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Hi Michelle,
This looks like a great plan. I love all the cross-curicular activities. There are so many fun, hands on and engaging activites here. I feel that the children would really enjoy these activites. Thanks for sharing.
I chose the activity set Rockets. I would begin by assessing the children prior knowledge about rockets. We would then watch a short clip of a rocket launch, possibly a NASA launch.
I would ask the children questions about what they saw, what they think made the rocket go up, and I would ask them if they think they could work as engineers today and create a rocket?
I would spend some time introducing and explaining some concepts and vocabulary such as launch, push, pull, blast off, force, gravity, air pressure etc. I would then read the children a story called Rosie and the Rocket, this is really lovely book and in the story Rosie used odds and ends to create her rocket, just like the children will do in the next step.
Previously when completing this lesson I have used images of rockets stuck back to back with a straw in the middle but I really love the idea of the rocket mice using different size bottles. I would use this idea instead.
Before beginning I would show the children all the different shaped ad sized bottles, I would ask them to predict what they think would happen if I squeeze the bottle with my mouse head on top. This is when the previously discussed concepts would come into use, air pressure, force etc. We would then predict what might happen with different shaped/ sized containers.
I would split the children into groups and let them try all the different containers. We would come back together and discuss their findings. Then as a whole class we would try a range of containers and discuss why some of the rockets went higher than others- size, height and the amount of pressure that was put on each container. We would then sort the containers from the lowest to highest blast off height. This activity lays a foundation for understanding push and pull forces, while developing questioning, predicting, and recording skills — essential early STEM practices.
I love this idea of a friday box, this is definitley something I will be suggesting to all infant teachers in my school. I sometimes find gathering the resources the hardest part of lesson prep!
For this module I chose hands-on classroom themed activities as an area for the focus of STEM in SSE, as I feel the children learn best when they are actively engaged in a lesson.
I chose to base my lesson on the theme of Where do you live? in a junior infant class. With the focus of this lesson being on Can you build a home?
For my introduction I would show pictures of different homes around the world: huts, apartments, houseboats, etc. and ask the children Where do you live? What is your home made of?, Where do animals live?. I’d introduce the word “habitat” simply and explain that a habitat is a home where someone or something lives.
I would read The Three Little Pigs and discuss why did the house made of bricks stay strong?.I would also read a non- fiction book called Let’s Build a House by Mick Manning as this book introduces many types of houses and materials used to build houses that the children may not be aware of- this would hopefully spark lots of conversation!
I would then set the children a challenge: Can they build a home for a toy animal or small doll that keeps it safe and doesn’t fall down? The children will work in pairs or groups and use different materials to build their homes. I would remind them that they need to make their home as strong as they can as the big bad wolf is going to try come and knock it down.
When they have completed their homes, I will test their homes and see if the animal/doll can fit inside, then using my hairdryer with a picture of a wolf’s open mouth stuck over the barrel, I will try to blow their houses down. Then we will discuss which materials were strongest. What kind of homes do animals make?, Would your house keep you warm or dry? etc
Theres lots of integration in this lesson, which I feel is key in an infant class as the days are so busy it is very hard to cover all subjects , for example- Science (SESE)-Explore how materials are used for different purposes. Identify different animal homes and human dwellings.
Maths-Use spatial language: tall, wide, next to, under. Sort and compare materials.
Language & SPHE-Describe their home; talk and listen in groups. Express needs for comfort, shelter, and safety.
Aistear Ideas-Role-play: Builder’s Yard, Estate Agent, Animal Habitat Lab.Small world: Use dolls’ houses, jungle/forest playsetsI really like this lesson Jenny, its simple and well structured and it is someting I could see an infant class really enjoying it. I love that they can be as creative as they like and I see the art section really brining the childrens inagination to life. Lots of chances for talk and discussion which I really try to promote in the infant classroom.
I would base my activity around space and aliens.
I think I would begin my lesson by reading the book Aliens love Underpants by Claire Freedman. The illustrations in the book would provide a stimulus for talking about aliens and help when asking the children to describe the aliens.
I would then ask the pupils to draw a picture of an alien, hiding it from their partner. Their partner would then describe their alien using descriptive words ( link with narrative genre) and ask the other pupil to draw based on descriptions given. This is integrating both art and literacy.
Coming together as a class, it would be a nice idea to ask the pupils where they would recommend their alien to visit based on their favourite areas in their locality/ favourite places in Dublin or the world. I would ask the pupils to give reasons for their recommendations, integrating persuasive writing into the lesson. This can be done orally or in written form depending on the level of the class.
Finally, as junior classes tend to really enjoy using playdoh, I would ask them to create their own alien and share their creations with the class.
I really like the idea of using Jack and Jill as a stimulus as the children more than likely will be familiar with the rhyme.
I really like your lesson as it seems really engaging and hands on. It’s definitely something I could see myself doing. Thanks for the great ideas 💡
I would base my lesson on The Planets.
I would begin the lesson with listing the planets on the board and asking the children to read the names and to report back anything they know about planets to establish prior knowledge. I would then play The Planets Song for the pupils. This is a great starting point as it will spark an interest in the topic.
A trip to the school library would be useful then as we can collect a variety of age appropriate books on the planets. I would also use ICT for gathering information. Depending on the age of the pupils I would either ask the children to split into small groups and assign a planet to each group. I have used the form of a news report to orally relay information on the assigned planets to the rest of the class. This way everyone can get involved. Something else I have used in my class is using playdoh to create the planets as papier mache may be too difficult for some pupils.
I didn’t know this fact! Very cool, I can’t wait to share all these facts with my new class in September!
Hi,
I love the idea of the children designing a space suit for an inquiry based lesson. It just seems to me to be a really fun way for the children to investigate that different types of clothes and materials have different ways of keeping us dry/cool/ warm etc.
I would ask the children what sort of weather it was when they came to school this morning. What clothes were they wearing? Was it rain-
ing? What do you wear when it rains? Why do you wear a raincoat? Explain that
a raincoat keeps your clothes dry. It keeps the water out. Do the children know
something that keeps them warm? Come to the conclusion together that you
wear warm, thick clothing when it is cold outside. Explain that you can change
your clothing according to the weather.We would then talk about astronauts/divers/farmers and some other occupations and discuss the type of clothing these people would need.
We would look at how some people need to wear special suits(with oxygen tanks) and some don’t. I would give the children a range of materials and get them to design their own spacesuit for an astronaut reminding them that he must be warm and dry and he needs to be able to breath and needs oxygen as part of his suit.
When the children are finished we would then have a chat about what they have made and listen to their reasons for each of their designs, why they chose certain materials etc for their astronaut.
Hi, My name is Amanda and I will be teaching junior infants next year. I chose this course as I briefly touched on space with my class this year and they loved learning about space, but i felt there was a lot of questions from the children that I couldn’t answer. I am hoping this course will help me next year with my new class. Also a favourite fact I learned this year is that space is silent!
