and how we dress for that type of weather as children get a worksheet to match up the item of clothing with the season picture on the opposite side. These will be used to assess the children and help plan for future support for those that may need it.
Next, children will be given a worksheet to design clothes for 4 bears; one set of clothes for Spring, for Summer, for Autumn and for Winter. Children will show their designs to the class. They will be place on the display board for all to see. We will summarise our learning as I give children a scenario that Ted must dress for such as – Ted is leaving his house and he looks out the window. It is raining. What will he wear?
This lesson could be continued throughout the week through Aistear.
In Aistear; the home corner will have children dressing Ted to match the photos of the seasons. They will also have a dress up box for themselves. An art station – children will draw clothes on a person to suit a season with the name of the season on top. For SESE children will draw the be given a sheet with a person on it dressed to suit a certain season. They must draw the weather to suit the clothes the person is wearing. There will also be a fine motor station for children to thread around the different types of clothes. They will then place their threaded piece into the correct box to match the season. in maths, children will match up the correct item of clothing with the type of weather in the season box.
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I really like the cross-curricular links you’ve included, especially how you’ve connected science with geography, maths and literacy. The insulation experiment is a great hands-on way to encourage children to make predictions and investigate their ideas. I also like your suggestion of designing animal shelters, as it gives pupils another opportunity to apply their learning through creativity and problem-solving.
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I think your chosen activities support purposeful game-based learning and STEM education because pupils are actively exploring, testing ideas and solving problems rather than just learning facts. The investigations encourage curiosity, teamwork and critical thinking as children make predictions, collect data and explain their findings. A meaningful link to another curriculum area would be Geography, as pupils could explore different habitats, climates and environments around the world. They could create maps, compare locations, and discuss how weather conditions affect both humans and animals.
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Integrated Inquiry-Based Lessons
To engage the children, I would use ESERO 5 by asking, Where do you live? and discussing the idea that everyone has a home on Earth. We would explore different types of houses using images, including houses, apartments, cottages and unusual homes from around the world. The children would identify and describe the type of house they live in and compare it with others.
To carry out the activity, the children would design and make a model of their own house using a range of materials. All models would then be combined to create a class “neighbourhood,” showing the diversity of homes in our class.
We would then apply learning to other areas. In science, we would explore animals in cold environments and discuss how they are adapted to survive low temperatures. We would also investigate clothing needs using ESERO 7, exploring Ireland’s four seasons. The children would design and make appropriate outfits for each season using different materials, linking weather, materials and real-life choices.
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Hi Niamh, I really liked your idea of linking several of the activities together rather than teaching them separately. The class neighbourhood would be a lovely visual display and would encourage lots of discussion about different homes and habitats. I also liked your extension into seasonal clothing. I focused on that activity in my own post too, and I think asking children to justify why they chose particular materials for different weather conditions would really encourage scientific thinking as well as creativity. It also creates some lovely cross-curricular opportunities!
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This is lovely Niamh, very practical and the children would love it. I love exploring different types of homes with the children at the start of the year as they are eager to share about their experiences and it often leads to very interesting and engaging discussion. The children always love construction and it is a great way of promoting problem solving and critical thinking. I love the idea of creating a neighbourhood using their constructions!
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Niamh, i love this lesson. I particularly like the designing of clothes for different seasons! I love seeing the different ways that science can be integrated with visual arts. Hands on activitIES always allow all types of learners to flourish and take part in a lesson. It also allows for meaning discussions between them on why they would or would not use certain things.
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This is a lovely unit of work. It really starts with what the children know and expands on their own experience with hands-on activities in a meaningful way. Use of story, such as the traditional Three Little Pigs, could also help integrate discreet English and Drama lessons. Then keeping with inquiry based activities, the children could design and make shelters for toy pigs using various materials and test their strength. I will definitely be utilising more thematic units like this in my teaching next year.
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The integrated nature of this lesson is a really strong element of the approach. It helps to link different concepts together into an overall coherent narrative. “Multidisciplinarity”, where different disciplines such as scientists and artists and social scientists, work together collaboratively is a powerful use of STEM and SSE. This lesson gets the kids thinking along those lines early, which is great.
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Lesson: Where Do We Live?
Theme: Homes Around the WorldLearning Objectives-
Children will:Talk about where they live.
Explore that people live in many different types of homes around the world.
Understand that homes meet people’s needs.
Design a home using their own ideas.
Work collaboratively to create a class community.
Begin with questions:Where do you live?
Who lives with you?
What makes a house feel like home?
What rooms are in your house?
What do we all need in a home?
Record the children’s ideas on the WBI would then tell the children that “Homes can look very different, but every home is a place where people live, feel safe and belong”. I would read a story e.g. ‘A House Is a House for Me’ .It explores the idea that many places can be homes and encourages children to think creatively about what “home” means.
Explore Homes Around the World
Show photographs of:Apartments
Detached houses
Cottages
Houseboats
Igloos
Yurts
Mud-brick homes
Stilt houses
Tree houses (for fun!)Questions and discussions would be had throughout e.g.
Why are some houses on stilts?
Why would people build with snow?
Which house would you like to visit?
What is the same about every home? I would place emphasis on
Different weather
Different materials
Different cultures
Same purpose—keeping people safe and comfortable.Activity: Design Your Dream Home
I would ask the children what an architect is and that “Today you are architects! You are going to design a home that is perfect for you.” We would discuss things like
How many rooms?
What shape will it be?
What colour?
Does it have a garden?
Is it underwater?
In space?
In a tree?
Does it have a slide instead of stairs?
I would inform them that every design is different because everyone imagines home differently.Collaborative Class Activity: Our Street, Our Village, Our World.
I would roll out a long sheet of backing paper across a table or display board. We would draw simple features like paths, trees, roads etc. Each child cuts out their home and places it somewhere on the large map. The display title would be – “There’s No Place Like Home!”
Oral Language: The children would present their house using starters like My home is…
I chose…
My favourite room is…
My home has…
I made it special by…Sit together around the display and have a discussion-What did we notice about everyone’s homes?
Were any two exactly the same?
What makes somewhere feel like home?
Animals and weather can be nicely linked into this as well as an extension lesson.Weather: Ice Animal:Emperor penguin, Home/Adaption: Huddle together for warmth
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Hi Sarah,
I was not familiar with the book ‘A house is a house for me’ but I love this as a way of teaching children about different homes and how they can appear different and take different forms for different people and also how some children may have more than than one house! Having had a read of the book via YouTube it’s got some lovely ideas. I also love the idea that a book is a home for a story, I will definitely be using that quote for writing and reading lesson and also.
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I loved the idea of asking the children what makes a house a home, whilst also introducing them to lots of houses around the world. A display would be a great activity and show the children that we might live in lots of different looking houses but a home provides security and a feeling of belonging.
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I really like the idea of teaching about different homes. Again, I would use a multi sensory approach with my autism class.
Lesson: Where do you love?
Learning outcomes:
Identify different types of homes
Design a new home
Create the home using a matrial of choice.
Learning activity:
Introduce the lesson by reading ‘The Three Little Pigs’. Discuss the types of homes in the stories and identify flaws in the pigs homes.
In a tuff tray, invite the pupils to build the houses using a variety of materials – matchsticks, lollipop sticks, lego, wooden blocks etc. Discuss the building process – building, falling, strengthening etc.
Discuss different types of homes e.g. detatched, semi detatched, bungalow, cottage, igloo etc. Look at pictures of different houses. Match corresponding pictures to these pictures. Use these words on AAC device, where appropriate.
On A3 paper, allow the pupils to design a new home / a creative home / their dream home. Allow them to describe it to the class.
Build their new home with material of choice e.g. lego / wooden blocks / stickle bricks / polydrons etc.
Discuss the size, structure, stability of the houses.
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Hi Sarah, lots of great comments from other teachers! And a dream home might mean different things in different scenarios. For example, in a warm climate versus a cold one. And in space or on the Moon or Mars there are other challenges to what makes a dream home a dream home. For example, on the Moon your dream home couldn’t have open windows or all the air would rush out! And even on Mars the atmopshere is too thin (and mostly carbon dioxide and almost no oxygen) so architects would have to think differently than if building a house on Earth.
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Hands-on classroom themed activities.
Theme: Where Do You live?
I would ask the children to discuss what their home looks like with their partner including the colour, what sort of roof it has, what type of home it is, does it have a garden before asking some pairs to feedback to the class. I would give each child a copy of the worksheet from this module and ask them to circle the type of home that looks most like theirs and to colour it in using the same colours. I think it is very important here to be mindful of children’s individual circumstances and living situations e.g. some children could be living in hotels or other emergency accommodation.
Following on from that, I love the idea shared in this module of the children building their own homes using various materials. This would be a very hands-on, engaging and child-led activity to use in an infant room.
The next part of the lesson involves making a town from all the model houses. I would ask the children to look at our town and ask if there is anything missing. I would record their answers. After that, the children would make more models of buildings to represent the various places on the list we made.
To end the lesson, we would discuss the differences between our homes and the differences between the facilities we have in our town and what we would like to see added to it in the future.
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I really like how your activities are practical, child-led, and encourage meaningful discussion. Your awareness of children’s different home situations shows a thoughtful and inclusive approach to teaching. Building a class town is a fantastic way to develop creativity, collaboration, and oral language skills. The final discussion also encourages children to think about their community and appreciate that everyone’s home and neighbourhood can be different.
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I decided to focus on the module Hands-on Classroom Themed Activities as I believe Senior Infants engage with the topic best when they actively engage with it. The module of Space is a fantastic theme for a topic as it automatically stimulates children’s curiosity and interest.
A lesson I would have in my own classroom to deliver this module is a hands-on activity for the children to design and create their own rockets. The children would have to work in small groups and design their rockets using materials that I have at my disposal such as paper, card, recycled materials etc. Prior to them launching their rockets I would encourage them to discuss and decide on what design they think would fly the furthest. The children will have an opportunity to launch their own rockets and the results will be discussed as a whole class comparing them to their prediction and it will prompt them to ask questions and share thoughts on why the rockets flew the distance they did, which will aid their curiosity.
I think this would be a fun and interactive activity for Senior Infants whilst teaching them about important life skills such as working together, sharing and communicating, and developing their scientific thoughts.
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I would choose the What Clothes to Wear (ESERO 11) activity from the hands on classroom activities in this module because it provides an engaging way to combine science, engineering and problem solving in a meaningful context for young children.
I would do this activity with a junior class after discussing the seasons and different types of weather. Working in pairs or small groups, the children would design a coat suitable for a particular season or weather condition. They would think carefully about the materials they could use and other practical features of their coat like hoods, zips etc., explaining why they made each design choice. Once they have completed the coat, the children could present their designs to the rest of the class and compare how different materials and features are better suited to particular weather conditions.
This activity would create opportunities for the children to be active in their learning, investigate, ask questions and make decisions based on evidence rather than simply learning the information from a PowerPoint, book or video clip. It also links with oral language, arts and engineering while encouraging creativity, collaboration and communication.
From a STEM focused School Self Evaluation perspective, I would gather evidence through photos of the finished coats, samples of pupils’ work, teacher observations and pupil reflections. This evidence would help identify how well the children are developing scientific enquiry, problem solving and critical thinking skills.
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For Module 4, I would choose the Where Do You Live? activity. I think this activity would work very well in a Junior/Senior Infant classroom because the children enjoy talking about themselves and where they live. I see this at home with my 6-year-old twins every day! I teach in a rural school, so many of the children live on farms, while others live in the nearest town in housing estates, bungalows or apartments. This gives us a great opportunity to talk about the different types of homes and the communities we live in.
Firstly I would ask the children to talk with a partner about their home. They could describe what it looks like, the colour of it, whether it has a garden and who lives with them. We would then look at pictures of different types of homes, and the children could complete the worksheet by choosing the home that is most like their own.
Following this I would show the children pictures of homes made from different materials such as brick, stone, wood and glass. We would talk about why these materials are used and which ones they think would make the strongest home.
The children could then work in small groups to build a model house using blocks or recycled materials. We could see if their house is strong enough to stand on its own or not!. The children could talk about what worked well, what they would change and why. This activity would support STEM by encouraging the children to design, build, test and improve their models while working together.
In relation to SSE the children learn about themselves, their families and their local community. It also develops science skills such as observing, comparing, asking questions and talking about what they notice.
In relation to STEM and SSE this activity would encourage the children to learn through play, ask questions and work together. As a teacher and a Mom I think it is important to include more hands-on STEM activities in the classroom. This will help the children develop their science skills while learning through play.
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Hi Elaine, I think your point about the children learning about themselves and their communities is important. And hands-on activities that use the ESERO Framework in an appropriate format can bring in broader questions. For example, does your house design take account of the living beings we share our planet with? Such questions get kids discussing the broader implications of their ideas and shows that multiple voices, not just pure STEM voices, are needed to ensure we live in a sustainable world. You can also ask them to think about whether their approach would work on other planets. For example, the Moon is lifeless, so does that make some decisions easier as there’s no danger of upsetting habitats?
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I really enjoyed reading this. I also have a 6-year-old, so I could definitely relate to your point about children loving to talk about where they live and what makes their home special! I like how you’ve extended the activity into designing and building houses, as it gives the children a chance to test their ideas and work together. It sounds like a lovely way to bring STEM into the classroom while keeping it practical and meaningful
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The earth, where do you live and weather
In my class I would use the hands on activity of animals and the weather.
To introduce the lesson I would start by asking about todays weather and encouraging the children to discuss the weather, different types of weather and how we may feel when it rains etc. Leading on to how we would dress in different weather and if the weather effects animals? Do cows wear coats in the rain?!
I will sing a weather-related animal song. Five Little Ducks (rainy weather)
I will then set up an Animal & Weather Matching Game for the children to play
Show pictures of animals and weather types.
Ask: “Where does the polar bear live?” “Does the duck like the rain?”
Children take turns matching animals to the right weather.To extend the learning we could play a game outside acting like the animals Waddle like a penguin
Hop like a frog in the rain
Lie down like a cat in the sun-
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Hi Irene, I think starting with the weather is a great way to get the children talking. Asking the children about cows wearing coats adds some humour to the lesson! The matching game and the animal movements outside would also engage the children and make the lesson fun, active, and easy for all children to get involved.
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Hands-on Activities: Where Do You Live For Junior Infants
Objectives:
Pupils will identify different types of homes and recognise where they live. They will develop science skills such as observing, questioning, working scientifically, and designing and making.Activities:
I would begin with a discussion using pictures of different homes (houses, apartments, farms etc.). Pupils would be asked: Where do you live? What does your home look like? This encourages observation and questioning.Next, pupils would take part in a sorting activity, grouping different homes by type or location. This supports working scientifically through classifying and comparing.
For a hands-on task, pupils will design and make a simple model of their home using blocks, recycled materials, or playdough. This develops creativity and designing and making.
Pupils will then be invited to share their models with the class, explaining features of their home, supporting oral language.
To assess understanding, pupils will draw their home and label key parts where possible.
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Activity: Weather
Animals in the cold
Senior infantsGo outside and observe the current weather for a short period without jackets or coats. Return back to the classroom if it is a cold day and discuss the current weather. Identify the current season and the months that make up this season. Identify what they could have worn si they weren’t so cold outside.
Identify the additional seasons and what type of weather is often experienced during that season in Ireland. Discuss how this changes depending on the country. The children will share places that are very cold (North and South Pole)
Listen and respond to the story of ‘Lost and Found’ by Oliver Jeffers. Discuss why the penguin may have wanted to stay with the boy and no longer live in Antarctica. Share why/ why not they would like to live in Antarctica.Questioning would be used to stimulate the discussion about dealing with the temperature.
What other animals face cold temperatures in their every day life?
How do they stay warm?
Explore the need for a thick layer of fat and a thick layer of fur/ feathers.
Do you have a thick layer of fur or feathers to keep you warm in the winter?
What could you use instead to stay warm?Exploring the need for a greasy layer to repel water would tie in nicely with a previous lesson on materials that are waterproof. The children will love practically testing this out themselves using Vaseline.
Revise what polar bears and penguins need to survive and how that differs to humans and explore other aspects of a polar bear and penguin to help protect them in the Arctic and Antarctic.
Using their knowledge of animals staying warm in cold climates, the children will be encourages to create an Arctic Owl using fabrics and fibres. They will be encourages to add the fat reserves before adding the thick layer of feathers. They will also be encouraged to give their owl feathered feet and legs so their legs and feet stay warm when walking on snow and ice. They could compare this to how we keep our legs and feet warm in the cold weather.
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Hi Stephanie! I really enjoyed this lesson as it combines science, literacy, art, and sensory exploration in a meaningful and engaging way. The use of Lost and Found provides an excellent context for discussing weather, habitats, and how animals adapt to survive in cold environments, while the practical investigation using Vaseline helps children develop their scientific thinking through hands-on learning. I also like the creative Arctic owl activity, which reinforces pupils’ understanding of animal adaptations. My own lesson is similar in that it uses sensory exploration and inquiry-based STEM activities to help children learn about animals in cold climates.
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Hands-on Classroom Themed Activities
Theme: Our Homes and Where We Live
I would begin the lesson by getting the children to talk about their own homes with a partner. I would prompt them with questions such as: What colour is your house? Is it a house or an apartment? Does it have a garden? What shape is the roof? After a short discussion, I would invite a few pairs to share their ideas with the class.
Next, I would give each child a simple worksheet showing different types of homes. I would ask them to circle the home that most looks like theirs and colour it in carefully. I would be mindful here of children’s different living situations and would make sure all children feel included and comfortable, recognising that some may live in apartments, hotels, or emergency accommodation.
After this, I would move on to a hands-on activity where children build their own homes using blocks, construction materials, or recycled resources. This would be a very child-led and creative task, allowing them to design a home that reflects their own ideas and understanding of where people live.
Once the homes are built, we would bring them together to create a class “town”. I would encourage the children to look at the town and discuss what might be missing. I would note their suggestions on the board. Following this, the children would create additional buildings or features to add to the town, such as a school, shop, park, or other places they feel are important.
To finish the lesson, we would sit together and talk about the different types of homes we created and how they are similar or different. We would also discuss what makes a community and what facilities we would like to include in our town in the future. -
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The use of online resources and digital tools can greatly enhance the development of science skills in the classroom. Interactive platforms such as Stellarium allow children to explore the night sky by identifying stars, planets, and constellations in an engaging and age-appropriate way. This encourages observation, questioning, and curiosity about space while developing scientific investigation skills.
Universe in a Box provides hands-on activities and supporting materials that make complex space concepts accessible to young learners. These practical investigations promote predicting, observing, recording, and communicating findings, all of which are key science skills in the primary curriculum.
Marvin and Milo offers simple science experiments using everyday household materials. These activities encourage pupils to explore scientific concepts through inquiry-based learning, helping them to make predictions, test ideas, and explain results. The experiments are enjoyable and foster problem-solving and critical thinking. The graphics are also very attractive to the children.
The European Space Agency provides a wide range of free educational resources, videos, and classroom activities that introduce children to topics such as the Solar System, astronauts, and Earth observation. These resources support differentiated learning and promote digital literacy alongside scientific understanding.
I look forward to using these tools from September to encourage curiosity and enhance teaching and learning about space and science skills in general.
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Hi Sinead, that’s a lovely summary of the online space resources. Stellarium is great for chatting about the stars, what’s in the sky tonight (or next week, or next month, etc.). And it allows you to choose from different cultures, each of which has different stories about mythology and each has arranged the stars they see into constellations that are different to the ones we use (which are from Greece from about 2000 years ago). So you can use the stars to discuss lots more than just the stars themselves and what they are and how far away they are. Another example of bringing arts, humanities and social sciences into STEM conversations and vice versa.
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Activity Set: Animals in the Cold
Class Level: Junior Autism Class (Junior & Senior Infants)I would use this activity set to help pupils explore different types of weather and learn about animals that live in cold environments through sensory, visual, and hands-on experiences. We would begin by looking at photographs of snowy habitats and animals such as polar bears, penguins, seals, and Arctic foxes. Using simple language, visual supports, and AAC where appropriate, I would encourage pupils to identify the weather and describe what they can see.
Pupils would then take part in a range of hands-on STEM activities. They could sort animals into “cold” and “hot” habitat pictures, explore an Arctic sensory tray containing ice, snow, cotton wool, and toy animals, and investigate how blubber keeps animals warm by wearing a plastic glove lined with vegetable shortening before placing their hand into icy water. We would compare how each hand feels, encouraging pupils to observe and communicate what they notice using speech, gestures, pictures.
To extend learning, pupils could build a simple shelter for a toy penguin using blocks or recycled materials and test whether it keeps the toy away from the “wind” created by a small fan. Throughout the lesson, I would use visual timetables, structured routines, repetition, and modelling to ensure every pupil can participate successfully.
This activity promotes observation, prediction, problem-solving, communication, and curiosity while developing an early understanding of weather, habitats, and animal adaptations. As a further step towards a STEM-focused School Self-Evaluation (SSE), I would embed more inquiry-based, sensory STEM activities across the curriculum and provide regular opportunities for pupils to investigate, explore, and communicate their discoveries in meaningful, accessible ways.
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Activity Set: Animals In The Cold
Introduction: Show picture cards of a polar bear and penguin. Use simple, predictable language: “This is a polar bear. This is a penguin. They live where it is very cold.” Ask, “How do you stay warm?” and show a picture of a coat as a visual prompt.
Investigation: Explain that animals can’t wear coats, so their bodies help them stay warm instead: thick fur or feathers, fat under their skin, and a greasy layer that keeps water off. Put a small amount of Vaseline on one hand of each child. Drip a little water on it and watch it roll off, comparing with their bare hand.
Conclusion: Return to the picture cards. Ask each child to point to or name one way animals stay warm, using the “coat, fat, grease” visual cues to support communication.
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STEM Lesson: Animals in the Cold (Junior Infants)
Learning Goal: We will learn how some animals stay warm in cold places.
Show pictures of a polar bear, penguin, and seal. Ask: “What do you notice? Where do they live? How do they keep warm?”
Give each child a small ice cube wrapped in different materials (paper, foil, fabric, or bubble wrap). Ask them to guess which material will keep the ice cold for the longest time. Wait 5–10 minutes, then check the ice together.
Talk about how thick fur, feathers, and fat help animals stay warm, just like the materials helped the ice.
Children build a warm shelter for a toy penguin or polar bear using blocks, paper, or recycled materials. Test the shelters with a fan to make “cold wind.”
Finish by asking: “Which shelter worked best? Why?” Encourage children to draw their animal and say one way it stays warm.
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Online Tools and Resources- Stellarium: Stars & Constellations
I would introduce the topic of stars and space to Senior Infants through the exploration of various picture books such as Bright Sky, Starry City by Uma Krishnaswami, Where to Hide a Star by Olivier Jeffers and a Hundred Billion Trillion Stars by Seth Fishman . The children would study the model of constellations made from plasticine and sticks on a desk.
Before the children use the online tool Stellarium, the children would play a game of North South, East, West so as to consolidate previous lessons about directions. The children would watch the online North Star Guide video from Blackrock Castle Observatory to get a visual of the constellations.
We would use Stellarium loaded on the class IPads. The children could work in pairs to search the sky in their location from the night before. The fact that you can set to your own location would be very beneficial to the children a give them a greater sense of place. The children could share their findings with a different pair.-
I really love the idea of Stellarium. What an amazing tool to bring the world of space closer to those young, curious minds! It’s incredible that they can see the stars from any point in the world at a moment in time. I’m really looking forward to using this tool back at school. My children will absolutely love it!
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Having previously planned a lesson for Module Two on the sun and UV light, I think I would pick the ESERO activity ‘Hot and Cold’ to build on previous learning. I like the sample yes/no questions provided on the activity sheet as it would help me to gauge the children’s current understanding of the sun and what we have learned about the sun to date. We will discuss why we are encouraged to move to the shade in hot weather. Have they done this before? Has it worked? We will go outside so the children can take turns moving between sunny and shaded areas…can they feel the difference in temperature? However, as this can be quite subjective, I like the idea of using fair testing to check this out further. We will have an ice cube in two separate bowls, one to be left in the sun and the other in shade. Will one ice cube melt faster than the other? Which one? Afterwards we will discuss why the ice cube left in the sunny area melted quicker.
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For this assignment, I would use the lesson based on Animals in the Cold – Climate. As with so many of the lessons on this course, there are lots of opportunities for integration. I would use some of the stories based on animals in cold climates in this link: https://mrsjonescreationstation.com/20-animals-in-winter-books-for-little-learners/
The introductory talk about the weather would definitely yield results, as even at 5 or 6, children in Ireland are very well versed in weather-speak! Some children in the junior end of our school have been very lucky to get to Lapland in recent years and have brought back photos and stories about the animals they encountered which they would love to share.
The idea of fur and fat as ‘coats’ that the animals wear is very accessible for the children. The half term after October in the run up to Christmas would be an ideal time to explore this lesson as we could use discuss not only coats but hats, gloves, scarves, thermal layers, skins in sports activities, etc., any protective layers or covers that we all use during cold weather.
The use of Vaseline would be very impactful to illustrate the effectiveness of a layer of grease on fur and feathers. This could be extended to include other substances that are fatty in nature but not as effective e.g. butter, oil, cream.
The white colour of polar bears and on the front of penguins can be extended to explore other arctic animals that are white all year, e.g. beluga whales, dall sheep, and, animals that turn white in winter for protection, e.g. artic foxes and arctic hares.
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Thanks Valerie. As humans are animals (mammals) we are subject to many of the same issues that face other animals in terms of the need to protect ourselves from the cold. As we return to the Moon, where the nightime temperatures plummet to minus 150 celsius, you could extend the activity perhaps to ask how would we survive the cold on the Moon (or Mars, which is a balmy minus 50 most of the time).
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Activity: Weather
Animals in the cold
Infants
I would introduce the topic by reading Jonty Gentoo by Julia Donaldson. This story follows a penguin from the zoo to the north pole and then finally the south pole. I would discuss how the weather changes on his journey and how he needs to adapt. I would then then look at how penguins adapt to the cold by forming huddles and keeping the smallest and most vulnerable penguin in the middle of the huddle to protect them from the coldest weather.
I would then get the children to pretend they are making a journey to one of the poles and in pairs ‘pack’ their suitcase for their journey by getting them to draw items onto a suitcase template.
Finish up by asking questions such as why do we need to pack extra clothes for cold places and animals such as polar bears, seal and penguins don’t. Talk about how fur, fat and blubber act like extra layers of clothing for these animals.
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I would use the hands-on classroom themed activity The Sun Gives Off Heat in a Junior Infant classroom because it encourages children to make predictions, observe changes, and discuss their findings using simple scientific language. The ice cube investigation is an engaging way for children to develop science skills such as observing, predicting, comparing, and communicating while learning that the Sun provides both light and heat. The follow-up playground activity helps children connect their classroom learning to real-life experiences by feeling the difference between standing in the sun and in the shade. This lesson could also support School SSE focus on STEM by promoting inquiry-based learning and encouraging children to ask questions and investigate. To extend the lesson, I would use an interactive weather website or short video to reinforce the concepts of sunshine, shade, and temperature before allowing the children to record their observations through drawings and oral discussion.
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‘Where do you live?’ resource. Senior Infants.
Before beginning this lesson, I would provide time for the children to locate their houses on Google Maps using Street View. This allows us to all see their homes together and would lead to a discussion using vocabulary such as ‘roof, floors/stories, attic, front door, back door, garage, shed, gate, estate, detached, semi-detached, apartment’ etc. It also provides opportunities to compare different types of homes to identify similarities and differences.
For the playdough home modelling activity, I would love to provide a blank map of the town we all live in so that the children could then place their play doh homes on it. This is probably something I could print from Google Maps. And then we could add all the other amenities according to where they are located in our town. Some wonderful opportunities for Geography integration here.
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And maybe extend the lesson to the kids building somewhere to live on the Moon or Mars or Venus ….. or even Mercury. Would their houses look different and what environmental factors are they protecting the inhabitants from (heat. cold, wind, rain, frost, snow, etc.) and which might differ from planet to planet.
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Activity: where do you live? (Esero 5)
I liked this lesson in particular as I feel it provided many opportunites for cross curricular links to visual arts, geography,maths and sphe.
