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I will be teaching a class that I had last year and I found them to be particularly interested in learning about animals. Therefore I would undertake the activity ‘Animals in the Cold’ with them in second class. I would first focus on us and what we do to keep warm in the cold creating a mini fact file on it. I would then focus on the animals listed in the activity (penguins and polar bears) and get the children to create fact files in pairs on each of these animals and how they keep warm in the cold weather. When this activity was completed I would move onto other animals that live in the cold and encourage the pairs to research them (using our school tablets and guiding them to specific search websites; kidrex for example) and create fact files about their chosen animals. They could then present them to the class/their groups and we could have a class ‘book’ on the different animals in the cold.
Activity Set: Space and Aliens
I feel like this activity set would be great for using with junior classes. There would be plenty of opportunities for creative thinking and imaginative play.
I like to start new topics with a book and feel like ‘Aliens Love Underpants’ would be a great way to start it. It has plenty of different images of aliens in the book that would give the children some inspiration for creating their own alien.
I would have the children draw an alien mask on A3 card and then cut little slits and fold the, over and staple it so that it creates a 3D mask that the children can then use while discussing their alien. I would have them use the mask and talk about their habitat.
I would also have children make their own 3d alien using either clay or play dough. They could then work in groups to make the habitat for their martiansAn activity set I would love to use in my class next year is The Planets. I feel that this has a great opportunity for cross curricular linking. Also some of the activities outlined seem like activities my class for next year would love.
I would begin the lesson with a KWL chart or group discussions to assess what the children already know and use this to guide my teaching of the lesson.
I would use the song ‘Family of the Sun’ to teach the children some facts about the sun and the planets.
I would also feel the children would love playing the Planet Game. If I had time to set up properly I would prefer to use some rope such as skipping ropes to make the ‘planets’ This way I could make the planets roughly to scale so that the children could understand that some planets are much bigger than others.
There are lots of great ideas in the planets activity set and I think they would hugely enhance great lesson on the topic.My name is Aaron and I will have 2nd class for the coming year.
My favourite space fact is that precious metals like gold and silver are forged when dead stars collide.
An inquiry based lesson I like to do with junior classes is to look at how forces act on an object and make a parachute/container to protect an egg from a fall.
I like to use the story of Humpty Dumpty to introduce the topic and begin a conversation on what happened Humpty Dumpty and why his shell broke. I then steer the conversation onto what could have been done to protect Humpty Dumpty.
I will then split the class into groups of 4 or 5 and have a range of different materials including plastic bags, string, containers such as pringle cans etc, and some cushioning materials like cut up sponges, cotton wool etc.
I then allow the children ample time to make their parachutes/containers. Once complete we throw them out of the window on our second floor classroom and see which eggs survive. This always creates great excitement. Once all eggs have been dropped we discuss which parachutes/containers worked and why we think they worked so well.
