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Thanks for the lovely ideas Emma. Love the display and the two book recommendations. Looking forward to using these.
Thanks for the video links you included – they are ideal.
I think the rocket with the effervescent tablets demonstration is a great finale to Space Week.
I intend on doing this activity in pairs with 1st and 2nd class. I would begin my lesson with a video of Space X taking off. After some discussions and wonderings. I would then proceed to the Rocket Mice activity. I would present the class with a ‘mouse’ – constructed using the template provided. I will explain the children that will create and design their own mice in pairs and will investigate ‘How high/far can you make your Rocket Mice fly?’. Some pairs will be asked to consider ‘How could you make your rocket mouse go more slowly?’; ‘Can you make your rocket spin as it falls?’. We will then make the connections, for instance squeezing shampoo or ketchup bottles and the resulting air pressure forcing the liquid out. I love the creativity and simplicity of this activity and can imagine it would bring great energy and excitement to a class as the endeavour to tweak (alter a variable) to bring about particular changes to the outcome.
I will definitely use this activity set with my 1st/2nd class this coming year. As you alluded to, there are multiple possibilites for integration with other subjects. I think it could lend itself very well to intergration with Gaeilge especially.
The Marvin and Milo ‘Do try this at home’ comic series seems like a fantastic addition to the 1st&2nd classroom. There are so many brilliant aspects to this comic series. It will certainly trigger a sense of wonder and intrigue in the children. When initially introducing the series, I would have the #21 strip displayed on the IWB. I would reveal the top half of the comic strip and briefly discuss what Marvin means when he says ‘This bowl can drink on its own’. We would then continue to read each panel, clarifying the meaning of words like ‘submerge’ as we go. For the first few weeks, we would do the same investigation in small groups at the same time. As time goes on, depending on abilities we could let the small groups read the comic strip themselves (laminated A4), perform the investigation (with all materials at hand) and discuss and reflect on what they observed. Each week, one group could demonstrate what Marvin and Milo had taught them this week.
This book seems like the perfect addition to the lessons. The familiarity of the traditional Goldilocks story combined with the ‘just right’ concept would be a perfect stimulus for Creating a Martian challenge.
Sinead, I completely agree with you all the activities in this module seem very engaging and worth doing. I think your activity set is great and Niall’s suggestion of live footage from the ISS would add a great level of interest and understanding for the children.
I would use the ESERO ‘What does the Moon Look like?’ activity set with my first and second class group. This activity would be conducted over a period of 4 weeks. Initially, I would ask the class to bring in objects/pictures/books related to the moon and these items will all be collated on the ‘Moon Table’.
I will then draw a Moon on an A3 piece of white paper and discuss what they associate with the word ‘Moon’ – including the items on the Moon Table. These will be recorded on the sheet of paper using drawings and an appropriate word underneath. This word bank will be displayed in the classroom – and as new concepts are mentioned they will be added to it.
On an Autumn evening with a full moon, my scientists will be given a worksheet to take home. Their task will be to draw the part of the moon they can see and describe it. They will repeat this task exactly one, two and three weeks later and record their findings.
After the fourth recording we will look at and discuss what the children have drawn for each phase and draw these four phases on the board. I give the class some information about our view of the moon and explain the impact of the suns light and position on it.
The conclusion will involve the children engaging in a photograph activity (Four phases of the moon) – starting with the full moon and asking the children which photo comes next and ideally if they can justify their hypothesis.
Hi Felicity
I love that you used what the children were already interested in as a stimulus for your investigation.
I think it is so important that we try to extend the children’s interests, knowledge and inquiry methods. That said, I think certain topics e.g. space will always be able to be of interest to everyone in a class if you can just find the correct entry point for certain children.
Hi, I’m Áine. This last year I taught Senior Infants and I will be teaching First and Second class this coming year.
My favourite space fact and concept has always been that astronauts can float in space due to the minimal gravity.
A really enjoyable set of inquiry based lesson that I used with Senior Infants was called how will your roly poly move. https://www.stem.org.uk/resources/elibrary/resource/25804/how-will-your-roly-poly-move#&gid=2&pid=1 We first looked and explored a set of toys that roll – considering what elements were important for a wheel to roll. We listened to and read a poem about Three Roly Polys.
As part of these sessions we explored how different sorts of rolling motions and how these can be achieved by particular arrangements of wheels and axles. We also investigated three different ways of fixing a tube (axle) to a paper plate (wheel).
I loved that each group worked together to explore various methods of attachment. Afterwards we considered which method was quickest/longest, easiest/most difficult, strongest/weakest and which method they would choose.
In the following two sessions we designed and made our Roly Polys. It was great fun and the children enjoyed every single element of those lessons – in particular exploring and wondering if their creations moved in the desired manner.
I would quite happily use this lesson as far as second class and be quite confident they would enjoy it.