I would begin the lesson by getting children to talk about their own houses, making references to all the features, type of roof, garden or no garden etc. I would show them the different types of houses, terrace, detached semi detached bungalow,mansion,mobiles etc also showing them some houses from across the world, houses on stilts, igloos etc.
While noting all the physical features, I would ask them what makes a house a home, the feeling, the people living in, the relationships, the time spent and menories shared.
After drawing their home on a worksheet. They will then create their home from modelling clay and place all the houses together.
I will explain that they have now created a village but some important things are missing. What do we do everyday? Go to school..this village needs a school, a church to attend mass, a post office etc. We will discuss the importance of all these facilities and include them in our model village.
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Hi Amy, I really like how this lesson encourages children to explore both the physical features of houses and the idea of what makes a place feel like home. Creating a model village together is a fantastic hands-on activity that promotes collaboration while making meaningful links across several curriculum areas.
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Lesson: how do Animals keep warm in the Cold (Junior/Senior infants)
Learning objective: We will learn how animals keep warm in colder climates.
At the start of the lesson i will show the children two blocks of ice, i will question them as to how they stay warm going out to yard! They will say that they put on a coat. So i will ask them to predict what will happen with my two different ice cubes if i wrap one in clothes, hats and various other materials that we can find in the class. The class will predict that the one all wrapped up will melt but the one that isnt wrapped up will melt less. (We set a 40 min timer and move to next part of lesson)
I will then show the children pictures of a artic animals such as penguins and polar bears. I will then ask them how these animals stay warm in the cold artic weather. The children will give answers such as their fur, blubber, feathers etc all keep them warm .
Once the timer goes off we will observe what happened to the unwrapped ice cube. It melted in parts … then the big reveal…. we begin to unwrap the other ice cube, to everyones shock, the ice cube that is wrapped is barely melted at all!!!! We begin to investigate why this might be the case and why the other one melted.
I ask questions such as;
Why did cube a melt so much?
What might have made it melt?
Why didnt cube b melt?
What does insulation mean?We conclude the lesson by discussing how our coats keep us warm just like feathers and blubber does on animals and it act like a barrier to protect us fron the outside elements !!
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Activity set-Animals in the cold
Class-Senior infants
I would use the Animals in the Cold activity as part of a Science lesson with my class, linking it to the topic of habitats and how animals adapt to different environments. I would start by showing pictures of animals such as polar bears, penguins and seals and ask the children how they think these animals stay warm in cold habitats. This would encourage discussion and allow the children to share their own ideas.
I would start by introducing new vocabulary such as insulation. The children would then work in small groups to investigate which materials make the best insulation. They could wrap an ice cube in different materials such as cotton wool, bubble wrap, fabric or foil and observe which one slows the melting process the most.
I feel this activity would allow the children lots of opportunities for discussion and prediction. I think this would be a fun, hands-on activity that would keep the children engaged while helping them understand a scientific concept in a simple way.
Another way to explore this topic would be to conduct ‘the blubber experiment’ this allows children to physically feel the effects of insulation for artic animals. Children enjoy making blubber gloves in their groups. Few materials are needed for this effective experiment.
I would also encourage children to record their predictions and results using drawings or photographs, making it easier to track their learning and reflect on what worked well.
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Activity: Weather & Animals in the cold for Junior Infants.
I think this type of lesson would work really well during the winter term in the lead-up to Christmas, when children of this age are already noticing colder weather and talking about warm clothing daily as part of the calendar. I would begin by reading ‘How Do Penguins Stay Warm?’ by Nancy Furstinger to introduce the topic and encourage discussion about where penguins live and how they survive in freezing conditions. Together, we would explore how penguins keep warm by huddling together and how their feathers and layers of fat help protect them from the cold.
To reinforce the learning, the children would complete a simple art activity by creating a penguin using paper, paint, or collage materials, adding fluffy cotton wool to show how penguins stay insulated. We would finish by comparing how people and animals keep warm in winter, discussing why we wear coats, hats, and scarves while penguins rely on their own natural adaptations. This lesson combines science, literacy, and art in a fun and seasonal way.
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Junior Infant Lesson: Homes and Where We Live- this is a theme that could be explored over a fortnight and across many different subject areas.
Circle Time
Gather the children on the mat and ask:Where do you live?
Who lives in your home with you?
What do you like about your home?
What rooms do you have in your house?
Show pictures of different homes, including:Houses
Apartments
Cottages
Farms
Caravans
Homes from around the world (e.g. igloos, stilt houses, yurts)
Encourage discussion by asking:Which home looks like yours?
Which home is different?
Why do people need homes?
Explain that although our homes may look different, they all keep us safe, warm and comfortable.Story Time
Read a story about homes, a different book each day, such as:A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle
Homes by Carson Ellis
Peace at Last by Jill MurphyArt
For an art lesson, each child draws or paints their home.
Encourage them to include:
Doors
Windows
Roof
Garden
Family members
Pets
When finished, display all pictures together to create “Our Class Street.”I would have a construction station as part of morning activities!
Blocks
LEGO
Recycled boxes
Cardboard tubes
Coloured paper
Children work individually or in pairs to build a model of their home.Place all the models together to create a class street!
Maths
As part of maths, i would include a counting and sorting activity!
Count:Windows
Doors
Chimneys
Compare and sort:Tall houses
Short houses
Big homes
Small homes
Sort picture cards of homes into different groups.Oral Language
As part of oral language, we would play a Guess My Home gameTeacher describes a home.
“My home has lots of animals nearby.” a farm
“My home has lots of people and many floors.” “An apartment’
My home has no stairs- A bungalow
We would do a spatial awareness language lesson, asking the chidren to put a little creature into differnt places ‘Put the teddy upstairs in the bedroom on the bed’ ‘Put the teddy downstairs in the kitchen under the table’ etc
Extension Activities
Build homes in the Small World area.
Create a role-play Home Corner.
Use playdough to make houses.
Design a dream home using loose parts.
Go on a walk around the school to spot different types of homes nearby.
Invite children to bring in (or draw) a picture of their home to share with the class. -
I would choose the Where do you live and Animals in the Cold. There is a huge opportunity for integration across both of these topics and they could be conducted in a junior classroom as a series of lessons. An important starting point would be whole class discussion. What is a home? What do we need in a house for survival? Does everyone live in the same type of home? I would put a variety of different photographs of different houses on the board emphasising diversity and different across the world. I would question the children on the houses and what stands out to them. We would discuss the different items of importance for houses in the cold and houses in hot climates. Igloos in the cold and the use of white walls in hotter climates. Why is this important? In groups, In would get the children to design and make a plan for a home in either a hot or cold climate. I would draw on this learning in geography with weather and different weather types, construction in art.
I would then follow on this learning with a lesson on animals in the cold, drawing on the children’s previous learning of colder climates and houses in the cold. We would look at different animals that are quite different, for example a camel and a polar bear. Looking at the attributes of each animal and how they have adapted to live in the environment they are in. I would engage in questioning throughout to lesson to assess the children’s learning!-
Hi Jade, I really like your ideas for teaching about the theme of where do you live? I think you have a great range of teaching strategies and activities that are active and engaging and that the children will enjoy participating in. I like the game that you have suggested where you encourage the children to guess what type of home you are talking about.
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Dressing for Different Weather Adventures
Introduce the topic to the children and explain brifely each of the five stations.
Dress-up Relay Race: Divide the children into teams and set up stations representing different climates (e.g., sunny, snowy, rainy, windy). At each station, place a basket of clothes suitable for that climate. The first player from each team runs to the station, puts on the appropriate clothing as quickly as possible, and returns to tag the next player. The team that completes the relay race first wins! Afterward, discuss each climate and the specific clothing items used.
Weather Dress-Up Game: Create weather cards representing various conditions like sunny, rainy, snowy, windy, and cloudy. Spread the weather cards on the floor. Have the children take turns picking a card and dressing up in clothes suitable for that weather. Encourage them to explain why they chose those clothes and how they protect against specific weather elements.
Match the Outfit: Prepare flashcards with images of different clothing items and weather conditions. Mix them up and lay them face-down on a table. Each child takes turns flipping over two cards. If the clothing item matches the weather condition, they keep the pair. The player with the most pairs at the end wins. Use this activity to discuss why certain clothes are suitable for specific weather conditions.
Weather Charades: Write different weather conditions on slips of paper and place them in a hat or bowl. Each child takes turns choosing a slip and acting out the weather condition without speaking. The other children try to guess the weather being acted out. Afterward, discuss appropriate clothing choices for each weather condition.
Create a Weather Wardrobe: Provide each child with a large piece of paper and art supplies. Ask them to draw a wardrobe with several doors or compartments. Label each door or compartment with a different weather condition (e.g., sunny, rainy, snowy). Then, have the children draw or cut out pictures of clothing items that would be suitable for each weather condition. They can stick or tape the clothes behind the appropriate doors or compartments.-
Hi Karen, I really like how this set of activities combines active learning with clear links to understanding weather and appropriate clothing. The variety of stations keeps children engaged and allows them to learn in different ways, especially through movement, games, and creative tasks. The dress-up relay and weather charades are particularly effective for encouraging collaboration, communication, and decision-making. I also think the “Create a Weather Wardrobe” activity is a great way to consolidate learning, as it allows children to demonstrate their understanding visually and independently. Overall, this is a very well-structured and child-centred approach that supports both science understanding and oral language development in an enjoyable way.
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Hi Karen. I love the idea of different stations for the students to experience different weather. The games approach for the dress up game encourages motor skills as well as matching different types of weather to the required clothing. Your lesson has such a fun approach and would love to try it out in my own class.
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Lots of lovely ideas here Karen, all helping to reinforce the learning outcome on what clothing items are appropriate for different types of weather. Many of the activities you mentioned, but especially the dress up relay activity and match the outfit activities could be easily adapted to match clothing suitable for each season also.
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I would use the Stellarium Web tool in my classroom as part of a cross-curricular STEM lesson on space and the night sky. I would begin by introducing the children to the idea that we can observe stars and constellations digitally, even during the daytime. I would begin with the North star, and how to go about finding it. As the video suggested they could try get a selfie with it. Using the interactive tool, we would explore what the sky looks like from our own location in Ireland and identify familiar constellations.
To support understanding, I would show the children clear pictures of each constellation alongside the Stellarium view so they can match the star patterns to the named shapes. This would help them see how people connect stars to form recognisable images such as animals or objects. We would then discuss what each constellation might look like and why it may have been given its name.
I would set the children a simple investigation task: “Can you find a pattern in the stars?” Working in pairs, they would explore different times of night and directions in the sky, recording what they notice through drawings or screenshots. This would support observation, prediction, and digital literacy.
To extend the learning, pupils could design their own constellation and explain its shape and story to the class. From a STEM-focused SSE perspective, I would further develop this by regularly using digital astronomy tools throughout the year so children can track changes in the night sky and build a deeper understanding of space through inquiry-based learning.
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Activity: Where do you live?
Class Level: Senior InfantsThese lessons would be over a few weeks with infants.
I would start this topic by reading The Three Little Pigs and The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig. We would discuss the different types of houses in both books and compare the materials used for each house. I would question the children – what materials were used? Which material do you think is the strongest? If you were building a house, what would you use? We would talk about the properties of all the different materials.After this I would talk about different types of homes, introducing the children to the vocabulary bungalow, detached, semi-detached, apartment, caravan, mobile home etc. I would then ask the children to describe their own home. We might also play a guess the house game, where 1 child will describe a house type and the class have to guess. This could also be played in pairs too. The children would then draw a picture of their homes, noting how many windows and doors they can see on the front, trying to draw as accurate picture as they can.
Following on from this the children would make their homes out of clay. They could paint them and stick on doors and windows. We would then make our school estate using their clay houses. We could add to this by putting in some green spaces and trees, maybe a playground. This would link nicely with SPHE and Geography; caring for our environment.
When we have made our own school estate we would go on a house hunt around the local area to try and identify different house types. We would also use google maps to find our houses and look at them from a bird’s eye view and then from street view. Children always enjoy finding their houses on google.
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Hi Elaine,
I absolutely love the progression throughout these lessons and the connections to homes that the children live in in comparison to fairytale characters. The use of vocabulary would be immense and the excitement of building their own little houses out of clay would be amazing. The idea you have about making your school estate and adding green areas is amazing, this is something that I would love to try myself, could you imagine adding a Bee-Bot and travelling to different locations within your school estate and integrating science with local geography and technology.
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Activity Set: Weather
I would use hot and cold to create a lesson introducing junior infants to the concepts of hot and cold through weather and science. I love the experiments involving ice in this module from Esero website. I would begin with a class discussion of weather and identifying whether it feels hot or cold. By producing pictures and real-life examples of weather types, children are enabled to explore weather conditions such as sunshine and snow. A practical hands on while class sorting activity would help children classify objects and clothing suitable for hot and cold weather, including shorts, coats, gloves, socks, scarves, swim suits and sandals. A starter science investigation to establish initially vocabulary for example, hot, cold, warm and freezing will enable children to encounter the feel warm water, cold water, and ice cubes, encouraging discussion about temperature and melting.
I would introduce weather songs like, I hear Thunder, What’s the weather and Oh Mr Sun the children can relate to the hot and cold theme in relation to weather. I have used coloured ice in the past to enthuse junior infants about learning about cold climates which worked out well. I really enjoy taking a hands-on learning approach, and helping children in their understanding of weather and understanding appropriate clothing choices for certain types of weather.
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Hi Caroline, Thank you for your informative posting. I love the introduction of hot and cold using hands on materials and experiences. I agree, the idea of using ice is excellent from ESERO. Getting the children to draw on their own previous personal experience is always a great start and grounds learning in a very real and meaningful way for them. There is a collective beauty of song singing in infants and that coupled with the opportunity to get out of their seats and move and dance is a wonderful idea. I think categrising clothes into hot and cold weather is also a great idea – and you may even link in Gaeilge Eadaí here too. A word wall is always a excellent idea for infants to well done for thinking of new vocabulary too. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, ideas and learning with us – it has certainly given me some food for thought as I move into the next academic year.
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To teach the ESERO What Clothes to Wear? lesson to an Infant class in Ireland, I would begin by gathering the children on the mat for a whole-class discussion about the weather. We would look out the window to observe the day’s weather and use a weather chart to identify whether it is sunny, rainy, windy, cloudy or cold. I would introduce and reinforce weather vocabulary through questioning and a weather song. Next, I would use a teddy bear or doll and a selection of real clothing items or picture cards, asking the children to help dress the teddy appropriately for the day’s weather. I would encourage them to explain their choices by asking questions such as, “Why does Teddy need a raincoat today?” or “Would shorts keep Teddy warm?” This would promote oral language development and scientific thinking as children justify their decisions. The children would then participate in a sorting activity where they classify different clothing items according to various weather conditions, working collaboratively in small groups. To reinforce learning through play, I would include a movement activity where children pretend to put on suitable clothing as different weather conditions are called out. Finally, the children would complete an independent activity by drawing themselves wearing appropriate clothing for a chosen type of weather and sharing their work with a partner. Throughout the lesson, I would use observation and questioning to assess children’s understanding, while adapting activities to meet the needs of all learners through visual supports, real objects and peer collaboration. This lesson integrates Science, Geography, Oral Language, SPHE and Mathematics while providing meaningful, play-based learning.
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Activity set-where do you live/weather
I think these activities would work really well with my 2nd Class because they are practical and encourage the children to learn by exploring and talking about their ideas. I would begin by reading the story and discussing where different animals and people live. The children could then sort pictures of different homes and habitats and explain why they belong there.Next, we would look at the “Animals in the Cold” activity and talk about how animals survive in very cold places. The children could compare these animals with ones they know from Ireland and discuss the differences. We would also complete the “What Clothes to Wear” activity, where the children decide what clothes are suitable for different weather conditions. Finally, we would carry out the “Hot and Cold” investigation to explore how different materials react to temperature.
I think these activities would help the children make links between science and everyday life. They would work in pairs or small groups, share their ideas and learn from each other. If tablets were available, the children could take photos of their work or create a simple digital poster about what they discovered. These activities are hands-on, enjoyable and encourage children to ask questions and think about the world around them.
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I would use the **Animals in the Cold** activity with my 1st Class as part of a themed unit on weather, habitats and living things. I would begin by asking the children what they already know about cold places and the types of animals that live there. We would look at pictures of animals such as polar bears, penguins and Arctic foxes and discuss how their bodies help them survive in very cold climates. The children would then compare these animals with familiar animals found in County Laois, talking about the differences in habitats and weather.
To make the lesson more hands-on, the children could sort animals into different habitats, match animals to their adaptations and create simple artwork showing an Arctic habitat. We would encourage questioning and predicting throughout the lesson, helping the children develop curiosity and scientific thinking. Where possible, I would use the interactive whiteboard or iPads to show short videos and photographs of Arctic animals, making the learning more engaging and accessible for all pupils.
As part of a STEM-focused School Self-Evaluation (SSE), I would like to increase opportunities for inquiry-based learning across the junior classes. Activities such as this encourage children to observe, ask questions, discuss their ideas and make connections between science and the world around them. By incorporating digital technology alongside practical investigations, pupils can develop both their scientific understanding and their digital skills. This approach supports active learning, collaboration and communication while helping to build children’s confidence and interest in STEM from an early age.
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Lots of great inquiry-based opportunities and thanks for sharing. Could you extend to habitats beyond Earth? Could any animals that live on earth live on another planet in the solar system. Or is earth unique. If unique, what makes it so? This type of inquiry reinforces how both the earth and the life on it live in symbiosis, not separately. By comparing with other planets we get to see just why it’s so important to protect the ecosystem that the earth and the life on it has established over billions of years since the very first life appeared.
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I decided to explore the online resources. The ESA and ESA Kids websites are really valuable online resources can be used in the classroom. I found the ESA Kids website especially engaging because it explains scientific concepts in a fun and accessible way through games, videos, quizzes, and interactive activities. I think these features would capture children’s interest and encourage them to become curious about space and science.
I also found the main ESA website useful for my own learning and lesson planning, as it provides reliable and up-to-date information about space missions and scientific discoveries. I believe using these resources would help me make STEM lessons more engaging by connecting classroom learning to real-world events.
I will definitely save and use both websites to support inquiry-based learning, develop students’ digital literacy, and encourage critical thinking. They have shown me how the right websites can make learning more interactive, meaningful, and enjoyable while inspiring children to explore and ask questions about the world around them.
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Activity: Where Do You Live?
Class: Junior Infants
This lesson pack provided some lovely ideas around the topic of homes and provides a lot of opportunities for integration. I would begin the lesson by having an array of pictures of homes. I would ask the children to discuss these homes in groups. Do all of the homes look the same? Are they all the same size? Can you identify a home that looks similar to your home?
Discuss different types of homes- terraced, flats etc. Discuss how many rooms are in their homes. What is your favourite room in your home?
Art lesson:
I would provide the children with materials to create images of their homes. Using different shapes they could create windows, doors, the roof etc. This would integrate in with maths where they could discuss the shapes that they used.
This topic provides a lot of opportunities for oral language work.
Making use of the local environment, we could go on a walk to explore the different types of homes in the locality. They could discuss the differences and similarities of these homes to their own homes.
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Margaret I love exploring homes with junior infant classes. A walk to look at the various types of homes in our area is a lovely idea. I have a powerpoint made of different types of homes with examples from our town. I love the excitement when the children recognise an area. I also like to go onto google maps street view and find some of the roads the children in the class live on to look at the homes near them on the smartboard. It is also a nice way to link SPHE and when we are learning about homes I encourage the parents to make sure their child knows their home address or eircode for homework in case they ever need it in an emergency.
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I would choose the ‘Investigating Children’s Coats‘ activity from the Weather activity set. I think this would work really well in my classroom because it uses real-life objects that children are familiar with and encourages them to investigate through hands-on learning. Rather than simply talking about different types of weather and clothing, the children would have the opportunity to explore and compare different coats for themselves.
I would begin by showing a selection of coats and asking questions such as, “Which coat do you think would keep you the warmest?” and “Which coat would be best for a rainy day?” The children would be encouraged to make predictions before feeling and comparing the different materials. Together we would investigate features such as hoods, zips, waterproof fabrics and lining, discussing why these features are useful in different weather conditions. We could also carry out a simple waterproof investigation by placing a few drops of water on different materials to see which ones absorb or repel the water.
I like that this activity encourages children to observe closely, compare materials, make predictions and discuss their findings. It also links naturally with everyday life, helping children understand why we choose different clothing for different weather. The activity is practical, engaging and easy to adapt so that all children can participate. It develops scientific inquiry skills while also promoting communication, problem-solving and curiosity through meaningful, real-world learning.
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Hi Emily, I agree this lesson is a real hands on one which encourages the children to observe, compare, make predictions and then discuss findings, but in a fun and informative way. We take our coats for granted, but this lesson teaches the children to evaluate the usefulness of a particular coat in different environmental conditions. It is such a practical and useful lesson – a life skill!
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We do indeed take our coats for granted! What types of coats do we need when we explore beyond the earth? We might call them “space suits”, but they also act as coats. What extra things do our space suit coats need (e.g., a supply of air to breath). This gets the kids thinking about the relationship between environment and the coats we wear, and that environment is extreme in a space context.
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I plan to use the ESERO lesson on Animals in the cold in my classroom. I will be teaching 2nd class. I like how this lesson introduces children to different types of weather and explores how animals survive in extremely cold environments. I would have previously taught the lesson with the globe and animals. The children will already know how to identify places on Earth that are very cold, such as the poles.
The children will learn that both penguins and polar bears have a thick layer of fat for insulation, as well as fur or feathers that act like a permanent coat.I think that the boys in my class would love the vaseline part of the experiment and that the hands-on nature of the experiment will help the concept stick.
These lessons could all be featured during a thematic month on the arctic/antarctic. I would also link to lessons on polar explorers and have used the book “Tom Creen’s rabbit” before to great success. It would link nicely to clothes that humans have to wear when going to very cold places and perhaps also tie in to how technology has changed regarding clothing.-
Hi Gail. I love the idea of using this during over a month or so with a theme of ‘The Arctic or Antarctica.’ I think it would be a lovely idea to get the children to design a warm shelter or home for an arctic animal. Give them a range of materials such as fabrics, cotton wool, bubble wrap etc. and have them design, build and even test their shelters.
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Could you add in an element to the lesson in which you ask whether the same requirements are present all year round on Earth. Or do the seasons mean that sometimes “cold” means “very cold” (in winter) and sometimes means “not so cold” or even “warm” (in summer). This connects the seasons with the behaviour of animals and opens the door to an inquiry-based lessons on why Earth has seasons in the first place.
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Activity Set: Weather
I was looking into how to connect and reinforce the weather lesson with the online resources suggested.
I would start off with the daily weather and ask the students what sort of clothes should I wear today. Then I would go into the different types of clothes for different seasons and weather.
The second part of the lesson would discuss the different reasons behind different types of weather. The sun lesson mentioned in the previous module could be used to discuss sun safety and the hot and cold lesson from this module. Rain could discuss the water cycle and a mini water cycle model and science experiment could be made to demonstrate this. Then cloudy weather and rainbows could include Marvin and Milo stories and experiments such as “cloud in a glass” and “garden rainbow”. If it is not a sunny day for the garden rainbow, you could use Dr. Seahorse creates rainbows on the unawe website. There are also videos on the ESA kids website for Paxi exploring Ice and Wind.
I would then go into the difference between weather and climate. There is an “Weather vs Climate – Understanding the difference between weather and climate” video on the ESA website. Students could discuss different habitats and animals living in different parts of the world. Here you could discuss the different adaptations of different animals.
Lastly, you could always link with the different planet habitats and discuss the weather conditions as well as discussing how the weather is monitored and reported on through satellites (especially if touched off of on previous lessons). one could also connect using clothing to adapt and experiment on insulation of different materials.
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Caitriona I love how you have made one lesson on weather link to so many other curriculum areas. There is so much learning here and so much you can get covered. I especially like how you would link to different habitats and the animals in different parts of the word. There would be so much discussion here and more links with Geography. Children could also look at how the animals stay warm/cool in different parts of the world.
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Science Skills- Where do you live? Hands on activties for 1st class.
Resources: ESERO 5. Pictures of different homes. Recyclable materials to make various homes. Crayons and paper to design. Worksheet to label.Introduction
Homes and shelter. Why do we need a home?
Show pictures and labels of differnt types of homes. Children work as a group to correctly label the pictures.
Class discussion.
Talk about the different rooms in a home. Homes common in the city. Difference with homes in the countryside etc. Advantages/ disadvantages to city life/ country life.Draw their own home
The children draw their own home. Teacher labels to stick on pictures include vocabulary roof, windows, door, garden.
Children must write a few sentences underneath. I live in the country/ town. My house is ——-. My favourite room is _________.Construct their home using cardboard and other recycled materials. (collected over the course of the week)
Children then draw on the windows and doors.Conclusion
The children display their houses for the classroom and play guess the home. -
Activity: Where Do You Live?
Junior Infants
Learning objectives
· Children would discuss the type of house they live in and name different types of homes e.g. flat, bungalow, semi-detached
· Children would compare their home to homes around the world
· Children would deign their home using junk modelling
Lesson
I would begin by showing children pictures of different types of home and naming them. I would get children to pick the home that is most similar to theirs. We could tally the different types of homes and link to Maths by creating a pictogram/bar chart.
Next we would look at homes around the world e.g. huts/igloo’s/camps. We could look at similarities and differences between our homes and homes of others. We could also compare to homes long ago- how have things changed? (Link to History)
During Aistear stations I would get each child to design their own home using junk modelling materials. Children would feed back to the class on how their home looks. Display the homes in the school like a small village/town.
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Hi Olwyn, I really like how you’ve linked the lesson to both Maths and History in a very natural way. The idea of using a pictogram/bar chart is especially effective for junior classes as it makes the data very visual and accessible. The Aistear junk modelling task also sounds like a great hands-on extension that would encourage creativity and oral language.
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Hi Olwyn,
I really enjoyed reading your lesson idea. It provides meaningful opportunities for children to explore different types of homes while making strong links with Maths, History and Visual Arts. The junk modelling activity is particularly engaging and encourages creativity, discussion and collaboration among the children.
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Animals in the cold activity
Children will:
Identify different types of weather.
Recognise that animals live in habitats suited to their needs.
Understand that habitats provide food, water, shelter, and suitable weather.
Compare the habitat of a penguin with their own environment.
Use the book: Oliver Jeffers Lost and Found
Where do you think the penguin comes from?
What kind of weather does a penguin like?
What clothes would you wear if you visited the penguin’s home?
What animals like warm weather? Cold weather?
Pause throughout the story and discuss:
The Stormy Sea
Ask:
What is the weather like?
Is it safe to travel in this weather?
How do you know?
The Boat Journey
Discuss:
How does the weather change?
What would happen if it became stormy?
How do sailors know what the weather is like?
After reading, explain:
A penguin belongs in a habitat where it can:
stay cool ,find fish to eat, swim in icy water, keep safe from predators
Show children pictures of:
Antarctica ,Icebergs ,Snow, Ocean,
Ask:
Could a penguin live in the desert?
Could a penguin live in our school garden?
Why not?
Penguin → Snowy
Habitat Sorting Activity
Provide pictures of habitats:
Arctic, Forest, Ocean, Desert, Farm
Children place animals in the correct habitat.
Extension:
Explain why they chose each habitat.Example:
“The penguin lives in the Arctic because it is cold.”
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Activity: Hands-on classroom activities – Animals in the Cold
I would use this activity as part of a SESE lesson on animals and their habitats, linking it to the theme of cold climates and how animals adapt to survive in extreme weather.I will start with a discussion about different types of weather, as it allows children to draw on their own experiences before introducing colder climates like the North and South Poles.
Using the photographs of the polar bear and penguin would help the children visualise real animals and prompt discussion about how they stay warm. I think the idea of linking their adaptations to a “coat they are always wearing” is a very child-friendly way of explaining insulation.
The Vaseline experiment with water would be a simple but effective way for children to see how a greasy layer can repel water. I can imagine this being a very memorable part of the lesson and leading to good discussion around how animals are adapted to their environment.
Overall, I think this would be a very engaging, hands-on lesson that supports curiosity and understanding in a very accessible way for young children.
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Activity Set: Animals in the cold.
