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The lesson I would use in my classroom would be ‘Special Life’. I think this would work well in the infant classroom as it is aimed at a younger age group and definitely encourages the use of imagination and creativity. I would link this lesson to Earth Day which we put a lot of emphasis on in our school. I would begin by discussing planet Earth with the children and eliciting all that is special and important about our planet. I would then encourage the children to work in pairs to choose their favourite thing about planet Earth and we would use the role play suggestion in the lesson plan as part of a drama lesson. I really liked the idea of the children drawing an alien. I think this would be a really fun activity to do with the class as an art lesson. The extension activity of making a Martian would also be a great lesson however I think careful planning would be needed especially with infants. Particularly in relation to what materials could be used and the level of support that some children would need to make their Martian. However it is definitely possible once it is planned appropriately. I really liked the idea of using the Martians for maths work. I think the children would love this and would connect their learning across the different subjects.
I really like all the cross curricular links in this lesson. I think it is important to tie in as many subjects as possible to make planning less challenging and also to ensure that the children get a deeper understanding of the topic. I also love the idea of Junk art-it is simple to implement however the scope for imagination is huge.
The activity set I would choose for my class would be ‘The Planets’. I think this one would be the most suitable for the Junior classes as I can see how it can be integrated across the curriculum. I would start by having ‘Space’ or ‘The Space Station’ as my Aistear/Oral Language theme for the month and use the Planet song as a stimilus for the lesson. I think this is also a great way to integrate music into this theme. I love the activities provided with the hula hoops as I think they would be a fantastic as a P.E. lesson or a number of P.E. lessons over a few weeks. It incorporates basic movement skills and also dance which can be a challenging strand for the Junior Classes however I think it is very nicely presented in this activity. I also think the hula hoop activity where the children have to land on a hula hoop when a planet is called is an effective assessment strategy. I would also include some art activities in this-the children would work in groups to paint their own planets and we would create a class Solar System to display.
I thought it was great here that the importance of ensuring children understand the language before engaging in the activity was highlighted. This is certainly something I will have to consider going forward too. It is worth spending the time on this to ensure that the children understand the concepts being taught.
Hi,
My name is Aideen and I currently teach Junior Infants. The push/pull lesson from this module struck a chord with me as this is a lesson that I taught last year. I incorporated it into our Aistear theme of ‘The Toy Shop’. The children had wind up cars and had to explore ways to make the cars go longer distances. This obviously related to how far back they pulled the car before letting it go. They absolutely loved this and had great fun. It prompted a lot of discussion among themselves and problem solving. I then extended this lesson and asked the children to make a slide for the cars using various materials. The children soon learned that the more steep the incline was the faster the cars would go. They also realised a steep incline meant that the cars were more challenging to control. It is definitely a lesson I will include again next year.
An interesting space fact is: Neptune has only completed one orbit around the Sun since its discovery!