I will start the lesson by reading the picture book ‘Say Hello To The Snowy Animals’. This book takes the reader through a variety of animals living in the Arctic and focuses on the sounds they make. We will talk about each animal: what they are called, what colour they are, what they are doing and we will repeat what sounds they make.
Next, we will listen to the book again, this time online; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CkRzf4mmSk We will stop at every page, repeat the sounds they make again, and I will ask the question about each animal ‘How do you think the _______ keeps warm in the cold snowy weather?’ We will discuss how we think the husky, the polar bear, the snowy owl, the caribou, the whale, the seal, the puffin and the arctic hare use their bodies to deal with the freezing climate. (feathers, fur, blubber, greasy layer on skin)
I will then further develop the concept of the greasy layer of skin by using the Vaseline experiment in the ESERO 7 lesson.
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I really enjoyed reading your lesson plan. Using the story as a starting point is a fantastic way to engage young learners, and I like how you revisit the book to encourage discussion and develop their understanding. Asking children how they think each animal keeps warm is a great inquiry-based approach, as it encourages them to make predictions and explain their thinking before introducing the scientific concepts.
The Vaseline experiment is an excellent follow-up activity because it gives children a hands-on way to investigate how blubber helps animals survive in cold environments. I also like that your lesson incorporates literacy, science, and oral language, making it highly interactive and meaningful. This sounds like a fun and memorable lesson that would spark curiosity while helping children understand how animals adapt to their environments.
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I really like the ‘Where Do You Live?’ activity. If I were to do this with my own class group I would introduce the lesson by showing the children images of well known homes from their favourite books and tv programmes. I would discuss with the students the similarities and differences between the homes and record these on the interactive whiteboard. I would invite the children to take part in a design and create activity where they build a home using a variety of materials e.g., clay, lego and duplo. The students would present their designs to the whole class and identify the similarities and differences between the homes. I would ask the students to assemble the homes together to begin the creation of a village. We would then begin to explore facilities and buildings that are missing from our village e.g., a park, shop, restaurant, vet. I would bring the children on a walk around the local area and ask them to record what they see. The children would then design and build a village as a whole class group.
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I would use the ESERO 5 – ‘Where do you live?’ activity with the Infant class.
I would begin with recognising that we all live somewhere, but that there are many different types of homes. We would read the story of ‘The Three Little Pigs’ and discuss the differences we see between the houses in that story.
I would follow this up with showing the children a selection of homes from around the world and noting that there are many home types we may not see here in Ireland. The homes may include apartments, bungalows, castles, tree houses, mud huts, boat houses, igloos and many more.
I would then ask the children to discuss the homes we see in our local area with a partner and then get the children to draw a picture of their home. We would discuss similarities and difference between our homes and those we viewed earlier.
The children would them undertake an art activity where they would use recycled materials previously gathered to create their ideal home. We would then assemble these homes to create a village and come up with a name for our new village.
The children would be asked to describe their own creations identifying the different parts of the house. Construction problems/solutions could be discussed in small groups engaging the children in talk and discussion and creative thinking. I think the lesson would be fun and hands on.
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Hi Sinéad,
I really liked your lesson plan. I particularly liked how you introduced the topic of different materials being used to build houses by using the story “The Three Little Pigs”. This would be a great way of discussing what materials were suitable/unsuitable as building materials. The pupils would find it very interesting to learn about different houses around the world such as boathouses and stilt houses and would enjoy the activity of building homes from recycled materials.
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Hi Sinead, your lesson plan got me thinking about how the kids would build a village on the Moon, what it would contain and how would they name the streets. Without an atmosphere everything activities would either take place indoors or whilst wearing space suits (which we might call Moon Coats perhaps, based on earlier discussions on the forum?) On the Moon, where the gravity is one sixth, you would find it easier to kick a ball or a sliothar much farther (at least six times farther!) and the kids could explore and imagine what it would be like to play their favourite sport. This applies to all activities – imagine a pole vaulter going six times higher than on Earth! It would need a very long pole vault!
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I would choose the Hands-on Classroom Themed Activities because I believe children learn science best through active exploration and investigation. One activity I would use is a simple engineering challenge where pupils work in small groups to design and build the tallest free-standing tower using only paper, straws, and tape. Before they begin, I would ask students to predict which shapes and designs they think will make the strongest structure and encourage them to explain their reasoning.
Throughout the activity, pupils would test their designs, identify what worked well, and make improvements based on their observations. Rather than providing the answers, I would guide their learning by asking open-ended questions that encourage problem-solving and critical thinking. At the end of the lesson, each group would share their design, discuss any challenges they faced, and reflect on what they would change if they were to build another tower.
This activity promotes inquiry-based learning by encouraging students to investigate, collaborate, and learn through trial and error. It also develops important STEM skills such as creativity, communication, resilience, and engineering design. I would extend the activity by having students record their predictions, results, and reflections in a STEM journal, allowing them to track their learning over time. I believe hands-on STEM activities like this help build confidence, foster curiosity, and show students that making mistakes is an important part of the learning process.
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Module 4 Assignment – ‘What Clothes to Wear?’ (ESERO)
For this assignment, I selected the ESERO activity ‘What Clothes to Wear?’ as I believe it is an engaging way to develop scientific skills in Senior Infants and First Class.
The lesson would begin with a discussion about different weather conditions and the types of clothing we wear in each season. Children would observe, question, predict and explain why certain materials are better suited to keeping us warm or dry.
They would work collaboratively to sort clothing items, investigate different fabrics and record their findings using simple charts and drawings.
This hands-on activity promotes curiosity, communication and problem-solving while integrating Science, Mathematics and Oral Language.
As part of the School Self-Evaluation (SSE) process, I would gather evidence through teacher observation, pupil voice, photographs and completed work samples.
Reflecting on this evidence would help me evaluate the effectiveness of the lesson and identify ways to further develop STEM learning in my classroom.
I would continue to use ESERO resources to encourage inquiry-based learning and ensure pupils remain active, engaged and confident young scientists.-
This is a really strong and practical ESERO lesson idea. I like how you’ve linked weather and clothing to hands-on sorting and investigation, which makes it very accessible for younger pupils. The focus on predicting, testing and recording is great for developing early scientific skills, and the use of SSE evidence such as pupil voice and photographs is a really effective way to reflect on learning and improve practice.
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One activity set I would use in my 2nd class is hands-on classroom themed activities, specifically a simple investigation such as which materials are waterproof. I would begin by showing a range of everyday materials (paper, foil, fabric, plastic, sponge) and asking the children to predict which ones will let water through. The children would record their predictions in pairs.
We would then test each material by pouring a small amount of water over it and observing what happens. Pupils would compare results with their predictions and discuss why some materials are waterproof and others are not. I would encourage use of simple science language such as predict, test, observe and results.
To link this to STEM-focused School Self-Evaluation, I would document the activity using photos or short pupil recordings on the iPads. This evidence could be shared with colleagues to show how inquiry-based learning is being developed across the school.
This approach supports active learning, collaboration and assessment for learning. It also helps pupils develop curiosity and scientific thinking while engaging with the Irish Primary Science Curriculum in a practical and enjoyable way.
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Hi Nicole! I really like this investigation as it provides a clear opportunity for purposeful STEM learning through predicting, testing, observing and explaining results. I also think it links really well with other curriculum areas, particularly language development, as children are encouraged to discuss their predictions, use scientific vocabulary and explain their findings. Using iPads is a nice way to document the investigation and share children’s learning.
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I chose the What Clothes to Wear activity from the Weather activity set. I think this activity would work well in my junior ASD classroom because it is based on something the pupils experience every day. It gives them the opportunity to explore different weather conditions and think about the clothes that are most suitable to wear. The activity also helps to develop science skills such as observing, questioning and sorting.
To support the different needs of my class, I would use real items of clothing along with visual supports and symbols. Pupils could sort the clothes into groups for sunny, rainy, cold and windy weather. We would begin each lesson by looking at the daily weather forecast on the interactive whiteboard and discussing what the weather is like outside. Pupils would then choose the clothing they think is most suitable and explain their choices if they are able.
This activity is easy to adapt for different ability levels. Some pupils could match pictures while others could use complete sentences to explain their thinking. I think it is a practical and engaging activity that helps pupils develop science skills while also supporting communication and independence in everyday life.-
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Hi Noreen, weather is indeed something that the kids are familiar with and indeed our changing weather is probably a conversation that happens much more frequently now than it did when I was young. You could expand your lesson to ask about weather on other planets? There’s a nice resource from NASA in this instance which outlines the weather on different planets https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/weather-on-other-planets/en/
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What clothes to wear?
I would begin the lesson by talking about the weather outside. I would ask the children what clothes the are wearing and why they chose them. Then, I would show pictures odf different types of weather, such as sunny, rainy, windy and cold.
I would let the children work with a partner to match the correct clothes to each type of weather. I would go through the answers together and ask the children to explain their choices. Lastly, i would finish the lesson by asking the children to draw themselves wearing clothes for their favourite type of weather and encourage the children to share their drawings with the class.
This activity helps develop speaking, listening and thinking skills while teaching children about weather and the importance of dressing appropriatly -
Activity set: Animals in the cold
I would introduce this topic to second class by showing bitesize videos from the BBC learning hub. These videos are about 3 minutes long and they are beautifully shot and narrated by David Attenborough. There are a range of videos to choose from including a video on “Young animals of the Arctic and Antarctic” which includes footage of polar bears and penguins and another video entitled “Polar bears emerge during spring”. These videos depict the harsh conditions and vastness of the Arctic and Antarctic and will capture the imagination of the pupils.
I would use these videos as a springboard for discussion about cold climates and conditions and how animals adapt and stay warm. I would ask the children to “think, pair, share” their ideas on how animals adapt to cold conditions and then record their answers on the whiteboard. We would discuss how polar bears
stay warm due to their furry outer coat and the blubber under their skin and penguins stay warm due to their feathers and the oily covering which coats their feathers.
I would then put the children in groups to conduct a winter animal adaptation experiment. This experiment is a great way to bring biology, winter adaptations, and survival strategies together while encouraging critical thinking and hands-on exploration.
Materials Needed:
• 2 large bowls or containers
• Ice water
• Rubber gloves (optional for easy cleanup)
• Zip top bags
• Various insulating materials:
• Wool (represents animal fur) – use a wool glove or wool sock.
• Feathers (bird insulation) -use craft feathers work or even bubble wrap to simulate how real feathers trap air for insulation.
• Vegetable shortening (polar bear blubber simulation)
• Cotton (control, not naturally found on animals) – use a cotton sock or glove!
• Timer or stopwatch
• Notebook and pencil (for recording observations)
Steps:
1. Prepare the Ice Water: Fill one large bowl with ice water. This will simulate cold winter temperatures.
2. Create the Insulation Layers: Place each insulating material inside a separate rubber glove or bag. For the blubber test, coat a hand with vegetable shortening, then cover it with a plastic bag.
3. To test the Insulation, Submerge each insulated hand in ice water for 10-20 seconds. Then, remove the hand and note the sensation: Which materials kept your hand the warmest?
Repeat for Accuracy: Try different materials and compare results.
Record Observations: Use a simple chart to rank the effectiveness of each material. Rank the materials on a scale of 1-10!
This is a stem focused lesson as it allows for integration with other subjects. For example the use of timers in the experiment can be linked with the topic of time in Maths. It allows for integration with English by developing oral language skills, discussion and critical thinking skills. -
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I would use the hands on classroom activities like where do you live to get the children to think where they live along with examples. They would then use playdough to create their own house. I would use animals in the cold alongside a book to stimulate interest in the topic. I would connect this to the different clothes we need for winter and summer and connect hot and cold to it. We would conduct the experiment investigating childrens coats as a real life example.
We would conduct a weather record and record weather over the period of a month and see if there are any similarities or differences or see if the children can spot any patterns in the weather. I would also use Stellarium to engage childrens interests alongside a Kahoot quiz relating to weather, clothes we wear in different seasons and hot and cold. -
I would use Esero 11. ‘What clothes to wear.’ I would start by getting the children to discuss the different types of weather we get throughout the year asking a variety of questions. What do you wear when it is raining? Sunny? Snowing? Windy? Why do we wear coats in winter? You could show them pictures of clothing for different seasons and get them to sort the clothes into warm and cold weather clothes.
Tell the children you want them to become designers and design a nice winter coat.
Give them a printed template coat and provide them with a variety of materials that they could use to design the coat, getting them to think about what makes a good winter coat. Ask questions as they work to further their learning and get them thinking on a deeper level.
Get the children to present their coats and you could display them on the wall.
You could also introduce the lesson by getting the class to pack for a sun holiday versus a winter holiday. Froggy gets dressed is another stimulus book you could use to introduce the topic. -
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For my lesson of choice with Junior Infants I would choose to do the ‘What Clothes to Wear’ lesson. This lesson is a great way of teaching about the seasons. We will start with the Seasons song on YouTube from Have Fun Teaching. I will check if the children can name the four seasons and how they differ/what happens during different seasons. The children will then do the colour the seasons worksheets. They will explain how they could tell what season it might be by looking at the pictures and what made them come to that decision. Following on from the colouring we will do the ‘What Clothes to Wear’ part of the lesson. The children will love the opportunity to dress up and explain their choices of different clothes for different seasons. We will discuss how some clothes choices can overlap and be used in multiple seasons. This is especially true in Ireland and we will look at how in other countries they may have more defined seasons. We will also discuss the reasons why we maybe need fewer layers in the summer and how the sun plays a role in this. This will lead to a discussion to the different types of weather we see in Ireland and what is most prevalent during which season.
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I think in order to move towards a more STEM focused SSE the first thing I would do is go back to step one of SSE planning. I would gather evidence from the teachers and pupils in the school to see where we are at as a whole school with the teaching and learning of STEM.
I would then look at all of this evidence and use that to see where we think we are doing well and what we could improve on. Our school is quite a STEM focused school already and has been for quite some time but this is quite heavily based in the senior end of the school. Therefore, I would include this in the Self-Evaluation Report.
To move forward I would then make sure that in our STEM improvement plan we have focused on improving the teaching and learning of STEM in the Junior classes. This would be a whole school approach and we would then evaluate this after the agreed upon time frame to see how we are doing.-
Thanks Caoimhe for this very insightful and important commentary. As we all know, evidence shows the importance of inculcating an inquiry-based way of thinking from as early an age as possible. So linking the Junior and Senior activities in the school in a joined-up way will surely be hugely beneficial. Your approach to effectively perform a “gap analysis” where you identify what’s going on in the school, what items are being addressed and what are not, will give you that evidence-based data to enable the school to plan coherent next steps.
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I want to focus on the question from ESERO activity titled ‘Where do you live?’. We would start at a very basic level where the children talk about their houses and different types of homes that exist. I would then go on to explain that we live on planet Earth and that there are other planets (but no life exists on these – YET). The children will learn a little about the other planets and then they can decide which planet they would like to live on if Earth didn’t exist. We would then move onto looking at where animals live and we would complete a matching activity to finish the lesson.
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I would choose to focus on science skills and SSE as I feel it is important for improving STEM teaching across our school. It is not a subject I feel overly confident in but if there was a whole school approach to focusing on science in SSE there would be great opportunities for learning for everyone and great support and focus on science throughout the school.
In my classroom, I would place a stronger emphasis on explicitly teaching and assessing key scientific skills such as observing, questioning, predicting, investigating, and recording. Rather than treating these as one-off activities, I would aim to revisit them regularly across different science strands. For example, pupils could use simple investigation templates or science journals to record experiments, their observations during the task, and their reflections afterwards. Digital tools such as our chromebooks could be used to photograph investigations and create short explanations or presentations of their findings.
From an SSE perspective, I think the next step would be to select one or two core scientific skills as a whole-school focus, such as “questioning” and “observing”. We could gather evidence through pupil voice, classroom observations, and samples of children’s work to track progression over time. It is important that SSE in STEM moves beyond teacher reflection alone and includes children’s perspectives. This will ensure learning is the focus not just teachers’ observations and tests. This would make SSE more collaborative and involves pupils more directly in evaluating their learning.
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Hi Siobhan, I really like your idea of selecting one or 2 core scientific skills to focus on as a whole school. It can get overwhelming to think we need to work on all skills. By focussing on one or 2 at a time it develops others almost as osmosis, e.g focussing on observation will improve recording. As a DEIS school, we are advised to choose one area of literacy or numeracy in our DEIS plan so it makes sense to do the same in improving scientific skills.
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Hi Ellen, thanks for that reflection. I think there’s always pressures for us to focus on “today’s activity” and perhaps lose sight of how we integrate one-off activities into a more coherent approach, ideally at a school level. I like the observation from Siobhan Rooney about making sure we don’t get so overwhelmed by the potential breadth of the inquiry-based process that we do none of the fundamentals well. It’s a tricky one and how that is implemented in practise may differ from one school to another. But important to keep in mind.
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Animals in the Cold
2nd Class
Learning Objective:
Pupils will identify how animals such as polar bears and penguins are adapted to survive in cold environments and compare these habitats with their own.Lesson:
Begin by reading Say Hello to the Snowy Animals. Discuss the weather in the Arctic and compare it with the weather in Ireland. Ask pupils how they think animals survive in such cold conditions.Using pictures, explore the adaptations of polar bears and penguins, including thick fur, blubber, waterproof feathers and huddling together. Carry out a simple investigation by placing water on a hand covered with a small amount of Vaseline to demonstrate how waterproof feathers help penguins stay dry and warm.
Pupils then compare the adaptations of each animal using a Venn diagram or sorting activity and explain how each feature helps the animal survive.
Conclude by revisiting the inquiry question: “How do animals stay warm in very cold places?” Pupils share one new fact they have learned and complete a labelled drawing of either a polar bear or penguin, identifying its adaptations for living in the cold.
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I really enjoyed reading your lesson idea. I especially liked the Vaseline investigation, as it gives the children a hands-on way to understand how penguins stay dry and warm. The Venn diagram is also a great activity for Second Class, helping pupils compare and discuss the adaptations of each animal. It sounds like a fun and engaging lesson that encourages both scientific thinking and curiosity.
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The activity Animals in the Cold is suitable for introducing children to scientific concepts through inquiry-based learning. It helps to develop their skills in observing, predicting, questioning and communicating as well as developing their natural curiosity about the world.
The children learn about how animals survive in cold environments. Using pictures and practical investigations, they explore the different adaptations such as fur, feathers and layers of fat to aid this survival. The lesson also affords the children opportunities to make predictions, test ideas and share their findings with the class group.
There are many opportunities for integrating with other curriculum areas are vast. The children can develop their language skills (discussion and storytelling), mathematical skills (sorting and classifying animals) and artistic skills (creating models or drawings of animals and their habitats). Learning about these animals in the real-world makes the learning more meaningful and relevant.
This activity also helps to support STEM-focused School Self-Evaluation (SSE). There are opportunities for inquiry-based learning throughout the school and pupil discussions, photographs of investigations, samples of work and teacher observations can provide evidence of this learning. Key STEM skills, including critical thinking, problem-solving and collaboration, can be developed when the children are asking questions, investigating solutions and sharing their results. Collaboration amongst staff and the sharing of activities along with following pupil engagement can support whole-school improvement and support STEM-focused School Self-Evaluation (SSE).
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Animals in the Cold – Senior Infants
I would begin by asking open-ended questions such as, “Which animals live in cold places?”, “How do they stay warm?”, and “What would happen if they lived somewhere hot?” The children would share their ideas and make predictions before exploring the topic. I would also show them pictures of animals in the artic on the interactive whiteboard in case any of the children do not know what the artic is. This will help the less able kids.
The children would then examine pictures, storybooks, and short videos featuring animals such as penguins, polar bears, seals, and Arctic foxes. They would investigate how these animals survive by discussing features such as thick fur, blubber, and feathers. In small groups, the children could sort animals into hot and cold habitats and explain their choices. At the end of the lesson, the children would share what they discovered with the class. -
I would use the ESERO Animals in the Cold lesson because it is a fun, hands-on way to teach science and can easily be adapted to suit the different needs of the pupils I work with. I would start by talking about different types of weather and showing pictures to get everyone thinking and sharing their ideas. We would then look at penguins and polar bears and chat about how they manage to stay warm in freezing temperatures. I think the Vaseline and water activity would really engage the children as they could see for themselves how the greasy layer keeps water off. I would break the lesson into smaller steps for the children, use lots of visual supports, and give pupils different ways to show what they have learned, whether through talking, drawing, or practical activities. I like that every child can take part, build confidence, and enjoy learning science in a way that is meaningful and accessible for them.
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Hands on Activity:
To teach about weather I would use the resources provided in module 4. The resource “Hot and cold” is one I will definitely be trying out in my classroom.
I would teach this lesson on a warm day if possible for context. I would engage the children by discussing the weather and elicit discussion based on the following questions: How warm or cold does it feel in the classroom? In the shade? In the sun? Why do you think it is (cold/cool/warm/hot)? Is the heat of the sun helping to warm this area?We would then explore what the Sun looks like, when we can see the Sun, and when can’t you see it? We would discuss why the Sun is so important for everyone in the world.
We would then complete the “Sun gives off heat” activity using two ice cubes, explaining that we are going to put one bowl in the Sun and the other in the shade. I would ask the children which ice cube they think will melt more quickly. I would use this opportunity to emphasise the importance of fair testing and ask the children if certain scenarios would be fair to elicit if children fully understand. We would then focus on the skill of predicting. Each child will have to predict what they think will happen.
We will discuss and record the results from the investigation.
The taking the next step activities would be to relate what we learned to the children’s lives and past experiences. We would then explore what we learned further by learning about shadows and building on our knowledge.
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Where do we live?
Homes
Trigger Story: Read the Story ‘The Three Little Pigs’. Looking at a poster of The Three Little Pigs we will discuss the story and why the pigs needed a home.Wondering: I wonder why people need homes? I will ask questions to specifically elicit the response of ‘shelter, safety, sleep, comfort’.
Exploring: using a poster on homes and list all the types of homes we can see discuss which of the homes we can see in our locality.
Exploring: I will give the children enlarged photographs of different types of homes – bungalow, detached house, semi-detached house, terraced house, 2 story house, farm house, cottage, caravan, igloo, teepee and flat. Each pair will get one photograph and will discuss together what type of a home this is, how it differs from their own home and what type of people they think would live in a home like this. They will then identify the home most similar to their own. Encourage them to name some of its features, such as the colour, what sort of roof it has, whether it’s a house or a flat, whether it has a garden or not.
Group work: As they describe the home they have we will make a collage of homes for display in the classroom.
Oral Language Game: ‘Where am I?’ I will give the children clues about where I am e.g. ‘I am in a round house with a triangular roof’ and the children must guess where I am. I will repeat and then get the children to work in pairs describing where they are.
Using photographs of the local area and aerial view of the town we will discuss what buildings we pass on the way home from school. I will highlight the key buildings in the town and ask the children do they pass them as they go home.
Using the map on the whiteboard we will draw a few of the journeys home (many children live in same housing estates).Finally we will discuss our favourite type of home and the children will use junk art to create a home their favourite teddy, doll, super hero, lego figure etc.
Applying learning and making connections: Link to materials and why certain homes suit certain areas better.
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The ESERO Animals in the Cold lesson is a lesson I liked and would use in the classroom to teach the children about Animals that live in the extreme cold and how they manage to survive in such harsh conditions.
Lesson Plan: Animals That Live in Cold Climates
Age Group: First Class
Topic: Animals Native to Cold ClimatesLearning Objectives
By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:Name at least four animals that live in cold climates.
Describe two ways these animals survive in freezing temperatures.
Explain why different animals have different adaptations.Resources Needed:
Pictures of cold-climate animals use IWB
World map or globe use IWB
Whiteboard and markers
Paper and crayons/coloured pencils
Cotton balls, feathers, or fabric (optional, to demonstrate insulation)Introduction to lesson
Show pictures of snowy places and ask: What is the weather like here?
Would you like to live there? Why or why not?
What animals do you think live in very cold places?
Point to the Arctic and Antarctica on a map.
Explain that some animals are specially adapted to survive in these icy environments.Main Lesson
Animals to Discuss
Polar bear
Arctic fox
Penguin
Seal
Snowy owl
Reindeer (caribou)
How They Survive
Explain these adaptations using simple language:Thick fur or feathers keep them warm.
Blubber (fat under the skin) acts like a warm blanket.
White colouring helps them hide in the snow.
Large paws or feet help them walk on snow and ice.
Some animals huddle together to keep warm.
Some migrate to warmer places during part of the year.Activity
“Design a Cold-Weather Animal”
Students draw their own cold-climate animal and include:Thick fur or feathers
Strong feet or paws
A way to stay warm
Its favourite food
Students write 2–3 sentences explaining how their animal survives.Demonstration
Wrap one hand in cotton or fabric and leave the other uncovered.
Ask:Which hand feels warmer?
Explain that blubber, fur, and feathers work like insulation.
Review of lesson
Ask:Name one animal that lives in a cold climate.
How does a polar bear stay warm?
Why are many Arctic animals white?
What is blubber?
Which animal was your favourite and why?
Assessment
Students can:Correctly name at least four cold-climate animals.
Describe two adaptations that help animals survive.
Complete their animal drawing with survival features.
Extension Activity
Read a story or watch a short educational video about Arctic wildlife. Students can compare one cold-climate animal with an animal from a hot climate by discussing:Where it lives
What it eats
How it stays safe
How it survives its environment
Key Vocabulary: Arctic, Antarctica, habitat, adaptation, blubber, insulation, camouflage, migrate, predator, prey. -
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Activity Set: Where do you live?
I would pick this theme as I think it would grab children’s attention and would be a nice to cover in the month in October as I often cover the theme of homes during this month.
I would begin by reading ‘Town Mouse and Country Mouse’ and then have children discuss their homes, and then to connect with the story – homes that you would find in the cities that are not really common in the country (apartments, housing estates).
I would put a spin on the ESERO worksheet of creating dioramas rather than modelling material due to the fact I have middle classes and it might suit the mix of ages and abilities better. Students would make dioramas of homes in pairs and create buildings they would find in villages, e.g. homes, shop, school, doctors, etc. Once completed (which may take more than one lesson) we would group these together to display our “village”. We would reflect on what makes a village and perhaps what was missing to improve it and what do we like about our local village. I look forward to doing this type of lesson as I think the creativity would be flowing out of the students! -
Online resources and tools
Stellarium is a fantastic tool for bringing the wonders of space into the classroom. It’s also a downloadable resource which is ideal as there can often be connection issues in my school. For my class, I’d use Stellarium to create an interactive and engaging way for them to explore the night sky. First, I would introduce the program with a simple demo, showing how it simulates the stars, planets, and constellations visible from any location on Earth at any time of the year.
I could use Stellarium for various activities, like identifying constellations such as the Plough (Ursa Major) or finding planets like Jupiter. Students could track the movement of stars over time, learning how celestial objects shift in the sky. I’d also incorporate group tasks, where students could identify patterns in the stars, compare the positions of constellations during different seasons, or even use the program to “visit” other planets and moons. By combining Stellarium with hands-on activities, my students can gain a deeper, visual
understanding of space, sparking their curiosity and creativity and encouraging them to explore further. -
Hand on Activity- Animals in the Cold
I would use the “Animals in the Cold” activity in my classroom as a fun introduction to animals that live in cold environments. I would begin by showing the children pictures of animals such as polar bears, penguins and seals and discuss what they notice about them. We would talk about how these animals survive in very cold places.
I would carry out a simple blubber experiment using a plastic bowl of ice water and two “animal paws”, one with vegetable shortening to represent blubber and one without. The children could make predictions about which one they think will stay warmer, test their ideas and discuss their observations. This would encourage children to ask questions, investigate and think like scientists.
To extend the activity, children could create their own polar animals using different art materials and discuss what features help their animal survive. This activity supports STEM learning by developing curiosity, problem-solving and observation skills. -
I chose the Hands-on Classroom Themed Activities because I believe children learn best when they are actively involved in their learning. As I currently teach Second Class, I find that practical activities help to keep pupils engaged while developing their scientific skills and understanding.
I would use hands-on STEM activities regularly throughout the year to encourage curiosity, problem-solving, and teamwork. For example, I would have the children work in small groups to design and build simple structures using recycled materials, predict which designs would be the strongest, and test their ideas. This would encourage them to observe, investigate, record their findings, and discuss how they could improve their designs.
I would also integrate technology where appropriate by allowing pupils to photograph their investigations or record short videos explaining what they discovered. This would help develop both their digital skills and their confidence in communicating scientific ideas.
I think these activities are particularly suitable for Second Class because they provide opportunities for active learning while supporting the development of important STEM skills such as observing, predicting, investigating, recording, and evaluating. They also encourage collaboration and creativity, helping children to become confident and enthusiastic learners who enjoy exploring the world around them.
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Here are the variety of activities I would do in the Junior and Senior infant classroom based on the themes where do you live and weather.
Where Do you live?
Curriculum Strand: Human Environments – Living in the Local CommunityLearning Objectives
Children should be enabled to:
Recognise different types of homes.
Talk about where they live.
Identify features of their local environment.
Develop language associated with homes and communities.Activity 1: My Home
children will engage in circle time with prompts from the teacher such as: where do you live? who lives with you? what colour is your house? do you have a garden? etc. Each child will share a fact about their home.Activity 2: Build my home
Using a wide variety of materials for example lego, blocks, boxes, art supplies, cubes, playdoh the children will build their own home. They will then compare their homes to their pairs discussing things like height/ apart/ bungalow etc.Activity 3: Where do we live?
I will place a variety of pictures around the classroom showing different places people live for example: city, town, village, countryside. We will discuss each picture and the type of things you would see in each place. The children will then move to the picture to show where they live.Theme 2: Weather
Curriculum Strand: Natural Environments – WeatherActivity 1: Polar animal investigation
I will show children the children a video of the Artic. We will discuss the different animals that we seen in the video and how these animals stay warm in the cold weather. I will introduce new vocabulary like thick fur, blubber and feathers. The children will then place the correct animals under the correct heading based on how they stay warm.Activity 2: Build an Igloo
The children in groups will design and create an Igloo. They will be given materials like sugar cubes, marshmallows, cotton wool, lego, playdoh. They will then compare their designs to their peers.-
Hi Ciara, your activities provide excellent opportunities for hands-on, inquiry-based STEM learning. I particularly like how they encourage children to explore, build, compare, and communicate their ideas. The activities are engaging, age-appropriate, and connect learning to children’s everyday experiences while developing observation, problem-solving, collaboration, and early scientific thinking skills.
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In my junior infants classroom, I would use the Where Do You Live? activity as a simple, hands-on way to explore weather and clothing. I would begin with a class discussion about the weather outside and ask the children what they are wearing and why. Then I would show pictures of different weather conditions and let the children sort clothes for sunny, rainy, cold, and windy days.
This activity would work well because it is practical and meaningful for young children. They can talk about their own experiences, make choices, and learn new vocabulary through play. I would also bring in real clothes for the children to touch, compare, and match to the right weather. After that, the children could draw themselves dressed for different types of weather. This would help me see their understanding and support science skills such as observing, sorting, and communicating.
I like this activity because it connects with the children’s everyday lives and encourages active learning. It also gives me useful evidence for school self-evaluation and helps me reflect on how well the children are developing science skills.
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Activity Set: Weather – Hot and Cold (2nd Class)
I would begin by asking the children to talk about things that feel hot and things that feel cold. We would create two lists on the board and I would ask the stimulus question, “Where does the earth’s heat come from?”, encouraging pupils to think about different sources of heat and recognising the sun as our main natural source of heat, how the sun warms the earth and why we feel warmer on sunny days than on cloudy days.
A hands-on activity I would set up would involve pupils investigating how the sun’s heat affects different objects. On a sunny day, I would place different materials, such as a metal spoon, a wooden spoon, a plastic toy and a dark piece of card, outside in the sunshine. I would elicit some predictions from pupils on which object they think will be the warmest. I would encourage pupils to carefully touch each object and compare how warm they feel and have a discussion around why some might be warmer than others. I would then allow the pupils to choose their own materials and carry out their own tests, encouraging them to predict and record their findings on simple tables.
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Hi Louise, this is a really engaging activity. I like the use of the stimulus question and how they think about different sources of heat. I think their responses would be great. The hands on investigation is great because it gives children the chance to explore in an active way instead of just being told about it all. I think it could be a good idea to ask the children why the think the dark materials might feel warmer than the light materials. It all links so well with inquiry in the curriculum framework.
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I would teach a lesson based on Esero 11- Weather- what clothes to wear?
Materials:
Teddy, washing line, clothes, IWB, weather images.
Learning outcome: Children will identify different types of weather and what clothes to wear.
We will look at the weather chart and discussion different types of weather. We will look outside the windows and the children will answer questions.
What is the weather today?
How do we know?
Children will discuss and describe what they see.
Teacher will have a washing line up in the classroom with different types of clothes hanging from it. (Scarf, hat, sunglasses, sun hat, wooly socks etc).
Discussion on how these clothes keep us warm or cool.
Children can take turns miming different types of weather, hot, windy etc and other children identify which clothes they need to wear. They will give simple reasons for their choices.
Teacher will show weather images and dress the teddy appropriatley.
Children will give thumbs up/down if teacher is correct to assess their understanding.
Conclude with a sheet where the children can cut out clothes and dress their own teddy.
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Where do you live and Animals in the cold
I would incorporate the topic “Where do you live?” into my theme of Houses and Homes with my Junior and Seniors Infants class. I would begin by reading A House Is a House for Me by Mary Ann Hoberman, which provides a wonderful opportunity to discuss different types of homes and who lives in them. We would explore a variety of houses found in Ireland and compare them with homes from around the world, encouraging the children to recognise and appreciate different living environments.
As a creative follow-up activity, the children would draw their own homes and then use a range of 3D materials to construct them. Once completed, we would work together to create a class village or town. This would lead to discussions about what makes a community and what might be missing from our village. The children could suggest and create additions such as gardens, flowers, trees, roads, or a playground.
I would also link this topic with A Place Called Home by Kate Baker to explore how animals have homes too, particularly those living in cold environments. This would naturally connect with our Arctic Animals theme, where the children investigate melting ice in a tuff tray while exploring animal habitats through play-based learning.
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Thank you for sharing your ideas. I have added the book A house is a house for me’ by Mary Ann Hoberman to my list of resources for next year. I love integrating literacy into other subjects and it is a great way to engage the younger pupils. I like how you compared Irish houses to others houses abroad. It most certainly would encourage children to recognise and appreciate different living arrangements. I like the idea of creating 3D models also bringing their ideas to life.
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I would like to use the Where do you live? activity in my senior infant classroom next year. This is how I would deliver the lesson using the ESERO 5 resource as a guide:
ENGAGE:
Show pictures of different homes (house, apartment, bungalow, cottage, caravan).
Ask:
Where do you live?
What does your home look like?
Do all people live in the same type of home?
Encourage children to wonder:
“I wonder why homes look different?”
INVESTIGATE:
Starter Question:What different types of homes can we find?Predict: Ask children to predict which type of home most children in the class live in.
Conduct the Investigation:
Examine pictures of different homes.
Discuss features of each (one storey/two storeys, joined to another house, many families living together, etc.).
Children sort picture cards into groups (detached, semi-detached, terraced, apartment, bungalow, cottage).
Complete a simple class tally chart showing the different homes children live in.Interpret the Results:
Which type of home appears most often?
Which type appears least?
Discuss how every home is different but all homes provide shelter and keep us safe.TAKE THE NEXT STEP:
Children draw their own home.
Complete the sentence:
“I live in a __________.”
“My home has __________.”
Extension: Compare your home with a friend’s home. How are they the same? How are they different?REFLECTION:
Ask children:
What new type of home did you learn about today?
What type of home do you live in?
Why is a home important?
Exit ticket: Hold up the picture of the type of home you live in or tell your partner one thing you learned. -
Hi everyone,
I chose the topic of online resources and tools because I have found that digital technology can make science more engaging and accessible for young children. In my Junior Infants classroom in a DEIS 1 school, I would use simple, age-appropriate online resources to introduce and reinforce STEM concepts alongside practical, hands-on activities.
For a space theme, I would begin by reading a picture book before showing a short child-friendly video or animation about the planets or the Moon. We would then discuss what the children noticed and compare it with what they already knew. This would be followed by a practical activity, such as creating Moon craters using flour and cocoa powder or building rockets from recyclable materials. Using digital resources first helps to spark curiosity and gives children a visual understanding before they begin exploring through play.
I would also use interactive whiteboard activities, simple quizzes and digital photographs to record children’s learning. Taking photos of investigations and displaying them in the classroom encourages children to revisit their learning and talk about the scientific skills they used, such as observing, predicting and describing.
As a teacher in a DEIS 1 school, I find that combining digital resources with practical experiences helps to engage all learners and supports children with different learning styles and language abilities. It also encourages collaboration, communication and curiosity, which are central to inquiry-based learning.
This module has reminded me that technology should enhance learning rather than replace hands-on exploration. By carefully selecting high-quality digital resources and combining them with meaningful investigations, I can create enjoyable STEM experiences that encourage children to ask questions, explore ideas and develop a positive attitude towards science from an early age.
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I liked exploring Stellarium because it’s a resource I could see myself using in the classroom. I’d use it at the start of a lesson to introduce the children to the night sky before moving on to a practical activity. Instead of looking at pictures in a book, we could explore the sky together and see what it would look like from Ireland that night. I think that would get the children asking lots of questions.
I also think it would work really well alongside a lot of the activities we’ve looked at throughout the module. We could use Stellarium to find some of the more recognisable constellations and talk about the stories behind them before making our own star lanterns. It would also be a good way to show the children why we see different constellations at different times of the year. I think seeing it on the screen would help make it easier to understand.
I like that the children can explore it themselves too. They could take turns coming up to the interactive whiteboard to find different stars and constellations, or guess what shapes they can see before we reveal the names.
I’d encourage the children to use Stellarium at home with their families to see if they could find some of the constellations we looked at in class. The next day we’d spend a few minutes chatting about what they found and whether anyone spotted something different.
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Hi Ciara, I really like your idea of using Stellarium to find some of the more recognisable constellations and talk about the stories behind them and then before the children make their own star lanterns. You could also have children make up their own stories about their star lanterns, to incorporate some creative writing into your lesson.
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I have chosen the hands-on classroom themed activities. They highlighted the value of active, inquiry-based learning in supporting STEM education. Rather than simply giving students instructions, I would use these activities to encourage them to ask questions, make predictions, test ideas, and reflect on their findings. This approach helps develop important skills such as problem-solving, teamwork, communication, and resilience, while also making learning more engaging and meaningful.
In my classroom, I would adapt activities to suit the age and abilities of my pupils, ensuring that all students can participate and experience success. I would encourage pupils to work collaboratively, record their observations, and explain their thinking using appropriate scientific and mathematical language. Digital tools such as tablets could be used to photograph each stage of an investigation, record short videos of experiments, or create digital presentations to share learning with classmates and parents.
As a further step towards a STEM-focused School Self-Evaluation (SSE), I would begin by reviewing current STEM practices across the school and identifying strengths and areas for development. I would collaborate with colleagues to develop a shared vision for STEM, incorporating more cross-curricular, real-world learning experiences. Gathering pupil voice through surveys and discussions would help identify activities that inspire curiosity and engagement. We could also increase opportunities for outdoor learning, coding, engineering challenges, and links with local community organisations or STEM professionals.
To monitor progress, I would collect evidence through pupil work samples, photographs, teacher observations, and student reflections. Regular staff discussions would allow us to evaluate the impact of our STEM initiatives and refine our approaches. Overall, these hands-on activities have reinforced the importance of creating a classroom environment where curiosity, creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking are central to learning and where pupils are encouraged to see themselves as capable problem-solvers.-
I think Edwina has some great ideas. I like how she encourages the children to ask questions as I find this to be really important and figure things out for themselves instead of just being given the answers. Some children I find tend to want the answers instead of having to think for themselves. The hands-on activities would keep the children engaged while helping them build teamwork and problem-solving skills. I also think using tablets to record and share their learning is a great idea, and something the children would really enjoy.
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I like how you’ve focused on developing the children’s science skills rather than just completing an activity. Using tablets to record investigations and share their learning is a great idea and something I could see working well in school. I also like your suggestion of gathering pupil voice as part of the SSE process, as it’s important to hear what activities children enjoy and what sparks their interest in STEM.
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Online resources and tools.
I think Stellarium would be a brilliant resource to use in the classroom because it makes learning about space much more interesting. One thing I really like is that it can be downloaded onto our chromebooks. I would start by showing the class how the program works on my large interactive white-board and let them explore the different stars, planets, and constellations that can be seen from where we live.
After that, I would let the children work in pairs to complete small activities, like finding the Plough, spotting Jupiter, or seeing what the sky looks like in different seasons. They could also compare what changes throughout the year and talk about why that happens. I think giving them time to explore the app themselves would make the lesson more enjoyable than just reading from a textbook. This can be done during our Technology time.
To finish, students could share one interesting thing they discovered with the class by passing a talking-object (space teddy) around. Overall, I think Stellarium is a fun way to make space feel more real and helps children become curious about what’s happening in the sky above them. -
I would use the ‘What Clothes to Wear’ lesson. I like how this lesson is fun and hands on – a great use of the dress up box! I also appreciate how many cross-curricular links here are with oral language, teanga o bheal in Gaeilge and materials in art. To extend this lesson, I would have the children learn the seasons and weather song. This is something the y often struggle with in maths in the junior classes. The song includes each season and the months included in each season. As well as that I would build on the thematic unit and link it with materials and what materials are waterproof. We have a class teddy and I would include a playful learning station on making a waterproof coat for teddy. They could then link this with pattern and shapes in maths and complete a station based off this as well. A truly useful lesson with great links to the rest of the curriculum.
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Hands-on Classroom Themed Activities
In my classroom, I would use these activities as part of a weekly STEM lesson where children can predict, observe, test, and discuss their findings. For example, I would set up a simple investigation such as exploring which materials float or sink, or designing and testing a paper bridge to see how much weight it can hold. These activities help children develop important scientific skills such as observing, questioning, predicting, measuring, recording results, and drawing conclusions.
I would encourage pupils to work in small groups, giving each child an opportunity to contribute ideas and take part in the investigation. Afterwards, we would discuss the results as a class, comparing findings and reflecting on what worked well and what could be improved. This promotes communication, teamwork, and critical thinking.
To document the learning, I would take photographs of the investigations, collect samples of pupils’ work, and record their explanations using a digital portfolio or classroom app. These records could be shared with families to celebrate learning and encourage discussion at home.
Using hands-on STEM activities regularly would help create a classroom culture where curiosity and problem-solving are valued. It would also provide valuable evidence of pupils’ developing scientific skills, which could inform future planning and support our school’s ongoing focus on STEM education.
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I would choose the hands-on classroom themed activities because I find that Junior Infants learn best when they are actively involved. Next year I plan to use more practical STEM activities during our Space topic. For example, the children could work in small groups to build rockets using recycled materials. This would encourage them to think, make predictions, solve problems and work together. I also like that these activities allow every child to contribute in their own way, whether through designing, building or explaining their ideas. After each activity, I would give the children time to talk about what they discovered and what they might change if they were to try again. I think this reflection is an important part of learning. I would also keep samples of the children’s work and observations to help me see how their scientific skills are developing throughout the year and to inform future planning.
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I really like your focus on hands-on learning and giving children opportunities to work collaboratively. Building rockets from recycled materials is a fun way to develop creativity, problem-solving and teamwork. I also agree that allowing children to reflect on what they discovered and how they could improve is an important part of the learning process. Keeping samples of their work is an excellent way to track progress and support future planning.
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ESERO Lesson 7- Animals in Cold Climates
Strand: Living Things
Strand Unit: Plant and Animal LifeI would use ESERO Lesson 7, Animals in Cold Climates, with an Infant class to introduce children to animals that live in very cold environments and help them understand how living things adapt to their surroundings. The lesson would encourage children to develop curiosity about the natural world and explore how different animals survive in places such as the Arctic and Antarctic.
– I would begin the lesson by discussing children’s prior knowledge of cold places and animals.
– I would ask questions such as “What animals do you think live where there is lots of snow and ice?” and “How do these animals stay warm?”
– I would use photographs, videos, and stories to introduce animals such as polar bears, penguins, seals and Arctic foxes.
– During the main activity, I would encourage children to observe and discuss the features of these animals, such as thick fur, feathers, layers of fat, and camouflage.
– Children could take part in drawing activities, movement activities or role-play to explore how these animals move and survive in cold climates.
– To conclude the lesson, I would review the main learning through questioning and discussion.
– I would assess children’s understanding by observing their participation, listening to their explanations and examining their drawings.
This lesson would help children develop an awareness and appreciation of animal life and the ways living things adapt to their environments. -
This activity is based on ESERO lesson 12 Hot & Cold
How Can We Stop Teddy’s Ice Cube from Melting?
Children will:
- recognise the difference between hot and cold in everyday situations
- identify ways of keeping objects and substances cold by wrapping,
- covering or placing them in the shade
- investigate which materials best keep an ice cube cold
- predict, observe and communicate their findings using appropriate scientific vocabulary.
ENGAGE
The Trigger: I would introduce Teddy, who wants to bring an ice cube on a picnic to keep his drink cool. Unfortunately, the ice cube keeps melting before he gets there. I would ask the children if they have ever seen an ice cream or ice cube melt on a warm day and discuss why this happens.
Wondering: I would ask questions like:
- Why do ice cubes melt?
- Can we stop an ice cube melting?
- Which material might keep it cold for longer?
- Would it make a difference if it was in the Sun or in the shade?
Exploring: Children handle a selection of materials including bubble wrap, fabric, newspaper, aluminium foil and cotton wool. They discuss how each material feels and predict which one might keep the ice cube cold the longest.
INVESTIGATE
Starter Question: Which material will keep Teddy’s ice cube cold for the longest?
Predicting: Each group chooses one material and explains why they think it will work.
Conducting the Investigation: Each group wraps an ice cube (or a small cup containing an ice cube) in a different material. One unwrapped ice cube acts as the control. The children observe the ice cubes over time, noticing which melts the quickest and which stays frozen the longest. They record their observations using simple drawings or by placing picture symbols beside each material.
The class could also place one ice cube in the sunshine and another in the shade and compares what happens.
Sharing: Interpreting Results: Groups share their findings and discuss why some materials helped keep the ice cube cold for longer. Together we conclude that wrapping, covering and keeping objects in the shade can help slow down melting. Vocabulary such as hot, cold, warm, cool, melt, Sun and shade is reinforced throughout.
NEXT STEP
Applying Learning: Children look at everyday objects such as lunch boxes, cool bags, insulated bottles and picnic coolers. We discuss why people use these items and how they help to keep food and drinks cold.
Making Connections: Children talk about how they keep themselves cool on hot days by wearing hats, sitting in the shade, drinking cold water or eating ice cream. We link this to the ESERO discussion about feeling warmer in the Sun than in the shade.
Thoughtful Actions: Children discuss why it is important to keep certain foods cold to stop them spoiling. We also talk about making sensible choices on sunny days, such as playing in the shade and drinking plenty of water.
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This lesson would have been so good to do in June when it was so hot! We brought our class out on a Teddy Bears Picnic and they all had to bring in a teddy but bringing Science into it using the Teddy’s ice cube is a fantastic idea.
Of course we would have to give them all a freeze pop at the end as a treat when the experiment is complete.
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When teaching the topic Weather to a First and Second Class, I would aim to make the learning meaningful by connecting it to the children’s everyday experiences while encouraging them to think about how both people and animals adapt to different weather conditions. I would begin by discussing hot and cold weather, asking the children to describe how each feels and what activities they enjoy in different seasons. From this, we would explore the types of clothes we wear to keep comfortable, comparing items such as coats, hats, scarves and gloves for cold weather with T-shirts, shorts and sun hats for warm weather.
I will emphasise to the children that, just as we wear different clothing to suit the temperature, animals also have special adaptations that help them survive in different climates. I would encourage the children to investigate children’s coats, comparing their thickness, materials and waterproof features, before linking these ideas to animals such as polar bears, penguins and Arctic foxes. We would discuss how thick fur, feathers and blubber act like warm winter coats, protecting animals from freezing temperatures. To reinforce these concepts, I would include a simple hot and cold investigation where children compare warm and cold objects and describe their observations using scientific vocabulary. I feel that these real-life connections help children understand that all living things need protection from their environment, although they achieve this in different ways.
I would incorporate a Visual Arts activity that allows the children to apply what they have learned in a creative way. I would have the children do an Arctic animal artwork. The children could create a polar bear, penguin or Arctic fox using paint and collage materials, adding cotton wool or textured paper to represent thick fur, feathers or snow.
This will give the children the opportunity to talk about how the materials they are using relate to warmth and protection, linking their artwork back to the scientific concepts explored during the lesson. I hope that incorporating art into the lesson would appeal to different learning styles, encourage imagination and provide an enjoyable opportunity for children to consolidate their learning through hands-on exploration.
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I really like how you’ve linked the lesson to the children’s everyday experiences before introducing how animals adapt to different weather. I think comparing children’s coats with animals’ fur and feathers is a great way to help them understand the concept. The Arctic art activity is a lovely way to finish the lesson too, as it gives the children a chance to be creative while reinforcing what they have learned. It sounds like a really engaging lesson with lots of hands-on learning.
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I would choose the Hands-on Classroom Themed Activities because I believe young children learn best through active exploration and play. In a Junior Infant classroom, I would use practical STEM activities that encourage children to observe, predict, investigate and discuss their findings. For example, a simple bridge-building challenge using blocks, cardboard or recycled materials would allow children to explore balance, strength and problem-solving while working collaboratively in small groups.
Throughout the activity, I would encourage the children to ask questions, test different ideas and reflect on what worked well and what they might change. This inquiry-based approach helps children develop important scientific skills such as observing, predicting, communicating and evaluating. I would also integrate the activity with mathematics by comparing lengths and heights, with oral language through group discussions and presentations, and with art by encouraging children to design and decorate their creations.
As part of a STEM-focused School Self-Evaluation process, I would also reflect on how regularly inquiry-based learning is taking place in my classroom. I would gather children’s work samples, photographs and teacher observations to monitor progress and identify areas for improvement. Sharing successful activities with colleagues would help promote a consistent approach to STEM across the school while ensuring children continue to develop curiosity, creativity and confidence in science from an early age.
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<span style=”font-weight: 400;”>What further steps might you take towards a STEM focused SSE?</span>
<span style=”font-weight: 400;”>I think STEM would be a great focus area for SSE in our school. Some teachers will be very new to it and as it will now be a part of our curriculum, having it as a focus for school self evaluation would be a great way to make sure everyone in on the same page about STEM practices in our school.</span>
<span style=”font-weight: 400;”>Some steps we could take towards a STEM focused SSE would be to make sure there is collaboration between the staff and for teachers to share their ideas and what STEM activities work well for them. Make sure all teachers have the opportunity to observe STEM lessons in class to help with the sharing of ideas and good practices. Discuss cross curricular links with STEM activities so it is not seen as an isolated initiative. I think it would be important to make sure there are plenty of STEM related resources and materials in the school for teachers to use with the children</span>
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<p class=”PDq2pG_selectionAnchorContainer” data-start=”0″ data-end=”1228″ data-is-last-node=”” data-is-only-node=””>ESERO Lesson 7, Animals in Cold Climates, provides an excellent opportunity to develop children’s understanding of how animals adapt to survive in different environments while promoting inquiry-based learning. In my classroom, I would begin the lesson by exploring a picture book such as <em data-start=”294″ data-end=”313″ data-is-only-node=””>The Emperor’s Egg by Martin Jenkins to spark discussion about animals that live in cold climates. Children would then investigate the features of animals such as polar bears, penguins and Arctic foxes, discussing how blubber, thick fur and feathers help them survive. To develop a STEM focus, pupils would carry out a simple investigation by testing different materials to discover which provides the best insulation, linking this to how animals keep warm. They would predict, investigate, record results and discuss their findings, developing scientific inquiry and mathematical skills. As part of our School Self-Evaluation (SSE) focus on STEM, I would encourage collaboration, questioning and problem-solving throughout the lesson. Digital resources, such as National Geographic Kids videos or Twinkl presentations, would further enhance learning and allow children to explore animal habitats in an engaging and meaningful way.</p></div>
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Animals in Cold Climates, provides an excellent opportunity to develop children’s understanding of how animals adapt to survive in different environments while promoting inquiry-based learning. In my classroom, I would begin the lesson by exploring a picture book such as The Emperor’s Egg by Martin Jenkins to spark discussion about animals that live in cold climates. Children would then investigate the features of animals such as polar bears, penguins and Arctic foxes, discussing how blubber, thick fur and feathers help them survive. To develop a STEM focus, pupils would carry out a simple investigation by testing different materials to discover which provides the best insulation, linking this to how animals keep warm. They would predict, investigate, record results and discuss their findings, developing scientific inquiry and mathematical skills. As part of our School Self-Evaluation (SSE) focus on STEM, I would encourage collaboration, questioning and problem-solving throughout the lesson. Digital resources, such as National Geographic Kids videos or Twinkl presentations, would further enhance learning and allow children to explore animal habitats in an engaging and meaningful way
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I would use the Online Resources and Tools activity with my 2nd class because I think the children would really enjoy exploring space in a visual way. I would have the children working in pairs as I feel some might struggle using a computer. I think the children would love using Stellarium.
I would start the lesson by asking the children what they already know about the planets and stars. We would make a mind map together and add to it as we learn more.
I would then use one of the online space resources to show the children pictures of the planets, stars and the Solar System. We would look closely at the pictures and talk about what we notice. This would get the children talking and help build their vocabulary, which links with English.
For the main activity, the children would work in pairs to pick their favourite planet and draw a picture of it. They would then write a few simple facts about their planet and share their work with the class.
I like this activity because it brings together Science, English and Art, and gives the children a chance to ask questions, work together and learn about space in a fun way. -
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Space is that massive area all around is, beyond Earth, where we find the Sun, Moon, stars, and all the other planets. It is also where we find galaxies, constellations, comets, asteroids, meteors, satellites and astronauts exploring space. We can use telescopes and spacecrafts to learn more about space. What else is out there for us to discover?
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Online Resources and Tools (Stellarium)
I would use Stellarium as the online resource. I had heard of it before, but I never really thought about how useful it could be in a primary classroom. After exploring it as part of this module, I can see how it would make a Space topic much more interesting and interactive for children. Instead of just looking at pictures in a book, the children can explore the night sky as it would actually look from where they live. The module recommends using online resources such as Stellarium to support children’s learning about space alongside practical activities.
I would use Stellarium as part of a Space theme with First Class. Before using the programme, I would read a story such as How to Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers to get the children interested in the topic. We would chat about whether they have ever looked at the stars at night, if they have spotted the Moon or recognised any patterns in the sky. I would encourage lots of questions because I think children learn best when they are curious and are given the chance to wonder.
We would then use Stellarium together on the interactive whiteboard. I would show the children how the sky changes from day to night and explain that we can use the programme to see what stars and constellations are visible from Ireland. I think they would be fascinated to see that the night sky changes depending on the time of year. We could look for well-known constellations such as the Plough and compare what we see on the screen with photographs or constellation cards.
To make the lesson more hands-on, I would ask the children to choose their favourite constellation and recreate it using star stickers on black card. They could then make up a short story about their constellation or give it a new name. This would link Science with Art, Oral Language and English, while still keeping the focus on observing and exploring.
As a SET teacher, I like that Stellarium is so visual and easy for all children to access. Some children might enjoy pointing out stars on the screen, while others could draw what they see or talk about it instead of writing. It would also be a great resource to revisit throughout the year, allowing children to compare how the night sky changes with the seasons.
Looking beyond my own classroom, I think resources like Stellarium could support a more STEM-focused School Self-Evaluation. It would be nice to see more classes using digital resources alongside practical investigations rather than relying only on textbooks. Staff could share ideas and resources, and classes could take part in a whole-school Space Week where children explore the night sky, create models, complete investigations and display their work around the school. We could also gather examples of pupils’ work, photographs and teacher reflections as evidence of STEM learning, which the module highlights as part of the SSE process.
Overall, this module reminded me that technology doesn’t replace hands-on learning—it enhances it. I think Stellarium is a simple but really effective tool that can help bring Space to life for children and encourage them to ask questions, explore and develop a genuine interest in science
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I would choose the “Where do you live?” activity as it has a lot of scope for cross-curriculum integration e.g. Mé féin agus mo theach, developing oral language and vocabulary, role-plays. I would use the book Home by Carson Ellis as a prompt for the lesson and get the class to discuss the types of homes in the story before discussing their homes and different types of homes that people and animals live in as a pair work and whole class discussion. We would compare and contrast the different types of homes we live in. Next, I would get the children to design and make their own home using a variety of different materials providing them with a hands-on, fun activity. At the end of the lesson, I would get the class to look at their own and other’s creations. The homes could then be used for future lessons such as roleplays in Aistear.
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I love this idea as it provides rich opportunities for cross-curricular learning while developing children’s oral language, creativity and social skills. Using Home as a stimulus is a great way to encourage discussion and comparison, and the hands-on construction activity would allow children to explore the concept of homes in a meaningful and engaging way. I also like how the children’s creations could be reused in Aistear, extending their learning through play and role-play.
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I would choose a lesson ESA and EA kids.
I will use the activity below?Blast Off with ESA Kids!
Discovering Space with the European Space Agency
Our Mission Today
What we will learn:
What the European Space Agency (ESA) does.Meet Paxi, the little green alien explorer!How we can explore space from our classroom.
Space Words:
Astronaut : A person who travels into space.
Satellite: A machine that circles the Earth.
Rocket
A vehicle used to launch things into space.
Who is Paxi?
Have you ever wondered if there are friends on other planets? ESA has a special mascot named Paxi!
He is a friendly alien who travels around our solar system to teach us about stars, planets, and the moon.
Fun Facts:
Paxi has three arms! He uses them to help him explore space better. -
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Before explaining my choice I need to explain how surprised I am at the amount if free resources there are available for us in stem and geography history. Starting with the child and where they live and asking parents where possible to send in pictures of their house whether terrace, semi detached, apartments and the children will engage seeing their own house. I use Seesaw a lot for projects like this from home. I would like to then look at an teach as gaeilge and integrate these and using an aims ir when we look at the clothes and eadai lessons. The children in arts revised curriculum encourages 2d and 3d so perfect way to integrate making the house from clay but also from magnetic tiles, straws, lego houses, shoebox etc . Doing more.project and theme work will actually give more time instead of the set time in the timetable which always seems to short but english and stem being together or planning the street in geography or using line drawing and line in the elements of the arts curriculum to develop the drawing of their street, village, school. Continuing then looking at different parts of the world on the map and what their house can look like including ones on stilts above water etc there are so many options to explore snd differentiate in the classroom.
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Module 4
Activity Set:Where do you live?
Coincidentally we just did something on this theme in our DEIS Summer Camp but it can easily be applied into the school year curriculum and is cross curricular,
In Summer Camp the theme was Community and Connection and we used ‘It Takes A Village’ as our prompt and we literally designed and built a village with art materials over the course of the week.
To apply as a school-based activity: For Junior Infants and 6th Class
Start with ‘A Squash and a Squeeze’ by Julia Donaldson as a prompt to talk about homes, what do we need in our Home? The discussion around the animals in this story can be used in a later lesson to link with animals homes and bring the ‘animals in the cold’ lesson in to further develop the theme.
Questioning: Where do we live? What type of buildings do we live in? Are they different or the same? How are they different or the same? What is a community? Are there other buildings in our community beside homes? What are they? etc
I would ask an older class to join us as ‘building buddies’, for example invite 6th Class to join Junior Infants and pair them up.
Provide junk art: cardboard boxes of varying sizes, paper, mosaics, glue, scissors, paint, crepe paper, colors, lollipop sticks, fabrics,etc
‘Building Buddies’ work together to create buildings/homes where we live, it can be a dream home, a pets home, a shop, a garage, whatever they decide. The older students can support the younger students to think about what they could build, what will they need, think about what is inside/outside, for example could they add a garden? balcony? Can you see outside? Do you need windows/doors? What about furniture?
This would take a few sessions to complete.
Once completed we would join the buildings together to create our own village/community. Plenty of talk and discussion around what we created.
This ‘village’ could be on display for the rest of the school community to look at, through HSCL parents can be invited in to see what they created OR for the last session parents could be invited in to help finish the creation.
Other thematic activities could include: using Beebots on maps or even to code to move around the ‘village’ linking geography and science, Oral language new vocabulary, Visual Art. History can be included to look at homes from the past. Environmental Awareness and Care, caring for My Locality, can link to Green Schools. Maths Shape and Space.
As part of the SSE and Introducing the new Curriculum focusing on one area: all the Elements of the STE Curriculum are being used: Exploring and Understanding, Creative and Critical Thinking, Applying and Problem Solving, Evaluating and Communicating.
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I would choose a lesson ESA and EA kids.
I will use the activity below?Blast Off with ESA Kids!
Discovering Space with the European Space Agency
Our Mission Today
What we will learn:
What the European Space Agency (ESA) does.Meet Paxi, the little green alien explorer!How we can explore space from our classroom.
Space Words:
Astronaut: A person who travels into space.
Satellite: A machine that circles the Earth.
Rocket
A vehicle used to launch things into space.
Who is Paxi?
Have you ever wondered if there are friends on other planets? ESA has a special mascot named Paxi!
He is a friendly alien who travels around our solar system to teach us about stars, planets, and the moon.
Fun Facts:
Paxi has three arms! He uses them to help him explore space better.
We will make significant strengths in current science teaching and learn and celebrate every pupil’s progress. -
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I chose the Investigating Children’s Coats activity because it is fun, practical and links to the children’s everyday lives. We would start by looking at different coats and talking about what we notice. The children would describe the colours, materials and different parts of the coats, such as zips, buttons and hoods. We would talk about when we wear different coats and why. Next, I would ask simple questions like, “Which coat will keep us dry?” and “Which coat will keep us warm?” The children would make a guess before we carried out a simple investigation. We would test different materials by putting a few drops of water on them to see which ones let the water through and which ones stayed dry. The children would watch carefully and talk about what they noticed.
The children would develop science skills such as observing, questioning, predicting and investigating. They would also practise listening, talking and working together. At the end of the lesson, the children would draw a coat for rainy or cold weather and tell the class why they chose certain materials or features.
I would assess the activity by watching the children as they worked, listening to their ideas during discussions, and looking at their drawings. I think this activity would help the children enjoy science while learning through play and exploring something that is familiar to them. -
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What Clothes to Wear?
In my First Class classroom, I would introduce this lesson by reading Froggy Gets Dressed to engage pupils and prompt discussion about why we wear different clothes in different weather. We would then explore the four seasons using photographs and a class weather chart before matching seasonal clothing to each season. Children would work collaboratively to dress a class mannequin or paper figure for different weather conditions, explaining and justifying their choices using seasonal vocabulary. We would discuss how clothing protects us from the cold, keeps us cool, or keeps us dry, and explore the importance of layering in Ireland’s changing weather. The lesson would conclude with the weather movement story, allowing pupils to respond through drama and active learning, before drawing themselves in their favourite season and labelling the appropriate clothing and weather. Throughout the lesson, questioning, discussion, and observation would provide opportunities for assessment while supporting oral language, science, and SPHE learning.
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I would urge kids to investigate how various materials are appropriate for weather situations. The weather and the kinds of coats kids wear all year round would be discussed at the start of the class. After that, students would look at a range of coats and note characteristics including insulation, pockets, zips, hoods, and waterproof fabrics.
The activity provides excellent opportunities for children to develop key science skills, including observing, questioning, predicting, investigating, and communicating. Pupils could predict which coat would be most suitable for rainy, cold, or windy weather and explain their reasoning. As a follow-up, children could design their own coat for a particular season, considering the materials and features needed to make it practical and comfortable.
I believe this activity supports the new STEM approach by connecting science with design, engineering, and real-world problem solving. It is highly engaging because it relates directly to children’s everyday experiences. The activity also encourages creativity while helping pupils understand how weather influences our choices.
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I have chosen the Where do you live? activity. I would aim it at First Class level.
Engage:
– I would bring the children on a walk around the local area to look at the different types of buildings
– A checklist could be used to give vocabulary and provide an extra level of engagement
– When we return to the classroom we would create a mind map detailing the different buildings and their properties
Investigate:
– We could use google earth to virtually travel to different addresses
– Draw a map showing their own home and the landmarks or buildings in the surrounding area
Next step:
– Use clay to create a 3D model of their home
– There could also be stations and the activity could be extended i.e. lego, blocks, magformers, etc.
Reflection:
– Carousel: pupils walk around the classroom to look at their peers’ creations, they stop when the music stops to leave a positive comment. Post it notes can be left beside each piece for feedback or for younger pupils feedback can be sought and given after each pause. -
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Science skills and School Self Evaluation
What further steps might you take towards a STEM focused SSE?
While we generally have robust Whole School Curricular Plans, with the rollout of the redeveloped curriculum framework, our school has identified that SEE and STEM as needing an overhaul to ensure cohesive practice in which all children have ample opportunity to develop the maths and science skills they will require in the Ireland, and the world, of the future.
Having identified this as its focus, the school will first gather evidence from the school community. The staff feedback will be obtained during a staff meeting where people will work in their class levels to discuss what is working well and what needs improvement. The children will be consulted, some by focus group and some feedback forms. These may include responding through the visual arts, in particular for the younger children. Parents will be consulted using a Google forms survey.
The results of all of the feedback will be analysed by a team of interested parties and judgements will be made, with the LAOS document and the Redeveloped Curriculum steering the priority areas. At this point, one or two key actions will be agreed upon and communicated with the school community. Together, we will work on implementing these while monitoring at regular intervals by taking photos of the progress and filing them in a shared drive folder. It will appear on every staff meeting agenda to ensure SEE & STEM remain key foci and its success will be monitored and reviewed at regular intervals by all parties but by the ISL team in particular.
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Module 4
Weather: Animals in the Cold
We will read the picture book Over and Under the Snow. I will ask the children “how do the animals stay warm without heavy winter coats like ours?” We will have a discussion about this.
We will also have a look at the powerpoint on Twinkl: Arctic Animals and their Habitat.
We will then carry out the blubber experiment. I will fill a large bowl with ice water. I will fill a Ziploc bag with frytex to represent the animal blubber. I will ask the children to submerge a hand in the ice water for a few seconds to feel the cold. They will then put their hand inside the ‘blubber glove’ and submerge it again. They should then realise that they can’t feel the cold through the fat layer, just like the animals.
We could integrate this lesson with our socio-dramatic play by setting up an Arctic/Antarctic small world area. I could challenge the children to build a warm shelter for the animals from blocks/ magnets/ stem kits. We can integrate with Maths by asking the children to sort animals by traits/ size etc. -
I would choose the Hot and Cold investigation as it is a simple activity that encourages children to make predictions, observe carefully and discuss what they notice. I like that it introduces the idea of fair testing in a very practical way, without needing lots of equipment or preparation.
In my own setting, I work mainly with small groups, so I would adapt the activity to encourage plenty of discussion before, during and after the investigation. Pupils could predict which ice cube will melt first, explain their reasoning and then compare the results with their predictions. I find that children often learn as much from talking through their ideas as they do from the investigation itself.
Some pupils might record their observations using drawings or photographs, while others could simply talk about what they noticed. Providing different ways to record learning would allow all children to take part successfully while keeping the focus on the scientific skills of observing, comparing and questioning.
One of the key messages I took from this module is that STEM doesn’t have to be complicated. Simple investigations like this encourage curiosity, communication and problem-solving, while also creating natural links with other areas of the curriculum. I can also see how resources such as Curious Minds and ESERO could support teachers in planning similar hands-on activities as part of a whole-school approach to STEM.
I’ve also been updating my mind map in my notebook as I’ve worked through the course, and it’s been interesting to see how the different themes connect from one module to the next. -
I would use the lesson ‘Animals in the Cold’ as part of a play-based, inquiry-based STEM unit on weather, habitats and animals.
Begin with a whole-class discussion about different types of weather, encouraging children to share their own experiences of hot and cold weather before introducing animals that live in icy climates.
Do practical investigation using Vaseline and water in small groups. Predict what they think will happen when water is dropped onto a hand covered in Vaseline. Compare the results with their predictions and discuss how the greasy layer helps penguins and polar bears stay dry and warm.To extend learning:
Sort animals into hot and cold habitats.
Explore different materials (cotton wool, feathers, fur fabric, bubble wrap) to decide which might keep an animal warm.
Build simple shelters for toy animals using construction materials.
Record their observations through drawings and oral explanations.
Integrate literacy by reading The Snowman and discussing winter weather.-
I like the extension activity with the construction: I remember one year a student found a large bird’s nest on the road outside the school and brought it in to show the other children. It was surprisingly elaborate and well constructed! In hindsight it would have been a great idea to give the children some materials and see if they could build something as sturdy by themselves.
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For STEM focused School Self Evaluation in our junior school it would be important to establish initially what our strengths are and identify areas for potential development. I would start by gathering pupil and teacher voice. Finding out what the children enjoy about STEM, what they know about it. Find out from staff how confident they feel about teaching STEM, whether they feel the children are engaged, meeting targets. Do staff feel there are sufficient resources in the school. I would also do an inventory of the resources available for STEM activities as often resources can be in a school but are not known about by new staff or have been forgotten. Gathering parent voice could be done via a survey on Aladdin.
When the baseline information has been gathered it will be analysed to identify an area of development to focus on. A simple smart target should be established and a plan put in place to achieve this target. As per the SSE 6 step, after the plan has been implemented it should be reviewed and further steps identified.
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I would focus on animals in cold regions as a lesson. There is alot you could do with this but one particular lesson I would do has a focus on art. We would start with the story “Barnaby’s perfect winter coat” which focuses on an artic fox and their coat changing from brown to white in winter to help it hide in the snow. This would lead into a lesson focusing on artic foxes, their habitat, their features etc. Following on from this we would do an art lesson depicting an artic fox hiding in the snow, using a paper plate for the fox and cotton wool for snow around him.
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Classroom activity: What Clothes to Wear
I think this is a great activity for the classroom as it involves making a connection for the children between astronomical concepts and the more immediately relatable topic of which clothes to wear at different times of the year. It is not necessary for children to fully understand the relationship between the angle of the Earth towards the Sun at certain times of the year and the resulting temperatures and weather but it helps children to start thinking about the connection between the Sun, the seasons and their own lives.
The lesson involves asking children in groups to take turns choosing clothes from the dressup box that would be appropriate for different times of the year. Children can also be asked to select clothes that would be appropriate for sudden, unexpected weather such as a rainstorm. The lesson could be extended in a number of ways – children could be given a variety of materials and asked to design a garment for a teddy bear that would be waterproof, warm, cool, etc. There are curricular links to the history of clothing in different parts of the world as well.
From a School Self Evaluation perspective, I think it is important as a school to identify which skills associated with STEM are important to develop and to make an assessment across the school about where children are in relation to those skills. This allows for planning structured activities to further develop those skills.
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I would choose the Investigating Children’s Coats activity because it is something that children can easily relate to. Every child wears a coat, so it would be a good way to introduce science using something from their everyday lives. I would begin by asking the children to look at different coats and discuss when they wear them and what makes a coat suitable for different types of weather. We could compare materials, thickness, waterproof features and hoods, and make predictions about which coat would keep us warm or dry.
I like that this activity encourages children to ask questions, make predictions and investigate their ideas rather than just being told the answers. As a follow-up activity, I would ask the children to design their own coat for a particular season and explain why they chose certain materials and features. This would also link well with art and oral language.
I think this lesson would keep children engaged because it is practical and based on real-life experiences. It also develops important science skills such as observing, comparing, predicting and communicating findings. I would finish the lesson by discussing what we discovered and encouraging the children to think about how weather affects the clothes we wear every day. I think this activity is a great example of how STEM learning can be simple, hands-on and enjoyable for young children.
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Where do I live?
This is a topic I always enjoy looking at with Senior Infants but I have lots of new ideas from both the module and the participants above.
Here are some ways I would look at this topic in my class :
Intro : read the story “Sharing a Shell” or “This is Our House” by Michael Rosen.
explore and compare and contrast images of different homes – how are they the same? What is different?
identify the type of homes we live in.
look at the role of the Architect and the Builder – once we looked at select snippets from Room to Improve from a local home to look at these roles and see how a plan can become a real home.
look at the construction site – who might work here? What machinery might you need. There is a nice Come Outside video in bricks and the construction site
Draw and design dream homes – the children always show such imagination with water slides, football pitches, rooms full of sweets.
The Three Little Pigs –
explore materials used to build a home – what would be a good choice? What wouldn’t? ( link to design a coat lesson!)
Play – construction area – taking in roles of builders, architects, electricians etc
It can also link to Estate Agents.
We tend to explore this as a theme for a month there are so many things to investigate!
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There’s a huge amount of very valuable ideas being shared here. Maybe one thing to reflect on more is the school self evaluation in relation to science skills which is one of the outcomes for reflection within this module. It’s aim is to encourage thinking at the level of the whole school, or year, rather than treating classes and activities as standalone.
It’s also useful to reflect on how science skills connect to skillsets not traditionally associated with science (creative arts, humanities, social sciences). In the word of astronomer Carl Sagan – “Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge”. I think that sums up the way to think of science skillsets. They’re not about knowing scientific facts. They’re keys to unlock new and better understanding in all domains, to help us meet the many challenges we fact as a species on a small planet, to work towards a healthier and happier and more equitable society for all.
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Classrooom themed activity for senior infants
Theme: Where Do You Live? & Weather
1. Explore
We would begin with a daily weather observation at the window. Children would describe what they see using simple vocabulary: sunny, cloudy, windy, cold. I would then introduce pictures of different types of homes (flats, cottages, igloos, huts) and ask: Which home suits cold weather? Which suits hot weather? We would also explore clothing for different seasons using real items (coat, hat, sunglasses) and let children sort them into warm weather and cold weather groups.2. Plan
In pairs, children would decide what kind of home they want to design for a chosen weather type. They would sketch a simple plan using crayons and include what shape the house would be and what materials would make it strong or warm? We would also plan clothing for a paper doll choosing suitable outfits based on the weather they selected.3. Make
Children would build small model houses using blocks, cardboard, paper, and recycled materials. They would test ideas such as adding a roof or door and compare sizes using maths language (big, small, tall, wide).
For the clothing activity, children would design and cut out outfits for their paper dolls, choosing colours and features that would match the weather.4. Evaluate
We would test the houses using a simple wind test (gentle blowing or a small fan) and discuss what stayed standing and why.5. Reflection: What worked well? and What would you change? We record results using drawings and photos to create a digital slideshow called our weather homes.
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I really enjoyed reading your post Sandra. I like how you structured the activity using the Explore, Plan, Make and Evaluate stages, as it gives children plenty of opportunities to develop their scientific thinking. Linking the activity with Maths through comparing the size of the houses and with Art through designing weather-appropriate clothing is a great example of integrating STEM across the curriculum.
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I really liked using the ESA Kids and Milo and Marvin resources. I think they would work very well with a Senior Infants class because they are fun, colourful and easy for young children to understand.
I would use Milo and Marvin to introduce a Space theme during Aistear. The stories would help to spark the children’s interest and encourage lots of discussion. I would set up a Space Station role-play area where the children could pretend to be astronauts and explore different jobs in space.
I would also use the ESA Kids website to show short videos and pictures of planets, rockets and astronauts. The children could then complete a simple STEM activity, such as building a rocket from recyclable materials or designing a moon buggy using blocks or LEGO.
As part of our School self evaluation, I would like to use more hands on STEM activities in my classroom. I think giving children regular opportunities to explore, build and investigate will help to develop their curiosity and problem-solving skills from a young age.
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Hi Ruth
I think your ideas here are great for infants. They would really enjoy the astronaut/space role play. If you had some large cardboard boxes I imagine they’d build a great rocket for their role play.
Your idea for using lego to build a space buggy sounds excellent. Lego is always so popular.
The old favourite story “Whatever Next ” would fit in well with your theme here.
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Senior Infants: Animals in the Cold
Learning Outcome How do animals stay warm in cold environments?
Begin by reading Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner
Predict from cover What clues tell us this place is very cold?
What animals might live here? Encourage kids to predict and observe as story is being read.
Display pictures of animals eg polar bear, penguin and Arctic fox. Ask children to observe each animal and describe what they notice. Discuss thick fur, waterproof feathers and blubber for keeping animals warm
Carry out a simple blubber investigation using vaseline.. Have children predict what they think they will notice prior to doing this investigation. One child places a vaseline covered hand inside a bowl of icy water and the other hand not covered with vaseline in the same bowl of icy water. The child now compares how one hand feels compared to the other and communicate it orally to the group or in a simple drawing activity to record their findings.
Reinforce the fact that living things have special features suited to their habitats by revisiting the question at the outset of the lesson by having children explain one adaption that helps an animal survive in the cold
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I really enjoyed reading your lesson. I like how you begin with a story, as it is a lovely way to introduce the topic and encourage the children to make predictions. The blubber investigation is also a great hands-on activity that allows the children to experience how insulation helps keep animals warm. I think this would make the learning much more meaningful and memorable. Overall, it is an engaging lesson that develops scientific skills while encouraging discussion and curiosity.
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Hi Susan,
Great intro into your lesson. The children would love the story and the pictures are a great way of keeping them engaged during discussion. The blubber investigation is hands-on and makes the learning experience more enjoyable. It is a lovely lesson and one I would consider using in the future.
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To promtote a sSTEM focused SSE and my focus in junior end of school one would need to take practical, age appropriate steps that encourage the children’s curiosity, problem solving and exploration.
Try and provide hands on learning opportunities for children so they can play with blocks, magnets, water, sand and natural objects. This would link well with Aistear, perhaps through the theme Construction.
Integrate Stem into daily play through counting, sorting, measuring, pattern making etc. This would link well with maths.
Develop the engineering design process by giving children simple challenges such as can you build a bridge for Teddy to cross over the river or make a shed for your animals-link this to farm, making a shed for your cows in winter.
Another step l might take would be to create a stimulating stem environment by setting up a designated Stem area in classroom or in Aistear room where children can explore through play using magnifying glasses, measuring tools, recycled materials etc.
I think it would be important to keep a record of children’s engagement with STEM materials by observing them. One could take photographs, worksheets, record the childrens’s responses etc and this will inform teacher’s planning and set achievable improvement targets for the children’s learning. -
I chose the “Hot and Cold” activity because it provides an engaging and practical way for children to develop scientific inquiry skills through investigation. In this lesson, pupils predict which ice cube will melt faster by placing one in the sun and one in the shade before observing and recording the results. The activity encourages children to ask questions, make predictions, observe carefully, and draw conclusions from evidence rather than simply being given the answer. These are key scientific process skills that are central to primary science. I would use this activity with an infant class during a unit on weather or seasons. Before carrying out the investigation, I would ask open-ended questions such as, “What do you think will happen?” and “Why do you think that?” This would encourage children to explain their thinking and justify their predictions. During the experiment, pupils could work in pairs to observe the ice cubes and record what they notice through drawings or simple sentences, depending on their age. Afterwards, we would discuss the results as a class and compare them with our original predictions. This promotes communication, critical thinking and collaborative learning. To extend the lesson, I would integrate Mathematics by timing how long each ice cube takes to melt and comparing the results. I would also link the activity with Geography by discussing sunshine, shade and different weather conditions. As a follow-up, children could investigate where the warmest and coolest places are around the school grounds, encouraging them to apply their learning in a real-world context.
Overall, I think this activity is an excellent example of STEM education because it is hands-on, inquiry-based and encourages curiosity. It develops important scientific skills such as questioning, observing, predicting, investigating and communicating findings while making learning enjoyable and meaningful for young children. -
Teaching Junior Infants, I would use the Hot and Cold activity with my class as it gives the children the opportunity to investigate and predict through hands-on learning. I like that the lesson begins by encouraging the children to share what they already know about the Sun before carrying out the experiment. This would allow me to identify any misconceptions while promoting discussion and oral language.
The ice cube investigation is simple but effective. Before placing one ice cube in the Sun and one in the shade, I would ask the children to predict which one they think will melt first and explain their reasons. I think this is a great way to introduce scientific enquiry skills such as predicting, observing and discussing results. Taking the children outside to feel the difference between standing in the Sun and in the shade would also help them make real-life connections with what they have observed.
I also like the Hot or Cold sorting game, as it encourages movement and keeps the children engaged while reinforcing the concepts learned during the lesson. Overall, I think this activity is well suited to Junior Infants because it combines play, investigation and discussion, making science enjoyable and meaningful while developing children’s curiosity about the world around them. -
This module has a wealth of online resources and I have chosen to have a good look at the Marvin and Milo resources.
There are many many experiments and activities on this site which lend themselves to the new stem curriculum’s learning objectives and development of key competencies. The activities each havr a heading which , while not totally aligned, can help us to see where they fit in the curriculum eg “force” “properties of matter”.
I have chosen the alka seltzer rocket activity as it clearly will bring the fun in to science in the classroo..
The materials needed are film canisters, soluble tablets, water and newspaper. Film canisters are obsolete these days but can still be purchased on amazon and elsewhere presumably mostly for activities like this one.
I would show the children the cannisters and ask if theyve seen them before or know what they are. I will briefly explain. I will then show the tablets and ask tge same question, do they know what they are? What you do with them? What happens when you put them in water? What would you see/hear when this happens? This involves the children in being communicators and using language.
We will then dissolve a tablet in a glass of water and observe, look, listen and discuss. We can hypothesise about what we think is happening.
I will then explain the activity involving the film cannisters and tabs.
Children can predict the outcome and give reasons.
We will then carry out the activity and observe what happens. There should be great wonder and excitement when the rocket takes off.
Finally we can discuss what we think caused the rocket to launch.
As a fun follow up children could work in groups to simultaneously launch multiple film cannisters seeing whose launches first/ goes highest etc and wondering what factors effect this.
We will record predictions and results using the ipad camera. -
I like the idea of the lesson “Where do I live” Teaching the class about different homes.
I would start by showing the class different pictures of places people live different houses, apartments, igloos etc. I will ask questions such as Would a family live here, have you seen one of these before.
We would then have a class discussion about why people need homes, what we do in our homes, How everyone’s home is different.
I will then show the class different picture cards and get them to name what type of a home it is.
Children will the get a chance to draw a home and the teacher will help them label
At the end every child should be able to name types of homes and tell the differences between homes.
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Hi, I really enjoyed reading your post. I like how you’ve started with something familiar to the children before introducing different types of homes from around the world. I think the picture cards and class discussion would encourage lots of oral language, especially in the infant classroom. The drawing activity at the end is a lovely way for the children to make personal connections with the lesson while also reinforcing what they’ve learned. It sounds like a really engaging and age-appropriate activity.
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I really like how the lesson starts with pictures of different types of homes. I think that’s a lovely way to get children talking and sharing what they already know before introducing any new learning. It makes the lesson feel really inclusive and encourages lots of discussion, especially when comparing homes from around the world. The drawing and labelling activity at the end is also a nice way for children to show what they’ve learned in a way that’s appropriate for their age.
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I would choose the Investigating Children’s Coats activity because I think it would be a really engaging way to introduce children to scientific investigations using everyday objects. Rather than just talking about waterproof materials, the children would have the chance to investigate and discover the answers for themselves.
I’d begin by asking the children what they think makes a good coat for rainy weather. We’d look at a selection of different materials and make predictions about which ones would keep us dry. Working in small groups, the children could test each material by carefully adding water with pipettes or droppers and observing what happens. They could record whether the water soaked through, stayed on the surface or was absorbed.
Afterwards, we’d come together to discuss the results and compare our predictions with what actually happened. I think this activity would naturally encourage lots of questioning and discussion while also developing the children’s observation skills. We could finish by talking about why waterproof clothing is important in Ireland and what materials are used in our own coats.
I like that this activity links Science with real life. It also gives every child an opportunity to investigate, make predictions and communicate their findings. I think it would be a lovely activity to do during the winter months when the children can make direct links with their own experiences of the weather.
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I would base my classroom activity around the theme of rockets to engage the children in both science and hands-on learning. We would begin by discussing the role rockets play in space exploration, using videos and images of real launches to capture their interest. I would then introduce a simple STEM challenge: in pairs or small groups, pupils would design and build their own paper or straw rockets. We would experiment with different designs and launch methods, testing how far each could travel and recording the results.
This activity not only builds excitement but also allows children to explore scientific concepts like force, trajectory, and aerodynamics in a fun, accessible way. By encouraging them to modify and improve their designs, we promote problem-solving and resilience. The rocket theme naturally sparks curiosity, and ending the week with a “class launch event” would make the learning memorable and celebrate their creativity and teamwork. -
Where do you live?
Having read through the lesson plan I was very impressed with its content. Normally when we are looking at theme of houses and homes , I focus a lot on their own home and what type of home they live in – semi-detached , terrace, detached etc . I really liked the development of this lesson by getting the children to design , plan and create a home themselves. By using the worksheet , I believe this would keep the children on task and focused , as often children plan one thing and create something completely different . I also think the use of playdoh, plasticine etc is a great way of incorporating many curricular areas, art/construction, STEM , oral language , maths /3 shapes .
I really liked the idea of putting the buidings together and making a village . This could lead to geography- what do we need to make a village, types of shops/services roads , road signs etc -
I chose the Activity Set Weather, specifically the Investigating Children’s Coats activity. I think this activity would be an excellent way to develop pupils’ scientific inquiry skills while making learning meaningful through a context that is familiar to every child. The investigation encourages pupils to ask questions, make predictions, test different materials and communicate their findings, all of which support the development of key science skills such as observing, investigating, analysing and recording results. These skills are highlighted throughout the module as central to effective science teaching and learning.
I would use this activity with my 1st class during the winter term as part of the Weather strand. To begin, I would encourage pupils to discuss the purpose of different coats and the types of weather we experience in Ireland. Working in small groups, pupils would investigate which materials are most suitable for keeping people warm and dry. They could test waterproof materials using droppers or spray bottles and compare insulating materials by wrapping containers of warm water and measuring temperature changes over time. Before beginning, pupils would make predictions and explain the reasoning behind them. Afterwards, they would record their findings using labelled diagrams and share their conclusions with the class.
I feel this activity demonstrates how effective STEM learning can be when it is practical, child-centred and connected to everyday life. It also supports the vision of the new STEM curriculum by integrating inquiry, communication and design thinking into meaningful learning experiences. If implemented as part of a whole-school STEM approach, activities like this could contribute valuable evidence towards School Self-Evaluation by showcasing pupils’ engagement, development of science skills and collaborative learning.
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Animals in the cold:
Learning Objectives
By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:
Identify at least 3 animals that live in cold places.
Describe one way each animal adapts to survive in the cold.
Understand the concept of adaptation in a simple way.
1. Teacher to show a snow-covered picture and ask: “What do you think it feels like here?” Briefly introduce the Arctic (North Pole) and Antarctic (South Pole) using the globe/map.
2. Teacher shows pictures of each animal and share a short, simple fact:
Polar Bear – thick fur and fat keep it warm.
Penguin – feathers are waterproof, huddle together for warmth.
Arctic Fox – fur changes colour with the seasons.
Seal – blubber keeps them warm in icy water.
Snowy Owl – fluffy feathers trap heat.
Let children touch cotton wool, feathers, and faux fur to feel “warm coverings.”#
3.Blubber Glove Experiment: Fill a plastic bag with vegetable/baking fat, place another bag inside for the child’s hand.Let them dip the “blubber glove” into icy water and compare with a bare hand. Discuss how this is like an animal’s blubber.
4. Students choose their favourite cold-weather animal and draw it in its habitat. Encourage them to add one adaptation (e.g., thick fur, huddling, blubber).
To support STEM-focused School Self-Evaluation, the children will reflect on their learning by thinking about what they discovered, what worked well, what they would change next time and how they worked with others. This will help them develop problem-solving, teamwork and thinking skills while making learning meaningful and enjoyable -
I will begin the lesson by gathering the children on the carpet and introducing the theme through a short discussion. I will ask questions such as, “What is the weather like in winter?” and “How do you think animals stay warm when it is cold?” I will encourage the children to share their ideas and experiences.
Next, I will read a simple picture book about animals that live in cold places, pausing to discuss the different animals and how they survive. We will talk about thick fur, feathers, blubber and hibernation using simple, child-friendly language.
For our first hands-on activity, I will create a sensory exploration station. The children will touch ice cubes, cotton wool, faux fur and feathers, describing how each material feels. Together, we will decide which materials would keep an animal warm and why.
The children will then take part in a “Keep the Penguin Warm” challenge. Working in small groups, they will wrap toy penguins (small bottles of water) using different materials such as bubble wrap, fabric, paper and foil and sit them on trays of ice. We will make predictions about which material will keep the penguins warmest before checking the results together.
To get everyone moving, I will lead an active game called “Move Like Cold Weather Animals.” The children will waddle like penguins, stomp like polar bears, flap like snowy owls and curl up like hibernating hedgehogs when I call out each animal. This will reinforce learning while promoting gross motor development.
Finally, the children will complete a simple art activity by creating their own winter animal using cotton wool, feathers or tissue paper. As they work, I will encourage them to explain how their animal stays warm in cold weather.
To conclude the lesson, we will gather together to share our creations and review what we have learned about cold weather and the amazing ways animals adapt to survive.
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I really liked your approach to this lesson. It integrates many subjects and has strong cross-curricular links. It can imagine the children being very engaged and interested throughout. They also have wonderful winter animal creations to bring home and hopefully continue their conversations and learning there.
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I would start the lesson by showing the class a picture of Mars as a prompt. Do you think anybody lives there? If so who? What would they need to survive?
I would then explain how scientists don’t know if aliens or martians exist but I want them to be alien designers in class. We would then do a whole-class discussion on what we think aliens might look like- do they have teeth? Hair? How many eyes do you think they have?
The children would then sketch what they think an alien would look like. They would share their finished sketch with their peers- gallery walk in classroom.
The following lesson would be a 3D construction of what they think their alien would look like using clay.
These clay aliens would then be used for many different integrated activities- such as writing prompts in literacy, or small world play in drama, or sorting and classifying in Maths.
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<p class=”isselectedend”>I would use Stellarium, such as the version developed by Blackrock Castle Observatory, as an engaging classroom tool to plan a combined mindfulness and STEM lesson for children in a special class. By projecting the night sky in real time, I can create a calm, immersive environment where children can visually explore stars and constellations. I would link this to children’s yoga by guiding them through simple breathing exercises while “looking up” at the stars, encouraging relaxation and focus.</p>
For non-verbal children, I would incorporate visual symbols and pre-loaded vocabulary on communication devices, allowing them to express choices such as “star,” “moon,” or “dark.” To extend the learning, I would follow up with a STEM-based activity where children create simple constellations using black card and LED lights or stickers, helping them understand patterns in the sky. They could also sort and match shapes or recreate constellations, reinforcing observation, sequencing, and early scientific thinking in a hands-on way. -
To further develop a STEM-focused School Self-Evaluation (SSE), I would take steps to reflect on and strengthen STEM teaching and learning within my Third Class classroom while contributing to whole-school improvement. I would use the six-step SSE process to identify our current strengths, gather evidence of pupils’ learning, set realistic targets for improvement, implement new approaches, and review their impact. This process would help ensure that STEM is embedded across the curriculum, promotes equality of access to high-quality science education, and builds on the effective practices already taking place within our school.
In my own classroom, I would like to place a greater emphasis on integrating STEM across the curriculum rather than teaching Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics as isolated subjects. I would also follow view STEM and its relationship to the Arts. The new STEM specification recognises that children are naturally curious, creative and eager to investigate the world around them. I would like to provide more opportunities for project-based and inquiry-based learning where pupils solve real-world problems using mathematical thinking alongside scientific investigation, engineering design and technology.
I also aim to place greater emphasis on the learning process rather than the final product. Encouraging pupils to ask questions, test ideas, reflect on mistakes and persevere through challenges will help develop key competencies such as critical and creative thinking, communication, collaboration, resilience and problem-solving skills. These are essential skills for both school and life beyond the classroom.
As part of the SSE process, I would make greater use of supports such as the UNAWE guidance documents to evaluate younger children’s STEM learning, as well as resources from Curious Minds and ESERO to provide engaging, real-world STEM contexts. I would also seek opportunities to collaborate with colleagues to plan cross-curricular STEM activities that connect with children’s interests and everyday experiences. By continuing to reflect on my practice and embedding STEM across learning, I hope to foster greater curiosity, agency and confidence in my pupils while contributing to our school’s ongoing STEM development.
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I chose to focus on the Hands-on Classroom Themed Activities because I believe practical, inquiry-based learning is one of the most effective ways to engage pupils in STEM. I would use these activities to encourage children to ask questions, make predictions, test ideas, and reflect on their findings. For example, a simple engineering challenge, such as designing and building a bridge from everyday materials, allows pupils to apply science, technology, engineering, and mathematics skills in a meaningful and collaborative way.
In my classroom, I would organise pupils into small groups and assign clear roles to promote teamwork and communication. Throughout the activity, I would encourage pupils to record their predictions, observations, and conclusions using STEM journals or digital tools such as tablets. This would help develop both scientific inquiry skills and digital literacy.
As a further step towards a STEM-focused School Self-Evaluation (SSE), I would gather evidence of pupils’ engagement and learning through photographs, pupil reflections, samples of work, and teacher observations. I would also seek feedback from pupils about which activities they found most engaging and what helped them learn. This information could be used to identify strengths and areas for improvement in STEM teaching across the school.
Overall, hands-on STEM activities create opportunities for creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration. They help pupils develop confidence in exploring scientific concepts while making learning enjoyable and relevant to everyday life. Incorporating these activities regularly would support the school’s ongoing commitment to improving STEM education through the SSE process.
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I chose the **Hands-on Classroom Themed Activities** because I find that my pupils learn best when they are actively involved in what they are doing. I work in a special school, and I’ve found that practical activities keep the children engaged for much longer than worksheets or teacher-led lessons.
One activity I would like to try is a simple building challenge using materials like paper, straws, Lego or recycled boxes. I would ask the children to work together to build the tallest or strongest structure they could. Before they begin, we would have a chat about what they think will work best and why. Once they have built their structures, we would test them and talk about what happened. If something didn’t work, I would encourage them to think about what they could change and have another go.
I think this activity would suit my class because it can be adapted for different ability levels. Some children could explain their ideas using words, while others could point to pictures or simply show what they mean by building. I would also use plenty of visual supports and model each step so everyone could join in.
What I like most about this type of activity is that there isn’t just one right answer. The children get to explore, make mistakes and learn from them, which is often when the best learning happens. I also think they enjoy working together and celebrating each other’s ideas.
Going forward, I would like to use more STEM activities like this across different subjects, not just during science lessons. I think sharing ideas with other staff and building up a collection of simple, hands-on activities would make it easier to include STEM more often. Even small activities can make a big difference, especially when the children are interested and enjoying themselves.
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I really think my class would enjoy these hands-on activities too. I also like that there isn’t just one right answer. So many children these days can lack resilience or fear being wrong. This encourages them to have a go without the consequence of being incorrect. It is more inclusive promotes enjoyment and engagement over being right or wrong. Afterall the process is the most important!!
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I really enjoyed reading your post and completely agree with your approach to using hands-on classroom activities. Practical, engaging tasks are especially valuable in a special school setting because they encourage active participation and build confidence. I like how you highlighted the importance of adapting activities to suit different abilities through visual supports and modelling. The building challenge is a great way to develop teamwork, problem-solving and communication skills while making learning enjoyable. I also agree that children often learn the most through trial and error. Your idea of incorporating more STEM activities across the curriculum is inspiring and very worthwhile.
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I chose to respond to Online Resources and Tools as outlined in this module.
1. The Stellarium app/website is such a beautiful resource. I liked how it was linked to a science week event – as young children need the support of an adult at home to really stop and look at the stars which often come out after their bedtime. The youtube video demonstrates so easily how to locate the north star and the plough and how to navigate/use the app.
2. Milo and Marvin cartoons are super too. They provide simple and engaging activities in a child friendly way. I liked the Alka Seltzer Rocket activity which could be tied into a space theme with ease.
3. Esa.int is an amazing resource. I like how it is organized into stories, videos and images. The lessons/activities have very broad age ranges and need to be adjusted to suit a given level. For this reason I preferred ESA for kids. Paxi is a very cute character to encourage engagement with the topics and activities. -
One STEM activity I would like to use with a First Class is based around the question “Where do you live?” I think this is a topic that children can easily relate to because they all have different experiences of home.
I would begin the lesson by reading The Three Little Pigs and having a class discussion about the different houses in the story. We would talk about why some houses stayed standing while others didn’t and what materials were used to build them. I would then show the children pictures of different types of homes, such as apartments, terraced houses, cottages, bungalows and houses from around the world, and discuss how homes can look different depending on where people live.
For the STEM activity, the children would work in small groups to design and build a house using materials such as LEGO, wooden blocks, cardboard, straws and lollipop sticks. Before building, each group would draw a simple plan of their house and decide which materials they wanted to use and why. Once the houses were finished, we would test their strength using a small fan to represent wind or by seeing if the roof could hold a small toy figure. The children could then make changes to improve their designs and explain why they made those changes.
I think this activity would be a great way to develop science skills such as predicting, observing, investigating and evaluating, while also encouraging teamwork and problem-solving. It would also link well with Visual Arts through designing the houses, English through oral language and discussion, and Maths by exploring shape and space. As part of a STEM-focused School Self-Evaluation, I would like to provide more opportunities for children to take part in open-ended investigations like this, where they can test their ideas, learn from mistakes and improve their designs through hands-on learning.
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I would do the activity ‘What Clothes to wear?’ The children will be introduced to the four seasons. I would adapt the drawing part and change it to movement around the room using four corners in order for the children to become familiar with the conditions of the seasons. For example, in the ‘Winter’ corner, they may act like they are shivering due to the cold weather while in the ‘Summer’ corner they could fan themselves to keep cool.
To adapt this more for STEM, I would include an inquiry based investigation where children predict which clothing items are most suitable for different weather conditions and explain the reasons for their choices. They could sort and test different materials to discover which are waterproof, warm or lightweight, recording their findings in simple tables. Children would then discuss how weather influences our clothing choices and compare their results. This activity would allow for the development of the science skills mentioned.
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Online Resources and Tools
I am truly excited about STEM and the topic of Space – there is such a wealth of online resources available and such excellent resources at that. I personally loved learning about Stellarium-web.org. I love looking to the sky and picking out the small number of constellations I know, so this is an amazing resource to have available, I will be telling everyone I know about it just for general knowledge purposes! In the classroom I will use it to show how the sun rises and sets and how the sun/moon, look from different places on earth at the same time. I would use this after the investigation where we shine the light on the globe and spin it around as I feel it would reinforce what they have just discovered.
I am also looking forward to using the Marvin and Milo experiments. I think the comic style experiments will resonate with children. Each experiment will need prompt and a starter question followed by some time for the children to investigate before showing the complete comic strip but I like that they have a “What happened?” at the end of the experiments.
I like the ESA website but thought a lot of the experiments were aimed from 2<sup>nd</sup> class up.
I thought Spacescoop.org is very good, full of lots of information. I feel children from 1<sup>st</sup>/2<sup>nd</sup> class could use this when they are researching topics. It’s laid out in a clear, easy to access manner. I love the pictures on the website and think they would be great topic starters. I think the children would like the cool facts that are associated with every story.
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I would use Stellarium to explore the night sky, identify the Moon, planets and constellations, and connect learning to the Senior Infants Space strand. Milo and Marvin videos can introduce inquiry through age-appropriate STEM challenges, while ESA and ESA Kids provide engaging animations, images and simple investigations about Earth, weather and space exploration.
The ESERO “Weather – Animals in the Cold(7)” activity supports hands-on, play-based learning by encouraging children to investigate insulation using different materials, predict outcomes, test ideas and discuss how animals survive in cold environments. This develops observing, predicting, experimenting and recording skills while integrating Science, Maths and oral language. We would start the lesson by looking at the different types of weather. We would then investigate how animals keep themselves warm particularly focusing on the polar bear and penguin. Children would learn the character of animals living in a cold environment.
To progress towards a STEM-focused School Self-Evaluation (SSE), I would develop a whole-school STEM plan with my colleagues with clear learning targets, increasing inquiry-based and outdoor learning opportunities, embedding engineering design challenges across classes, providing teacher CPD, use of the pupil voice and portfolios to monitor progress, strengthening links with coding and digital technologies, involving families through STEM events like Science week and the use of assessment data to evaluate improvements in students scientific inquiry, problem-solving and collaboration skills.
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Senior Infant level- Animals in the cold
The children will be able to:
-Name some animals that live in cold habitats.
-Identify simple ways animals stay warm in the cold.
-Use new vocabulary such as fur, feathers, blubber, cold, and snow.
-Explain one adaptation that helps an animal survive in the cold.Resources:
-Pictures of a polar bear, penguin, seal, Arctic fox, snowy owl and walrus
-Pictures of warm-weather animals -lion, elephant, monkey
-World map or globe
-Cotton wool
-Crayons, scissors, glue and paper
-Animal sorting cards
-WhiteboardVocabulary: Arctic, Antarctica, Cold, Snow, Ice, Fur, Feathers, Blubber,Habitat
By way of introducing the topic I would show the class a picture of a snowy landscape. We would have a class discussion based on the picture with a few leading questions: What is the weather like? How would it feel to stand outside here? What would we wear to stay warm?
I would explain that some animals live in places that are always very cold and they have special features that help them survive. I would ask if they knew of any such places and then show the Arctic and Antarctica on a globe.
Next I would show a picture of each animal on a display or using the iwb: Polar bear, Penguin, Seal, Arctic fox, Snowy owl. When discussing each animal I would ask some questions: Where does it live and what do you think helps it stay warm? (Thick fur traps heat. Feathers keep birds warm. Blubber keeps seals and whales warm. Camouflage -White colouring helps some animals blend into the snow.)
As a short experiment I would then give each child or group a small ice cube wrapped in either cotton wool, tissue or nothing. We would discuss which one would melt the slowest and why? We would leave them on the table and see what happens. Afterwards I would explain that the cotton acts like an animal’s fur or blubber by helping to keep heat in.
To finish the lesson children will draw their favourite cold-weather animal and add cotton wool to make fur or snow.
Where appropriate some would complete the sentence:”My animal is a __________. It stays warm because it has __________. I would invite a few children to share their work with the class. -
One of the next steps I would take towards a STEM-focused SSE would be to use the six-step SSE process to help identify an area of STEM that could be improved. I’d start by looking at what’s already happening in the school. For example, what STEM activities or programmes are currently in place, and what is working well? From there, I would analyse the information gathered and decide on one area to focus on rather than trying to improve everything at once.
Once that focus is clear, I would work with the wider school community to develop an action plan and put it into practice. Throughout the process, it would be important to regularly check how things are progressing and make changes if needed. Since collaboration is such a key part of SSE, I would involve teachers, parents, and students at every stage. Their input would help create a shared sense of ownership and make it more likely that any improvements to STEM teaching and learning would be meaningful and long-lasting. -
Where do you live?
I would introduce the topic by reading the children “A place called home” by Kate Baker. This book looks at styles of homes throughout the world and why the way a home is built reflects its location. While reading the book, I will engage the children in prediction and discussion around the homes and their locations. We will also look at the houses visible from the school window and analyse why they were built this way.
Following this would be a sorting activity where the children will work together to match the home to the correct location. They will be asked to provide reasoning for their selections.
The children will then be given a location and a description of that location. They will be invited to create a house to match the location. The children will choose the medium through which they represent their house (through drawing, lego, cut and stick etc.). They will then present their house to the class if they want to.
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I love the idea of introducing this lesson with a story, especially for the younger classes. The importance of choosing a house suitable to it’s location is important for children to understand. The older classes could look at materials as to why some houses would be more suitable for warmer weather and colder weather.
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Using that book sounds like a great way to hook the learners in and to also develop and model reading skills. I also really like the idea of giving them a choice of what medium they use to create their home. It also would be a fun stations based learning activity in which each station creates their home using a various medium. Reading the text with a teacher or working in a small group through a hands on experiment or exploration of weather could be a meaningful teacher lead station.
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Reflecting on this module, one activity that I would certainly use is the ‘Where do you live?’ activity. I think the exploration of this topic in my Junior Infant class would be perfect as it begins with the children’s existing knowledge and experience asking them to begin from a very real and meaningful place for them. It starts with what is immediate to them and builds gradually on that to help develop a great sense of the earth and space. It builds on the objectives of the primary school framework where children develop on their understanding of the world around them through curiosity, communication and developing understanding of their surroundings. In my infant class I would introduce the topic through story, encouraging them to share what they know about where they already live and establish what they already know about space and earth. We would follow the ESERO module whereby children approach their learning by asking questions, making observations, and discussing their ideas with others. This module taught me how a simple idea and conversation can foster curiosity and expose children to the benefits of STEM. It has given me practical ideas and activities that I can implement in my classroom with confidence.
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I would use the where do you live lesson. This incorporates very well with the Aliens lesson from before.
I have tried something similar with infants using clay and they produced some excellent work. This is, as I mentioned before a nice way to get the kids to establish that link with their homes and the school. I find infants can struggle with bringing what they have learned out to the real world. Nice to get this link set up from the start.
They could bring in some pictures of their own houses, and we would display them as a starting point.
The point in the lesson about all the houses together is cool as then it becomes a village. I thought this was interesting.
This lesson has loads of STEM possibilities, maths for the measures part, geography for the wider world, history. Also, you could mention the materials used and the different strengths etc. a simple but effective lesson -
Where do you live?
I would like to try this lesson out with my class. I would ascertain their prior knowledge of houses first, what types of homes do they live in? Do they know the correct names for the different homes? – apartments, two storey, terraced, bungalow, dormer bungalow. We could look at different homes from around the world and discuss how the differ or are the same as irish homes.
I would distribute the worksheet for this lesson and the children could discuss and find the home that is most similar to their own home. They could identify the features that are similar, the windows are placed in a similar way, the front door is the same, the roof is the same shape etc.
When the children have and identified and coloured in the house closest to their home they could you modelling clay to build and design their houses.
I love the idea of placing all the houses together to form a village and the children can further discuss what needs the community would have and what they are missing. In small groups the children could add in whatever they feel the village needs, post office, school, shops, coffee shops, bakeries etc.
There is endless of ways to develop this lesson further, bringing it into all areas of the curriculum. -
I really enjoyed the activities exploring Where Do You Live? and Weather because they provided so many opportunities to make learning meaningful and relatable for young children. The village full of houses activity immediately connects to children’s own lives, allowing them to discuss where they live and the different buildings they see in their local community. This could easily be extended by exploring the people who help us in our community, creating valuable cross-curricular links. Using modelling clay to build houses would be an excellent way to develop fine motor skills in the infant classroom, while cutting out drawings of their homes would further strengthen these skills and create an attractive display that encourages discussion. The Animals in the Cold activity links naturally with the earlier penguin, polar bear and alien activities as children explore different habitats and how animals adapt to survive. The What Clothes Do We Wear? activity also provides excellent links to maths and music through discussions, rhymes and songs about seasons, months and day and night, while Gaeilge can be incorporated by learning vocabulary for clothing and places within the local community. These activities are fantastic for beginning in cross curricular links and align with an integrated approach.
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Moving towards a STEM-focused School Self-Evaluation (SSE), the next steps should be practical, evidence-based and focused on improving pupils’ learning.
Potential further steps
- Establish a clear STEM focus: what requires focus, keeping this manageable.
- Create a STEM working group, making this a school wide group creates inclusivity and a shared ownership.
- Gather baseline evidence including teacher questionnaires or reflection sheets, pupil voice surveys, examples of STEM projects and pupil work, classroom observations etc
- Use of a range of resources.
- opportunities for greater integration
- Analyse the evidence and identify one or two priorities.
- Develop a measurable STEM improvement plan
- Prioritise inclusion and engagement
Ensure that STEM is accessible to all pupils and that activities encourage participation from all children. - Monitor and evaluate the impact
The key is to move beyond simply introducing more STEM activities and evaluate whether STEM is improving pupils’ learning, creativity, collaboration, inquiry and problem-solving. The SSE process emphasises that improvement should be monitored and adjusted based on evidence of impact.
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Using the “What Clothes to Wear?” and “Weather – Animals in the Cold” classroom activities would provide an engaging way to introduce STEM learning through real-world connections.
I would begin with the “What Clothes to Wear?” activity by presenting the children with different weather scenarios, such as a rainy day, a snowy morning or a hot, sunny afternoon.
Together, we would discuss which types of clothing would be most suitable for each situation and explain our choices. To extend the activity, I would provide a dressing-up box containing a variety of clothing for different seasons and weather conditions. This would allow the children to explore, sort and select appropriate clothing while developing their understanding of how weather influences our daily lives.
The “Animals in the Cold” activity would then encourage the children to investigate how animals keep warm in freezing temperatures. Before carrying out the experiment, I would ask the class to predict which materials they think would make the best insulators when wrapping ice cubes. The children could then observe the results, measure any changes and discuss their findings together. I particularly like how this activity links with the previous lesson on clothing, as it allows children to compare how humans and animals adapt to cold weather. For example, we could explore why we need coats, hats and scarves to stay warm, while animals such as polar bears rely on their thick fur and layers of fat instead.
To further develop the STEM focus, I would encourage the children to work together to solve simple problems and investigate their own ideas. They could design a shelter for an animal living in a cold climate or build a model habitat using recycled materials.
Introducing digital resources, such as weather forecasts or photographs of different climates, would also help children make connections between the weather, habitats and animal adaptations. These activities promote communication, teamwork and inquiry while supporting learning across a range of curriculum areas.
Overall, I think these activities provide an enjoyable and meaningful way to introduce STEM in the infant classroom. They encourage children to ask questions, test ideas and make links between science and everyday life. The combination of practical investigations, discussion and play-based learning helps to keep children engaged while developing their understanding of weather, habitats and how living things adapt to their environments. -
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Activity: Animals in the Cold
Class: 2nd
I would use the picture book ‘Over and Under the Snow’ by Kate Messner as a stimulus for the lesson. It explores how animals survive during the winter and introduces concepts such as insulation, hibernation, and habitats. This leads into the blubber experiment as mentioned in the ESERO lesson 7.
After a discussion about the animals in this story and learning about Arctic and Antarctic animals. Some questions to guide the discovery. Why do some animals need thick fur or blubber? Which animals live above/ below the snow? How could we investigate how blubber keeps animals warm?
Before the investigation, the children would predict which hand would stay warmer. The children will take turns with placing their hands into a pair of marigold gloves, one covered with Vaseline. They will then plunge their hand with Vaseline into a bucket of icy cold water. They will compare this with the other hand which has no Vaseline.
Afterwards, they will discuss what happened and explain why animals such as polar bears, seals and penguins need blubber to survive in cold climates.
This activity supports a STEM focused School Self Evaluation by encouraging children to ask questions, make predictions, carry put a simple investigation and explain their findings. Assessment would take place through observation, questioning and class discussion. This activity develops scientific thinking, curiosity and communication skills while giving children a fun, practical way to understand how animals adapt in their environments. -
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I would begin by discussing different types of houses and explain that some examples are not common in Ireland. Pupils would identify the type of house they live in and then use play dough to create a model of it. We would place all the houses together to make a class community and discuss what is missing, such as roads, schools, shops or parks, encouraging pupils to think about their local area.
I would extend the activity by having pupils design and build other features of their community using different materials. They could investigate what makes buildings strong, create simple maps of their local area, and work collaboratively to solve design challenges. This supports the new Primary Curriculum by developing creativity, problem-solving, communication and engineering skills through hands-on, inquiry-based learning.
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Using the hands-on activities of Where do you live? In my classroom to enhance the learning. I love this lesson for the Senior Infants as it can progress so much in the class and depending on the children and their circumstances the learning as a teacher and a fellow pupil is great. However, the lessons on ESERO will change the learning and extend it more. I am prone to revisiting what worked well the year before so looking at these lessons has ignited new ideas for me. I also want to make an area of inquiry so that the language is displayed and the children can record as they go. So having the What/How/Where and Which displayed along with ‘I WONDER’ will help in my classroom self-evaluation. Hoping I can then extend it throughout year, to link in with maybe a picture of the week; (the different houses) linked to the theme we are doing so this will encourage questioning and conversations.
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I would teach the children about the topic ‘where we live’.
Introduction: Ask the children where they live and establish their thoughts on this – from previous lessons this can open up a great conversation as some will have different answers to this question: Dublin, Ireland, planet earth etc. Once this discussion is had – get them to think about where they live with regards to houses and homes. Discuss the different types of houses and homes that we see in Ireland – this could be expanded to look at different houses seen in other countries (depending on different climates they need different styled houses)
Investigate different ways of constructing houses – blocks, Lego, playboy etc. which houses are stronger etc. Get them to create their own home with boxes – adding them all together to make a village of different structures – I did this one year at Christmas and we made a village for elves – this could also be used in conjunction with the previous lesson on aliens to make an alien village.
This lesson offers the children the opportunity to get creative and imaginative with their houses as well as learning about different types of houses and homes.
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To start the lesson I would give the children a bag containing a winter coat, T-shirt, hat, scarf, gloves and shorts- various clothing related to Summer and Winter. I would let them feel and name each item. Elicit from the children through questioning: “Which clothes keep us warm?” and “What might we wear on a hot day?” Explain that we will investigate which materials are best for hot and cold weather.
I would then divide the children into groups and provide different clothing materials, such as wool, cotton, fleece and waterproof fabric. Elicit the words thick, thin, soft and rough through questioning. The next thing I would do with careful supervision is have bottles containing some warm water and cold water. We would wrap the bottles in the various materials and discuss which materials worked to keep the bottle warm. As a nice final activity we would practice motor skill by cutting out pictures of various items of clothing and gluing them in the right section- winter vs summer clothes. -
I have chosen to explore the ‘Where do you live?’ theme.
We would read and enjoy the story ‘The Three Little Pigs’. We would have hands on investigation with the different materials – straw, twigs, and brick, that the three little pigs used to construct their houses. We would discuss and explore their attributes, including testing their strength, their ability to keep rain out (waterproof or not), their suitability as a building material etc.
We would then listen to the song ‘House song’ on the interactive whiteboard, and this would spark thought and reflection on different types of houses, and bringing it to the children’s own lives, what kind of house they live in. We would look at pictures of different types of houses, and discuss their features, and think about their own lives e.g. my Granny lives in that type of house… Is it a tall or short house? Does it have stairs? Does it have other houses joined on or attached to it?
The children would use 2D shape cut out pieces of paper to make a picture of their own house and would decorate it further with colours to customise it to their own house and their own liking. We would then make a display with the children’s homes, and to tease out aspects of the area they live in that are missing – e.g. I wonder how you would get food for dinner – shops…. same for school, playground and other parts of the locality etc., and add these to our display. Lots of talk and discussion as we go along.
We would also take a walk in the locality, on a scavenger hunt for different things connected to the above e.g. a block of apartments, a shop, a detached house etc. and tick these off on the way.
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Hands-on classroom themed activities based on the broad theme of weather
I would start off by doing a KWL grid. I would elicit from the children what they know about the theme of weather, what they would like to know and then after completing the lessons we would reflect on what we have learned.
For my lessons I would use the prompt, wonder and explore technique.
To start off the lessons we could keep a weather log for a week- we could predict what we think the weather might be based on the season, we would organise our findings and collate them. We could learn about hot and cold places- the equator, the northern and southern hemispheres, the desert, Antarctica etc. We could explore hot and cold items in science, boiling, freezing and melting. We could learn about what clothes we should wear depending on the weather and explore what we can do to keep warm and keep cool. We could conduct experiments on different materials and find out which material/s would be best for certain types of clothes for certain weather conditions. -
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Activity set: Hands-on classroom themed activities.
There are many wonderful hands- on classroom themed activities I would use. I particularly like the esero activity on the ice is meltinghttps://esero.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/47_The-ice-is-melting.pdf . I often explore the theme of Antarctica and I think this will be a wonderful addition to that theme. I love the experiment to investigate what will happen to the water if the ice at the North Pole and the South Pole melts. This experiment is a great way for the children to understand the difference beween land ice at the South Pole and sea ice at the North Pole and to explore ideas like – will sea levels change?, Will he temperature change?. Some further steps I would take towards a STEM focused SSE is to introduce STEM week into our school and carry out these hands- on activities from the curious minds and esero activities with the children. I will share the links with my colleagues also.
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There are some fantastic online tools and resources available to help children gain a greater understanding of space. Here are some of the ones that I have used in the classroom.
Nasa kids club. – This is designed for younger children there are lots of puzzles and rocket activities. It is a great site to use with the interactive whiteboard. Nasa Space place-This website has lots of space games, explanations, crafts and videos. There is a lovely printable activity section.
Google Earth -You can look at the school, zoom out to Ireland and then view Earth from space. Ask children to identify land, sea, colours and shapes.
Stellarium- Displays the sky, stars, planets and constellations. Set the location and show children what is visible that evening.
ESA Kids The European Space Agency is a fantastic child-friendly website that has lots of articles, pictures, videos, quizzes and activities about planets, rockets, and astronauts
National Geographic- This website contains colourful photographs, short videos and accessible information about planets, stars, space exploration and the solar system. All of these websites have certain sections which are appropriate for the younger classes but it is worth planning what is suitable first as a lot of the content would be for older classes. -
For my Second Class, I would choose the Investigating Children’s Coats activity. I would begin by discussing different types of weather and asking the children why we wear particular coats in winter or during rain. Pupils would examine a selection of coat materials and describe their texture, thickness and appearance. They would then predict which material would be best at keeping someone warm and dry.
Working in groups, the children could test the materials by placing small amounts of water on each one and observing whether the water is absorbed or remains on the surface. We could also compare how well different materials retain warmth by wrapping containers of warm water and measuring changes in temperature. This would develop scientific skills including questioning, predicting, observing, measuring, recording and communicating.
I feel this activity would be very suitable for Second Class because it connects Science with the children’s everyday experiences. It also provides links with Maths through measuring and recording results, and with Literacy through discussion and report writing. I would use photographs, pupil worksheets and feedback as evidence of learning. These records could support a STEM-focused School Self-Evaluation by showing pupils’ engagement, application of science skills and areas requiring further development. -
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Activity Set: Animals in the Cold (suitable for Infants)
I would choose “Animals in the Cold” as my activity set with the focus that my students would be enabled to identify animals that live in cold places and talk about how animals keep warm in cold climates
I would begin the lesson with a variety of photographs of animals from polar regions, such as penguins, polar bear, arctic fox and a seal, showing the children one photo at a time, whilst asking prompt questions to initiate discussion
- What animal can you see?
- Is it hot or cold where it lives?
- How do you think it keeps warm?
I would explain that these animals live in very cold places, where there is snow and ice and animals are adapted in their own ways for these cold conditions for example, the polar bear has thick fur and a layer of fat to keep it warm. Penguins have feathers and they huddle together to stay warm and the arctic fox has a thick white fluffy coat of fur that keeps it warm.
I would then ask the children “What do we wear when it is cold?” and discuss why these items are suitable for cold conditions linking to the materials they are made of. I would also have a woolly hat, scarf, gloves, and padded jacket/coat for the children to touch and feel to show the textures and materials that are good insulators. To reinforce and consolidate the lesson the students would design a coat that would be suitable for very cold conditions and share their ideas with the class.
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Reflection on Hands-on Classroom Themed Activities
I would use hands-on classroom activities to make science more enjoyable and meaningful for my Senior Infants class. Young children learn best by exploring, investigating and trying things for themselves. A simple activity I would use is building a rocket using recycled materials such as cardboard tubes, paper and bottle tops. Before making their rockets, I would encourage the children to talk about what they think a rocket needs to fly and ask them questions to develop their thinking.
Once the rockets are finished, the children could share their designs with the class and explain why they chose certain materials. This would encourage creativity, problem-solving and oral language while linking science with art. I think hands-on activities help children to stay engaged and allow them to learn through play and exploration. They also encourage teamwork and communication as children work together and share ideas. I would continue to use similar practical STEM activities throughout the year to help develop the children’s curiosity, confidence and enjoyment of science.
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Lesson: ‘Where do you live’
Teaching this lesson in my Senior Infant classroom would provide a valuable opportunity to help children make meaningful connections between their own lives and the wider community. I would begin with a discussion about their homes, which allows children to develop oral language skills while celebrating the diversity of families and homes. Encouraging children to draw and then build a model of their own house supports creativity, fine motor development and spatial awareness, while also allowing them to express their individuality. The collaborative village activity is particularly effective in my opinion as it encourages teamwork, communication, and problem-solving. By discussing what is missing from the village, children begin to understand that communities depend on many different people, buildings and services to meet everyday needs. This links well with the Aistear themes of Identity and Belonging and Exploring and Thinking, as children learn through play, discussion and hands-on experiences.
In my classroom, I would extend this lesson by encouraging children to include local landmarks, making the activity even more relevant to their own experiences. I would also ensure that all children’s homes are represented.-
Rachel, I really like how you’ve connected this lesson to children’s own experiences and highlighted the importance of inclusion. Extending the activity with local landmarks is a great idea, as it helps make learning more meaningful. Ensuring every child’s home is represented also creates a welcoming classroom where diversity is valued and every child feels a sense of belonging.
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Weather and what to wear
I would start with the poem / rhyme “Whatever the weather”
After discussing the types of weather we have learnt and observed we would also recall the Seasons.
I would ask questions leading the children to discuss suitable clothes for each weather type. I would use a bag of clothes / umbrella / wellies etc and I would encourage the children to sort the clothes according to the weather they would wear them in. I would give the children blank washing lines on a sheet (4 of them and label them Summer, Spring etc) I would then get the children to record their findings and draw the suitable clothes for each season. I would also include the topic of the animals in the cold. i would give them opportunities to investigate how animals keep warm by carrying out a simple insulation experiment. They could make predictions, observe what happens and talk about their findings. the would use the materials provided.
My class last year loved bringing in their favourite teddy so I would encourage them to dress their teddy (using their own clothes) and to bring it in the school. They would then do “Show and tell” or the class could also guess what weather the other child’s bear is dressed for.
Another idea would be to give the children a blank outline of a person and ask them to draw in their clothes according to the weather or they could also use different materials to dress their person.
There are many ideas to consolidate their learning and make a super fortnight of activities. To support a STEM focused School Self-evaluation (SSE), I would reflect on how well the children engaged with the activities and collect evidence through observations, photos and samples of their work.
I would also share ideas with colleagues and continue using inquiry based STEM activities across the curriculum to help build children’s confidence, curiosity and problem solving skills. -
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When teaching my 1st and 2nd class all about weather, I would use a STEM activity to develop their understanding of why we choose the clothes we wear on a day to day basis. I would start by chatting with the class about today’s weather. Is it sunny, rainy, windy, or cold? I would ask pupils what they chose to wear and why. This helps them make real-life connections between weather and the clothes they wear every day. Next, I would place a collection of clothing items in the centre of each table. Each group would be given a weather card (e.g., sunny, rainy, windy or snowy) and some cardboard. Their challenge is to work together to create and dress their weather person for the conditions – including lots of discussion by asking questions like, “Why did you choose a raincoat?” or “Would sandals be a good choice today?” Once everyone has finished, each group will be invited to share their weather person with the class and explain their choices. This is a great opportunity to introduce simple scientific thinking as pupils consider how different materials help keep us warm, cool, or dry. We would finish by stepping outside to observe the real weather and get the children to investigate if everyone dress appropriately today? What might they choose differently tomorrow?
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I would just the where do you live and weather – animals in the cold activities with my Junior Infants to help them learn about different habitats and how weather affects animals. I would begin by showing pictures of different places where animals live , such as forests, farms, oceans and snowy areas. We would talk about which animals live in each habitat and why they are suited to those environments. Next, I would read a simple story about animals that live in cold places, such as polar bears and penguins. We would discuss how their thick fur , feathers or blubber help to keep them warm. For the main activity, the children would match animals to their correct habitat and create a simple collage of cold weather habitats using paper, cotton wool and colours. These would them be displayed in the classroom.
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For my junior infant class I would choose the activity “Where Do We Live?” to help children develop an understanding of their homes, journeys to school, and the local community. The lesson would begin with a class discussion about how each child travels to school, encouraging them to talk about whether they walk, travel by car, bus or bicycle and to describe the things they see along the way, such as parks, shops, traffic lights or playgrounds. Using Google Maps on the interactive whiteboard, we would locate the school and, where appropriate and with parental permission, identify the general location of each child’s home to help children understand that people live in different places within the same community. Children would be encouraged to describe the area around their homes by identifying nearby buildings and landmarks, such as shops, churches, schools, parks or community centres.
We would then move onto exploring different types of homes by looking at and discussing pictures of detached, semi-detached, terraced houses, apartments and bungalows. Children would compare the different houses, identify similarities and differences, and talk about which type of home they live in. As a follow-on activity, children would complete a hands-on sorting task by matching pictures of rooms in a house, including the kitchen, bedroom, bathroom and living room, with everyday household objects that belong in each room, such as a bed, sofa, cooker or toothbrush. Throughout the lesson, children develop their understanding of homes and communities while strengthening their oral language, observation, classification and geographical awareness through discussion, visual resources and practical activities. -
I am choosing Hands-On Classroom Themed Activities for this. I will be teaching Junior Infants, and I think the best way to get them into science is through sensory play and lots of experimenting. I’d love to run a STEM challenge based on the theme of Weather with a focus on Animals in the Cold.
I will challenge the children to build a warm, windproof shelter for a toy polar bear or penguin. I think it will be a fun way to mix Engineering – building the dens, Science – seeing what keeps the animal warm, and Maths – counting out materials and measuring the sizes. I’ll give them resources and materials like cotton wool, cardboard, felt, and tinfoil to work with. To test if their shelters actually work, we’ll use a hairdryer on the cool setting to simulate an arctic blizzard and use ice cubes to see if things stay dry. I’ll use the school iPad to take some videos and photos of them testing their designs. They will be encouraged to explain their results and findings and discuss why something did or didn’t work well. -
One online tool which I found interesting and will be using in my classroom this year is the Universe Awareness website. This website has many resources that are suitable for many class levels however I like how it has resources suitable for younger classes.
I think the lesson plans are a fantastic resource and they are very easy to access. I will be using lessons such as “As the World Turns”, “Creating Eclipses in the Classroom” and “Deadly Moons”.
There are also other great resources such as videos, posters and presentations on various topics that will be a great addition to lessons in the class.
It also promotes hands on learning and gives ideas about what other countries and school are doing. I think this is a great online teaching tool and one I will be bringing into my STEM teaching this year.
Additionally other online resources such as Marvin and Milo, Stellarium and Astronomy Picture of the Day. -
The activity I have chosen is the lesson ‘Where Do You Live?’. I always find that children love telling me where they live and describing their locality and town. I remember once using Google Maps and some of the children pointed out their houses for everyone to see. They had never been so engaged and all wanted a turn. So I like the idea of this lesson.
Firstly I would show the children a photo of my house and I would describe it for them. I would model using language that I would like them to use e.g. a black roof, a red front door, two big windows etc. I then would open up a discussion on their houses and choose some children to describe where they live. I would use the worksheet that comes with this lesson and have the children find the house that is most similar to theirs.
Then, using márla I would ask the children to make a model of their house. We would place all the houses together and discuss what we are missing. I would encourage to children to think of all the things that make up our town. It would be nice to invite other classes to view our town and to document it with photos too. I would make a display in the classroom. -
This module made me think differently about STEM and School Self-Evaluation. Before completing it, I mainly associated science with learning facts and carrying out experiments. I now realise that developing children’s scientific skills, such as observing, predicting and questioning, is just as important.
In my First Class, I would like to focus on giving the children more opportunities to investigate and explore through hands-on activities. For example, during a lesson on materials, the children could predict which objects will float or sink, test their ideas and discuss why they got those results. This encourages them to think like young scientists rather than simply looking for the correct answer.
As part of a STEM-focused SSE, I would also like to make children’s voices a bigger part of the reflection process. Simple strategies such as a wonder wall, class discussions or exit tickets would help me understand what the children enjoyed, what they found challenging and what they would like to learn next. I think this would make STEM lessons more engaging while helping me reflect on and improve my own teaching throughout the year.
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Science skills and School Self Evaluation
I am currently leading our SSE and our focus is on enhancing playful learning activities in STEM lessons.
The resources from this course will be shared in a Drive folder with our staff and will support our goals of enquiry based, playful learning activities.
The ‘Too Young to Learn’ document and resources will be shared at our first SSE Staff meeting and staff will work in pairs using the PPDS ‘Glance Cards’ to plan a playful learning experience to support one lesson from each Strand.
The PDST resource of linking Maths Skills to Science Skills will also be helpful in developing our focus on science skills. -
I have junior infants next year and I would like to explore the idea of where we live and bring to their awareness that we are part of a much bigger picture and how important it is, even in Junior infants to be mindful of the difference we can make even in the smallest of actions. I think that from an early age they should realise the importance of being responsible, accountable citizens.
This is my lesson plan for Junior Infants Lesson Plan: Where Do We Live?
Theme: Myself and the World – Our Place in the World
Duration: 2-3 lessons of 30-40 mins longThe stimulus would be -Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth by Oliver Jeffers
Children have already explored:
•The Solar System
•The eight planets
•Earth as one of the planets
•The characteristics of different planets (hot, cold, rocky, gas giants)
Learning objectives
WALT
•To understand where we live, from our home to our planet.
•To recognise that people live in different places.
•To understand that Earth is our home.
•To ask questions about our world.
At the end of the lessons should have the confidence to-
•Name where they live.
•Explain that Earth is our home planet.
•Compare different places where people live.
•Ask questions about our world.
•Share ideas through play and art.Read Here We Are by Oliver Jeffers.
Pause throughout the story to discuss the illustrations and ask open-ended questions.
Possible questions:
•What do you notice about our planet?
•Why do you think Oliver Jeffers says to “look after Earth”?
•What different places can you see?
•Can you find somewhere that looks like where we live?
•How are all the people in the book the same? How are they different?
Explain:
“Oliver Jeffers reminds us that even though we all live in different houses, towns and countries, we all share one very special home—Planet Earth.”
Discuss in groups: My House, My School, My Neighbourhood, County, Country, Continent, Planet Earth. These details may need to be scaffolded by the teacher using the globe, maps and pictures of Ireland and Europe.
Ask:
•Where do you wake up every morning?
•Where do you come to school?
•What places do you pass on the way?
•What county do we live in?
•What country do we live in?
•What planet do we live on?Explore Different Places
Show photographs of:
•Rural Ireland
•Busy cities
•Beaches
•Mountains
•Forests
•Deserts
•Snowy places
•Rainforests
Ask children:
•What do you notice?
•Which place looks like where we live/ which is very different?
•Which place would you like to visit? Have you been to somewhere like this?
•What would you need to live there?
Discuss how people around the world live in many different environments.Big Inquiry Question-Why do we live on Earth and nowhere else?
Allow children to think and talk with a partner before sharing ideas.
Possible prompts:
•What do people need to stay alive?
•Can we breathe on the Moon? why not
•Could we live on the Sun?why not
•What makes Earth special?
•What would happen if there was no water?
•What would happen if there were no plants?
Together, build a simple mind map around “Earth is our Home”.
Children may identify that Earth has: Air, Water, Food, Animals, Plants, the right temperature, homes for people
Explain that scientists continue to explore space, but Earth is the only planet we know where people can live naturally.
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5. Aistear (15–20 minutes)
🏗 Construction Area
Challenge:
Can you build our community?
Children build:
•Houses
•School
•Park
•Roads
•ShopsRole Play
Travel Around the World
Create a travel centre.
Children “visit” different environments using photographs.
They pack a suitcase.
Discuss:
“What would you need if you were visiting somewhere very cold?”
“What would you wear in the desert?”Small World- using the following
•Globe
•Maps
•Toy people, vehicles and hosues
Children explore where people might live.Finish by rereading the final page of Here We Are, reminding the children that everyone belongs on Earth and that we all have a responsibility to care for it.
Assessment
Observe whether children can:
•Describe where they live using simple geographical language.
•Explain that Earth is our home planet.
•Compare different environments.
•Ask thoughtful questions about the world.
•Participate in discussions and Aistear play. -
One online resource I would use would be Astronomy Picture of the Day. I would use this weekly to make it more practical in my classroom, for example on a Monday to start the week. I would ask the students to observe the image and, as a class, note their observations. This could then be added to during the week as students learn more about the topic. Keeping a list of observations would also serve as a way to track learning over a number of weeks and allow students to see how their thinking develops over time.
Given that each image features a description written by a professional astronomer, the students will engage in learning new vocabulary and astronomical or space-specific content. Following an inquiry approach, we can then, as a class, pick out ideas or words that spark our curiosity from the description or image. Using mind maps or posters, students can record these learnings and create their own visuals to match. I think this would be a great way to encourage discussion, critical thinking, and collaboration while also developing students’ science skills. It would also provide opportunities to integrate literacy, digital learning, and STEM in a meaningful and engaging way.
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Una, I really like your idea of using the Astronomy Picture of the Day as a stimulus for learning. Revisiting the image throughout the week would gradually build the children’s enthusiasm, curiosity, and understanding as they engage in ongoing discussions and observations. I particularly like that the learning is not confined to a single lesson. We often feel the need to fit activities like this into one session, but returning to the same image over several days would give the children time to notice new details, ask more questions, and develop their scientific vocabulary. It would also encourage more oral language as they build on each other’s ideas and make new connections. I think this is a lovely way to promote sustained inquiry and meaningful learning.
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I would use the ‘animals in the cold’ activity in my junior infants class. I would start the lesson off with a ‘mystery box’. I love doing this for different lessons as the children are always intrigued straight away. In the box I would have things related to cold places e.g ice cubes (in a sandwich bag), toy penguin/polar bear, cotton wool (as snow) , blue hat & scarf. The children put their hand in and guess what they feel. I would ask ‘ is this hot or cold?’ ‘What animals might live in cold places?’ .
Sorting activity: Pictures of different animals, some that live in cold places and some that live in warm. Children, as a class, sort them into cold place box and warm place box.
I will take the hat and scarf from the mystery box and ask ‘why do we wear these?’. ‘what else might we wear to keep warm in winter?’ ‘how do animals keep warm? – That should then lead us into a discussion about polar bears having thick fur or seals have blubber, penguins huddle together. Students get a cut & stick activity to sort animals into their appropriate habitats. Hot or cold?
Conclusion – Penguin movement game. Music plays they must waddle like penguins, seals sliding on ice, polar bears moving slowly. When music stops they must huddle like penguins to keep warm.
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The activity set I have chosen is “Where do you live?” and Weather. I would focus on ways there weather influences our lives and observe and record these influences. The clothes we wear in different weather and the seasonal changes in weather. I would do further investigations into the suitability of different types of clothes.
Where do you live activity set from ESERO 05 has an excellent activity/plan which I would adapt , making our model village from both play doh and one half of the class using Lego and incorporating a map of where we live (integrating with Maths and Geography , SESE)
This lesson would follow on to a lesson on what clothes we wear and living in the west of Ireland the weather varies greatly leading to great discussions, talking about topics the children can easily relate to and are comfortable contributing to .
My STEM focused school self evaluation SSE will build on these activities, creating clothes, what materials we could use, experiment with materials, why are some suitable and others not, waterproof materials, wool for warmth etc. we would also record the weather throughout the year and make predications for weather/storms/heatwaves and compare our climate with that of other countries.
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Activity Set- Weather- Animals in the Cold
Class Level- Junior/ Senior InfantsI would base the lesson on ESERO 07- Animals in the Cold- Climate
Learning Outcomes-
Know there are different sorts of weather
know the characteristics of animals living in a cold environment
know the characteristics of animals living in a warm environmentIntroduction-
The children have been learning about zoo animals. They have been learning about a variety of different animals and interesting facts about each animal. To begin the lesson I will use the song ‘Polar Bear, Polar Bear What do you Hear?’ By Bill Martin Jnr and Eric Carle. I will ask the children to recall any interesting facts about the different animals from the song.Development-
I will show the class a globe. I will ask the class to recall where is the North Pole/ South Pole? What weather might we find there? I will then ask the children to identify where the equator is? What weather might you find there. I will ask the class can they point to where a lion lives, where does a walrus live? I will then divide the class up into groups. Each class will have an area of the classroom where there is a set of paper with a giant globe on it. They will identify the South Pole, North Pole and equator. Following this the children will be given a selection of animals. They will sort the animals, by where they live on the globe. (Integration of maths sorting and problem solving) They will then draw the weather associated with the animal’s habitats. They will work as team to create their ‘Animals of the World Globe’.During this activity the teacher will observe and go from group to group asking various questions to assess their understanding. For example why do you think the penguins lives there? How might they keep warm? The children are then invited to walk around and look at other groups projects and ask questions and give other groups feedback.Conclusion-
The children will reflect on what they learnt with their groups and class. They will complete 2 stars and a wish as part of a discussion with the teacher. What did they enjoy (did well) about the lesson.What could have made the lesson better. -
I chose the “Where Do You Live?” activity as I think it would work particularly well with a First Class group. I would begin by taking the children on a short walk around the school and local community. During the walk, I would encourage them to observe the different types of homes and buildings they can see, such as houses, shops, schools, churches, and parks. To keep them focused, I would provide a simple observation sheet where they could tick or draw the buildings they notice.
Back in the classroom, we would discuss what we saw and create a class chart or brainstorming web of the different buildings and their features. This would help develop the children’s vocabulary while encouraging them to compare and describe their local environment.
To extend the lesson, I would use Google Earth to explore different locations and allow the children to locate familiar places, including the school and nearby landmarks. The children would then draw a map of their own neighbourhood, identifying important places around their home.
As a follow-up activity, the children could build a model of their house using clay or recycled materials. Construction resources such as LEGO, wooden blocks, or magnetic tiles could also be provided so that children have different ways to represent their ideas. This encourages creativity while developing spatial awareness and problem-solving skills.
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The activity I would like to use in my junior infants class. Is ‘Hot and Cold’ use the sun. This lesson can provide lots of opportunity for integration and cross -curricular link, looking at weather , the different seasons/months and the weather associated, melting and freezing in science and so on.
I would introduce this lesson with a meaningful stimulus for the children, using the song ‘In Summer’ from Frozen which is sung by Olaf the snowman. This could begin the discussion about melting and why is he melting? what is creating the heat?Then we could go outside and explore areas that are very hot and areas that feel cooler, why are they cooler? What is creating the shade? Then we could go on on to carry out the experiment with the ice cubes shown in the lesson plan. Placing one in the shade and one in the sun. Asking the children to predict what will happen and then recording their results. Discuss about the heat at different times of the year, how do we keep warm when the sun is not giving us enough heat or the clouds and rain are blocking it?
AN extension activity for art/sensory art would be to do ice cub painting outdoors. Observe what happens the ice cubes in our hands? Why are they melting and so on.
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The theme “Where Do You Live?” was one of my class’s favourite topics last year. The children particularly enjoyed creating junk art houses, and I was amazed by the creativity and originality they demonstrated. Each child designed and built their own house using recycled materials, resulting in a wonderful variety of different creations. It was fascinating to see the ideas they came up with—many of which I would never have thought of myself. The activity encouraged imaginative thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making as they selected materials and worked out how to construct their houses.
Following on from this, we completed another lesson where the children recreated or redesigned their homes using a range of construction resources, including playdough, LEGO, Magna-Tiles, straws, and links. This open-ended activity encouraged them to think carefully about shapes, structures, and how buildings are constructed. It also provided excellent opportunities for collaboration and experimentation as they tested different ideas and adapted their designs.
Throughout both lessons, the children were eager to explain their thinking and discuss the features of their homes. The activities encouraged oral language as they described their designs, explained their choices, compared their work with others and used appropriate mathematical vocabulary.
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I really enjoyed reading about your experiences with the “Where Do You Live?” theme. It is wonderful to read how engaged the children were, particularly through the junk art houses. The creativity, imagination, and problem-solving skills they demonstrated are a great example of meaningful STEM learning in action. I also love how you extended their learning through construction activities using LEGO, Magna-Tiles, playdough, and other resources. Thank you for sharing.
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This module provided us with lots of hands-on activities and online resources. I really loved Stellarium. It is a free computer program that acts like a virtual night sky. It shows the stars, planets, moon and sun exactly as they appear from any location on Earth and at any time of the day or year. It is an ideal resource to follow the rise and setting of the sun across the world. I can see the pupils in my multicultural school being very interested in this and want to watch the sun from their home country.
the Astronomy picture of the day is also an excellent resource used as a prompt for further exploring and questioning.
the esa.int online tools will be very useful in the future too. Each classroom resource is composed of a teacher guide and student worksheets with practical activities such as “ Could we live on Mars? “. ESA kids and UNAWE space resources will all be put to good use next year.
The Activity Set- Where do you live?/Weather also had many resources and lesson plans to be used with younger pupils. The ESERO 05 Lesson- Where do you live, Lesson 07 -Animals in the cold and Lesson 11- what clothes to wear are great lessons for use in Junior Classes. -
I would introduce a seasonal clothing activity for Junior Infants as part of their hands- on classroom themed activities, children would identify the four seasons and match different items of clothing to the appropriate weather conditions. They can then discuss their choices and record daily weather on a class chart before deciding what clothing would match different weather conditions. We could also add in the ‘Investigating children’s coats’ investigation on the sfi.ie website. These activities would develop STEM skills through observation, classification, prediction, and simple data collection while helping children understand relationships between weather, seasons, and everyday life.
Using the “Where Do You Live?”<b> </b>classroom activity pack would provide an engaging introduction to STEM by connecting the children’s learning to real-life experiences. Children can explore different homes and habitats, compare where people and animals live, use maps to locate places, and discuss how climate influences different environments. This activity integrates science, geography, mathematics, and literacy.
As part of a STEM-focused School Self-Evaluation (SSE), I would encourage collaborative, inquiry-based learning and incorporate digital tools such as weather apps. Children can also design weather-appropriate outfits using art materials. Reflection on pupil engagement, assessment evidence, and cross-curricular learning would help evaluate the effectiveness of these activities and identify areas for future improvement
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ESERO 5 – Where do you live?
I would begin the lesson based on ESERO 5 – Where do you live? with a whole class discussion to encourage the children to think about and describe their homes. The children would be encouraged to name different dwellings such as semi-detached, bungalow etc., as well as some similarities and differences that they have noticed.
Each student would be given a worksheet of different homes and would be asked to circle the home that is most similar to their own. They could then colour that home to match theirs. Once the children are happy with their choice they would be given a piece of modelling clay to make a replica of their house. Once all the houses are completed they could be brought together to make a village.
In pairs the children will be asked to discuss what features a village has and what happens in a village each day. The students can then brainstorm what we may need to add to our village to improve it. The students will be encouraged to add additional models to the village to reflect their ideas. This activity will allow the children to develop their understanding of that a village is and the daily activities that occur there. -
If I were to use this activity in my classroom, I would begin by encouraging the children to think about different types of weather and the places in the world where they occur. I would use photographs of penguins and polar bears to spark curiosity and ask open-ended questions such as, “How do you think these animals stay warm?” or “Would they survive in Ireland?” This would allow the children to share their own ideas before investigating the science behind animal adaptations.
The practical investigation using Vaseline would be an engaging way for children to observe how a greasy layer repels water, helping them understand one of the ways penguins and polar bears are adapted to life in cold environments. Rather than simply explaining the concept, the children would experience it for themselves and discuss what they observed.
To extend the inquiry, I would ask pupils to compare how people and animals keep warm and encourage them to design their own “cold weather animal”, explaining the adaptations it would need to survive. This would provide excellent opportunities to integrate science, art and oral language while encouraging creativity. I feel this activity is a great example of inquiry-based learning because it encourages children to ask questions, make observations, discuss evidence and develop their understanding through hands-on investigation rather than simply being told the answers.
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Theme: Where do you live?
I would beginning with some questioning. Where do you live? What makes your house special?
We would then compare and contrast the images from the Esero lesson with where we live. The children would then design their own houses on paper. They would then select from a range of materials to build their own house such as lego, blocks, plasticine, cardboard.
We would discuss our houses using a walk around the classroom discussing each other’s work.
Afterwards I would use a zooming out activity giving children pictures of a bedroom, a house, a street, a village, a country, Ireland, Europe, earth and space and put them in order to help them visualise scale in connection to where we live. We could then extend this to building a model town where we add other buildings from the locality that the children think are missing.-
Hi Suzanne,
Your lesson provides excellent opportunities for purposeful game-based learning, as children can work together to design, build, and improve their houses while solving practical problems using different materials. This encourages creativity, collaboration, and engineering thinking, which are key aspects of STEM education. A meaningful cross-curricular link could be with Oral Language, where pupils explain the design choices they made, describe the materials they selected, and discuss how their homes compare with others around the world, helping to develop both communication and reasoning skills.
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Chosen Activity: Activity Set – Weather: Investigating Children’s Coats
For this activity, I would choose Investigating Children’s Coats as I think it would be a meaningful and practical science activity for a primary classroom. Children experience different types of weather every day, so this activity gives them the opportunity to explore something that is directly connected to their own lives.
I would begin by showing the children a selection of different coats and asking questions such as, “Which coat would you choose for a cold day?” and “What makes one coat warmer than another?” The children could examine the coats by looking at the materials, thickness, fastenings and textures. They could make predictions about which coat would keep someone warmest and then test their ideas through a simple investigation.
This activity would develop important science skills such as observing, questioning, predicting, comparing and recording results. Children could work in groups to discuss their findings and explain their thinking. I would encourage them to use scientific language such as warm, waterproof, thick, thin and material.
A link to the Irish Primary Science Curriculum would be the strand Energy and Forces, particularly exploring heat and how materials can affect temperature. The activity could also link with SPHE as children learn about making appropriate choices for their health and wellbeing, such as dressing suitably for different weather conditions.
I would adapt this activity depending on the age and needs of my pupils by using real objects, visual supports and allowing children to record their findings through drawings, labels or written explanations. I think this activity would be engaging because it allows children to investigate a real-world question and discover answers through hands-on learning.
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Stellarium:
I absolutely loved the idea of this app and using it as a stimulus in a lesson. I had never heard of it before!!.
Lesson Objective: Child will be able to…
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- Navigate the Stellarium app by moving around the sky and using the search function.
Identify the four cardinal directions (north, south, east, and west) in the sky.
Locate and identify at least three celestial objects (e.g., the Moon, a planet, and a constellation).
Teach students these four features first
Move around the sky
Search for an object
Time controls
Constellation mode
I would Find the horizon: Together with the children, explore…Which direction is north? Where is east? Where would the Sun rise?
Then we would Explore the Moon and Find a bright planet Search for Jupiter or Saturn
Zoom in and explain that planets move differently from stars. Teach children one constellation. Choose an easy one such as:-
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- Orion , Ursa Major , Scorpius
Together with the children we should Identify:
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- Bright stars, Shape, Stories behind the constellation
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If I were using the Weather activity set I would cover it over multiple lessons throughout a week or two with a Senior Infants class. I would begin by linking the theme to the children’s prior knowledge of animals in the world and their habitats and their everyday experience of Irish weather, where choosing the right clothes is often part of daily life. I think this set would work very well because it includes familiar, hands-on activities that give children the opportunities to deepen their understandings of an interesting theme and the world they live in. Rather than giving the children answers, I would encourage them to observe, predict and discuss by asking questions like, “Which coat would keep us driest?” or “How do animals stay warm in winter?” The children could test fabrics with water, see how different items respond to hot and cold environments, and compare their own clothing to animal features such as fur or feathers. As I teach in a Gaelscoil, I would use Gaeilge throughout, with words like cóta, ábhar, fuar, te, tirim and uisce. I feel this would support curiosity, oral language and scientific thinking through play and inquiry.
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Lesson “Animals in the Cold” for infants.
WALT: How animals stay warm in cold places?
I would use photos as a stimulus to start the lesson. We could use talk and discussion to explore photos of polar bears and penguins. We could create a class chart exploring questions that we wonder about the animals and how they stay warm eg. why do polar bears have fur?
We could then use our investigation skills and do the Blubber experiment. The children could put one finger in vaseline and compare how it feels in cold water to a finger that has no vaseline. I think then we would have a discussion on how the thick layer of fat helps keep animals warm inside their bodies.
The next activity then which I think the children will enjoy would be to get the children to create their own animal that could survive in cold weather. They could talk about using feathers, fur, fat, etc.
I think then this lesson lends itself to exploring the artic in aistear or our structured play time. We could do loads of different small world activities with the artic animals, write reports on penguins, junk art to create the animals, sensory play with ice.
I think the hands on learning experience would be great and really enjoyable. It links to the new Primary Curriculum as it promotes inquiry learning through questions, investigation experiments and communicating. I think the design an animal activity allows children to use critical thinking STEM skills.
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Module 4 Assignment
I would introduce Paxi to my class and we would watch his video. When he would visit Earth He would ask them to examine Where do you live.
We would use some satellite images to look at Earth then Ireland and zooming in to our local area. We would look at how what we can see from our village to the school and investigate any feature that might be important. We would then go outside and see what we can see that the children might have spotted on the satellite image. This would be important to examine and think about features that the might not have noticed before even though they pass them every day.
We would then draw their own house in a picture then what might be around their house then on the edge of the picture things that might be further away that they noticed.
We would see is there any way to improve our locality and look after nature i.e planting ot picking up rubbish.-
I think this is a lovely example of purposeful game-based learning, as it encourages young children to explore, observe, and talk about the world around them in a fun and engaging way. A great cross-curricular link would be to Visual Arts, where pupils could draw or paint their home, school, or favourite place in their local area and share it with the class.
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Module 4 Assignment
I would introduce Paxi to my class and we would watch his video. When he would visit Earth He would ask them to examine Where do you live.
We would use some satellite images to look at Earth then Ireland and zooming in to our local area. We would look at how what we can see from our village to the school and investigate any feature that might be important. We would then go outside and see what we can see that the children might have spotted on the satellite image. This would be important to examine and think about features that the might not have noticed before even though they pass them every day.
We would then draw their own house in a picture then what might be around their house then on the edge of the picture things that might be further away that they noticed.
We would see is there any way to improve our locality and look after nature i.e planting or picking up rubbish. -
I chose the Weather: Animals in the Cold demo world because it introduces pupils to how animals survive in cold environments through an engaging and interactive Minecraft experience. Pupils explore different Arctic habitats and discover how animals have adapted to extreme weather conditions, such as freezing temperatures, snow, and ice.
The lesson plan encourages pupils to identify the physical and behavioural adaptations that help animals survive in cold climates. The learning objectives focus on understanding the relationship between living things and their environments, recognising how weather influences habitats, and developing observation and inquiry skills. The accompanying resources include a teacher guide, lesson plan, discussion prompts, and extension activities to deepen pupils’ understanding.
This lesson links well with the Irish Primary Science Curriculum, particularly the Living Things strand and the Environmental Awareness and Care strand, as pupils investigate habitats, adaptation, and the importance of protecting different ecosystems. It also provides opportunities to integrate Geography by exploring polar regions and different climate zones.
I would use this world with my class but would adapt the pacing by pausing regularly to discuss the animals’ adaptations and encourage pupils to make predictions and ask questions. As a follow-up activity, I would have pupils research another animal that lives in a cold habitat and create a fact file or poster explaining how it survives. This would reinforce the learning while encouraging inquiry, collaboration, and creativity. -
ASSIGNMENT: What further steps might you take towards a STEM focused SSE?
The teacheing staff of my school have selected STEM as our curricular area of focus for next school year 2026/27, so STEM focused SSE would provide an excellent opportunity to review current practice, identify strengths, and establish clear priorities for improving STEM teaching and learning across the school. As a teacher, my first step would be to work collaboratively with colleagues to gather evidence on existing STEM provision. This could include, pupil surveys, teacher questionnaires and an audit of STEM resources and digital technologies.
Using this evidence, we could identify areas for development and agree on achieveable targets within the SSE process. For example, we might aim to increase the use of inquiry-based learning through coding activities or improve opportunities for engineering design challenges. We would develop a clear action plan outlining responsibilities, timelines, and success criteria.
In my own classroom, I would begin to embed more hands-on STEM investigations that encourage pupils to ask questions, predict outcomes, test ideas, and reflect on their learning. Examples could include designing bridges from recycled materials, creating weather stations, or using Bee-Bots and Scratch to develop coding skills. I would also make greater use of resources such as ESERO Ireland, Curious Minds, and Primary Science and Maths Curriculum supports to enhance lessons.
At one of our Croke Park meetings, I would encourage collaboration among staff by sharing successful lessons and creating opportunities for team teaching. Progress would be monitored through pupil work, teacher reflection, classroom observation, and feedback from pupils/parents. By engaging the whole school community in the SSE process, STEM learning in our school would become more consistent and enjoyable, helping pupils develop the creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and problem-solving skills needed for the future. -
For this module I picked the Activity Set: Where do you live? Weather
This is a brilliant set of activities that offer learning outcomes in several curricular areas. Children start by describing their own house. Then, using the worksheet they pick the house that most closely resembles theirs. They can then colour the selected house to match theirs. After this activity children build a 3D version of their house using play dough or clay. Then the models are grouped to make a village. This leads to discussion about what is missing e.g. in the morning who eats toast? Where will we get our bread. A bakery, a shop, what is also be needed to make bread? Wheat- that grows in a field, so we need a wheat field. Milk, comes from a cow, who lives in a field on a farm. The children now make all the missing things they have identified that the village also needs. E.g. school, post office, GAA pitch, playground. This leads to recap discussion on all the things needed.
Animals in the Cold is a lovely lesson. It starts with a discussion about types of weather, and could be linked to your English word wall. Explain that in some places the weather is different. Some places are very dry and sunny. Some get a lot of rain. Some are very cold. Children’s experiences of travel can be brought in here. The teacher can ask for examples of a really cold place, eliciting North and South Pole, asking the children what they know about these places. What animals live there?
This takes you to the bulk section of the lesson- How do animals keep themselves warm?
Children should be able to identify the Polar Bear and the Penguin, they may even have seen penguins in Fota and a Polar Bear in Dublin Zoo. The children will probably offer that the Polar bear has fur to keep him warm. But the teacher should explain about the thick layer of fat. As well as fat, the penguin has a thick layer of feathers. Then you talk about what people do when they feel cold. Now, the teacher might ask if you have ever been wet in cold weather. What happened? Did you get the shivers? Change your clothes? Get a towel? The polar bear and penguin can’t do that, so they have a special layer of grease on them to repel water. You can demonstrate this with a volunteer by putting Vaseline on their hand. Recap the discussion to reinforce the three main ideas- the three ways these animals protect themselves from the cold- thick coat, thick layer of fat, greasy layer. The word adapted might be introduced here.
Now, showing the children the pictures again, we ask if they notice anything else. They will probably notice the prevalence of white. This leads to a chat about camouflage. The penguin’s black back means when they are swimming, they can’t be seen from above. The words predator and prey are not mentioned in the lesson, but there may be a child or children in the class who know the words.
What clothes to Wear and Hot and Cold are also perfect for Junior students. What clothes to wear includes a lovely guided movement activity which I will definitely use. Hot and Cold is also a very active lesson which children would enjoy, and they have opportunities to justify their answers.
The lesson could be extended by using a lesson from another module, where students designed a coat for a teddy to wear- either for insulating or waterproof properties. -
Lesson plan for 2nd class:
Promoting environmental awareness and care. Caring for the environment
~Facilitating students in investigating through Observing, Predicting, Exploring, and Recording.
Objective: Students will use their five senses to investigate classroom materials, make predictions, and complete a checklist regarding their own science skills.
Discuss with the students what the following terms mean:
Predict: To make a smart guess about what will happen next.
Observe: To look, listen, feel, smell, or taste closely to gather information.
Evaluate: To check how well we did and what we can improve.
Required Materials
Mystery Boxes: 3 shoeboxes containing hidden everyday classroom items (e.g., a bumpy pinecone, a crinkly leaf, a smooth stone).
Student Worksheet: A simple traffic-light coloured “My Science Journey” self-assessment sheet (Red = Needs help, Yellow = Getting there, Green = I can do it!).
Magnifying glasses and plastic sorting trays.
The Mystery Box Challenge
Place three sealed shoeboxes with hand-holes cut out on my desk.
Introduce the concept of a Scientist. Explain that today, the students are going to act as both scientists and inspectors evaluating how well they use their scientific skills.
Invite a student volunteer to put their hand inside a box without looking.
Skill Action: Ask the student to observe using only touch. Ask prompt questions: Is it smooth or rough? Hard or soft? Heavy or light?
Have the rest of the class predict what item is inside based on the student’s descriptions before it is revealed.
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I really liked your lesson idea because it encourages children to think like scientists instead of simply being told the answers. The Mystery Box activity is a great example of purposeful, hands-on learning as the pupils are actively observing, making predictions and testing their ideas. I think this approach supports STEM education well because it develops important scientific skills such as questioning, investigating and evaluating, while also encouraging discussion between the children.
One curriculum link that came to mind is Oral Language. Throughout the activity, pupils are describing what they feel, explaining their predictions and listening to the ideas of others before deciding what they think is inside each box. This gives them plenty of opportunities to build vocabulary and communicate their thinking clearly. You could even finish the lesson by asking each group to explain which clues helped them make their final prediction and whether they would change anything about their investigation next time. I think that reflection would help children see that making mistakes and changing their minds are both important parts of scientific learning.
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I really liked your lesson because it encourages children to think like scientists by asking questions, making predictions, and testing their ideas. The Mystery Box activity is a fun, hands-on way to develop curiosity and problem-solving skills.
A great cross-curricular link is **Oral Language**, as pupils explain their predictions, discuss their ideas with others, and justify their conclusions. Finishing with a short class reflection on what they learned would reinforce that changing your mind based on evidence is an important part of scientific inquiry.
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The “Where Do You Live?” and “Weather – Animals in the Cold” activities offer meaningful opportunities to develop STEM skills by connecting learning to the world around the children. I would begin with the “Where Do You Live?” activity by exploring different environments where people and animals live. Pupils could examine a variety of habitats, locate them on maps or globes, and discuss how weather and climate influence the homes that people and animals need. This would naturally link science with geography, mathematics, and oral language.
The “Weather – Animals in the Cold” activity would encourage pupils to investigate how animals are adapted to survive in freezing conditions. Children could carry out a simple investigation by testing different insulating materials to discover which keeps an ice cube frozen for the longest time. They would observe, measure, record their findings, and compare results using tables or simple graphs before discussing the reasons behind their discoveries. This practical approach helps develop investigation skills, problem-solving, and an understanding of fair testing.
To strengthen STEM across the school as part of our School Self-Evaluation (SSE), I would expand these activities by providing regular opportunities for collaborative investigations and hands-on learning. Children could use digital tools to explore weather patterns, research different climates, or collect and interpret weather data. They could also design habitats or shelters for animals using recycled materials, testing and improving their designs as they work. By reflecting on children’s participation, learning outcomes, and cross-curricular connections, these activities can help shape future STEM planning. Overall, they inspire curiosity, creativity, and a deeper understanding of how living things adapt to the environments in which they live.
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Minecraft Education Reflection – Demo World: Climate and Sustainability
The demo world I chose was Climate and Sustainability because it combines science with real-life issues that children are already beginning to hear about. The world encourages pupils to investigate environmental challenges and think about practical ways people can make more sustainable choices. Rather than simply reading about climate change, the children can explore different environments and see examples of how our actions can affect the world around us.
The lesson plan focuses on helping pupils understand sustainability, human impact on the environment and simple actions that can make a positive difference. The learning objectives encourage discussion, problem-solving and collaboration as pupils complete challenges within the world. The lesson also includes a teacher guide, discussion prompts and extension activities, making it easier to adapt for different ability levels.
I think this lesson links well with the SESE Geography curriculum, particularly the strand Environmental Awareness and Care. It also supports the Primary Curriculum Framework by encouraging children to become responsible and active citizens who think about the impact their choices have on others and on the environment.
If I used this lesson with my class, I would probably slow the pace slightly. Some children are very confident using Minecraft, while others may need extra time to learn the controls before they can focus on the learning task. I would pair more experienced pupils with those who are less familiar with the game so they could support each other. After the activity, I would have a class discussion about simple changes we could make in our own school, such as reducing waste or improving recycling. I think this follow-up would help children connect what they explored in the game with everyday life, making the lesson feel more relevant and worthwhile.
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Hi Isobel,
This sounds brilliant. A huge amount of space technology is used to monitor and predict climate change here on earth – it could be cool to link looking down on your Minecraft world with satellite imagery
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I’ve picked the Animals in the Cold activity as I think it’s a great way to introduce habitats and animal adaptations to infants. I’ve done this before with infants and they always love anything to do with animals. I’d begin by showing photographs of different polar animals (penguins, polar bears, seals etc.), and ask the children what they notice. Questions like “How do you think these animals keep warm?” and “Why don’t they get cold?”
Then we’d investigate how blubber helps animals stay warm. I’ve done it before where children place one hand in a bowl of icy water and then place the other hand in the water while wearing a “blubber glove” (a plastic glove lined with vegetable shortening). Then we’d have a class discussion on what they noticed and why they think the glove kept their hand warmer.
To conclude the lesson we’d link our findings back to the animals and discuss how blubber helps them survive in cold environments. -
Introduction
The **“Where Do You Live?”** and **“Weather – Animals in the Cold”** activities provide engaging opportunities to develop STEM skills by connecting classroom learning to real-life experiences. These lessons encourage pupils to explore the relationship between living things and their environments through inquiry, investigation, and collaboration.
Exploring Homes and Habitats
I would begin with the **“Where Do You Live?”** activity by encouraging pupils to investigate different homes and habitats around the world. Children would compare human homes with animal habitats, use maps and globes to identify locations, and discuss how climate influences where people and animals live. This activity integrates science, geography, mathematics, and oral language while developing observation and communication skills.
Investigating Animal Adaptations
The **“Animals in the Cold”** activity would involve pupils carrying out a simple investigation to discover which materials provide the best insulation. By wrapping ice cubes in different materials, pupils could make predictions, record observations, measure changes, and discuss how insulation helps animals survive in cold climates. This practical investigation develops scientific inquiry, critical thinking, and data-handling skills.
Supporting STEM Development
As part of a STEM-focused School Self-Evaluation (SSE), I would extend these activities through collaborative design challenges and inquiry-based learning. Pupils could design shelters for animals, create habitat models using recycled materials, and use digital tools such as weather apps or climate maps to deepen their understanding. Reflection, assessment, and cross-curricular links would help evaluate pupils’ learning while fostering curiosity, creativity, teamwork, and problem-solving skills.
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Hands-on STEM activities provide meaningful opportunities for children in Infant Classes to Second Class to explore, investigate, and learn through play. Incorporating activities such as building bridges, creating tinfoil boats, designing parachutes, and carrying out simple experiments fosters curiosity, creativity, problem-solving, and collaboration. These practical experiences allow children to engage with STEM concepts in a tangible and age-appropriate way while developing important skills such as prediction, observation, communication, and critical thinking.
The “Where Do You Live?” and “Weather – Animals in the Cold” activities offer excellent opportunities to connect STEM learning to real-world contexts. Through exploring different homes and habitats, children can compare human homes and animal habitats, use maps, and discuss how weather and climate influence where living things survive. Investigating how animals stay warm in cold environments through simple insulation experiments encourages scientific inquiry and data handling skills. Children can make predictions, test materials, record results, and share their findings.
To support a STEM-focused School Self-Evaluation, I would continue to embed STEM across the curriculum through inquiry-based and cross-curricular learning experiences. I would encourage children to design and test shelters, build habitat models using recycled materials, and use digital tools to explore weather patterns. Reflecting on pupil engagement, learning outcomes, and pupil voice will help ensure that STEM learning remains meaningful, enjoyable, and effective, while fostering a lifelong love of exploration and discovery. -
For this assignment, I would choose the Animals in the Cold activity from the Weather activity set. I think this topic would work well in my special-school classroom because it can be explored through sensory experiences, pictures, stories and a simple investigation. The activity helps children recognise different types of weather and learn how animals survive in very cold environments.
I would begin by showing the children photographs of a polar bear and a penguin. We would look at snow, ice and cold places and discuss the differences between hot and cold weather. I could also read a simple story about winter or use a sensory story with cold objects, artificial snow, ice, soft fur and feathers. The children could touch and explore the materials at their own level.
As many of my pupils are non-verbal, I would use photographs, symbols, objects of reference and simple choices. Pupils could answer questions by pointing, using AAC devices or choosing between two pictures. Questions could include: “Is this place hot or cold?”, “Which animal has fur?” and “What do we wear when we feel cold?” The lesson would be divided into short stages, with movement and sensory breaks when needed.The children would learn that polar bears and penguins have a layer of fat to keep them warm. Polar bears also have thick fur, while penguins have thick feathers. Their fur and feathers have a greasy layer that helps water roll off them. To demonstrate this, I would put a small amount of Vaseline on a glove or plastic hand and drop water onto it. The children could observe how the water rolls away. This would be more suitable for pupils who may dislike Vaseline on their skin.
As a follow-on STEM task, the children could help build a warm shelter for a polar animal using large blocks, fabric, cotton wool and recycled materials. They could choose materials and test whether the shelter is strong and warm.
For School Self-Evaluation, I would record pupils’ engagement, choices, predictions and responses through photographs, observation notes and short videos. Staff could then reflect on whether the activity supported scientific skills such as observing, predicting, investigating and communicating. This evidence would help us identify what worked well and how we could make future STEM activities more accessible and meaningful for every pupil.
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Activity set: Weather
Class: Senior infants.
Learning outcomes:
The child shall be enabled to…
• Observe and discuss a variety of weather conditions using simple vocabulary.
• Identify ways in which weather influences the lives of people; animals and plants in the locality.
• Discuss the suitability of different kinds of clothes for different weather .
• Become aware of and investigate the suitability of different kinds of clothes for winter.
I would use the story “Lost and Found” by Oliver Jeffers for this lesson on weather.
I would start by eliciting any prior knowledge the children have about weather and create a KWL chart for the lesson; Know/Want to know/Learned.
We would discuss the most common weather we experience here in our locality and discuss how it influences people’s lives and the lives of animals.
1. What activities can/cannot do when it is
sunny/wet/cold/foggy etc.
2. How does the rain/sun affect our pets or livestock.
3. What sort of clothes protect us from the weather? Materials?Whilst reading the book, we would pause to engage with a range of prediction and comprehension exercises while also focusing on vocabulary and oral language development.
We would compare and contrast the climate in our country with The South Pole.
We would make “connections” by drawing the children’s attention to penguins and The South Pole. I cover both of these topics in my senior infant SESE lessons throughout the year and this story will provide a great opportunity for cross curricular linkage.
To conclude, we will discuss the story paying particular attention to the weather conditions experience by the boy and the penguin and the suitability of the clothes they chose for their adventure.
Extension activities:
History: The story of Tom Crean.Geography: Natural environments. The South Pole.
SPHE: Myself and the wider world.
Feelings; empathy, companionship kindness and helping others. -
The lesson I would choose would be animals in the cold. For December, my theme is Winter and this lesson would fit in here. Instead of just focusing on emperor penguins, we will look at snow leopards and polar bears. We would also look at different breeds of penguins such as Gentoo penguins. During story time, we will read Jonty Gentoo-The adventures of a penguin by Julia Donaldson and Snow Leopards by Nicole Popperhager.
I have a lesson called Hibernate, migrate or adapt where children have to sort animals into the different categories. We will also put toy animals into a bowl of water to freeze, and the children will have to release the animals during Aistear. For a cross curricular element, the children will create clay penguins. In Literacy, we will create animal fact files.
We will also complete a lesson during the summer term on animals from hot climates where we will compare and contrast with the animals from cold climates. -
I chose Sustainability world, a Minecraft Education demo world that teaches students about environmental sustainability through an interactive city. Learners explore topics such as renewable energy, sustainable housing, recycling, water treatment, forestry, and food production. The world encourages students to investigate how communities can reduce their environmental impact while meeting the needs of people living in the city.
Lesson plan, learning objectives and associated resources:
The lesson plan is divided into six themed activities, each focusing on a different aspect of sustainability. The learning objectives include:
understanding how sustainable systems work in everyday life
exploring renewable energy and responsible resource management
developing critical thinking and problem-solving skills by investigating environmental challenges and
applying knowledge to real-world sustainability issues.
The accompanying resources include teacher lesson plans, classroom discussion prompts, student activities, and extension tasks that support both individual and collaborative learning. These resources make it easy for teachers to integrate the world into science or geography lessons.
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