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How light pollution is impacting our local area:
Our school is based in a coastal village in the south east so there isn’t a huge amount of light pollution. However, I’ve noticed increasing glow from streetlighting, passing ships, and the ferry terminal lights reflecting off the water and clouds on overcast nights. This makes the stars more difficult to see than in the past.
I would take a picture of our local area after dark and put it up on the smart board for all to see. The students will each have “many stars” and “few stars” laminated pictures. We will discuss which picture matches the image of our local area.
Each pupil will then use a black card and star stickers to make a dark vs. bright sky image. I would split the black card in half and ask the students to show a dark sky on one side and a bright sky on the other side, using fewer stars on the brighter end, more on the darker end.
We could also compare a photo of our village sky to a very dark rural sky and a bright city sky, letting pupils sort or match the images as a further extension lesson the following week.
I really like this idea. It lets pupils choose their own topic and explore it themselves which tends to help engagement and motivation far more than a teacher-led explanation would.
I chose to use one of the Constellations Activities from the Framework of Inquiry. I teach in an ASD class so I’ve made some adjustments to the lesson to suit the children in my class.
I will tell a short, simple story about Cassiopeia. I will use picture cards to help, instead of lots of talking. Then I will show the five stars that make Cassiopeia. Children will join the dots on their worksheet. SNAs and I will help.
We will then look at Orion the same way, joining star dots. Instead of asking “what does it look like?”. I will have picture cards of a hunter and another couple of images and children can point to which they think Orion looks like.
They will then paint or cut and stick to make their own Orion picture. Each child will show their picture and then we will put it on a star wall.
At the end, I will give a simple picture card for home: “Look up tonight. Can you spot Cassiopeia or Orion?”
I think this is a good activity as drawing the shadows allows children to see what happens as the sun moves throughout the day. The questions are great as they start out closed and get more open and challenge the children to think critically.
I have chosen activity 1 from the “One Year On Earth- Understanding the Seasons” resource. I teach in an ASD class with a number of children who have very limited verbal language so I need my activity to be very hands on, with little discussion and lots of opportunities to demonstrate understanding in other ways. I’d start by printing out the tree pictures and satellite pictures from the activity and laminating them so my class can touch and move them around. I’d let each pupil match a tree picture to its season, then match it to the right satellite picture. I’d use a visual timer so they know how long each step takes, and a simple picture checklist showing: look at tree, sort, match satellite. I’d keep my questions short and clear, like “Which tree has no leaves?” instead of asking “why” questions that need more thinking. I’d let pupils sit with a fidget toy if they need to. I’d bring the children around the school grounds in the days prior to the activity to collect some real leaves so they have something to touch that connects to the topic.
Inviting children to predict how they can make their mouse fly higher before testing really encourages scientific thinking and gets them actively engaged in the process. The reflective questioning at the end, asking what helped the mouse travel and what they could change next time, helps children connect their actions to the outcome and understand the idea of push force in a really simple, hands-on way.
Activity: Alien Slime
Introduction: Show a picture of an alien and ask, “What if aliens were made of slime?”
Investigation: As a group, children mix cornflour and water in a tray, using visual step cards (pour, stir, squeeze) to support the sequence. Offer a spoon as an alternative for children who prefer not to touch the mixture directly. Let children explore pressing it quickly (it feels hard) and slowly (it feels runny).
Conclusion: Gather together with picture cards showing “hard” and “soft.” Ask each child to point to or say which one matches how their slime felt when squeezed, reinforcing the idea that alien slime can be both a solid and a liquid.
Note: Have wipes/gloves nearby, and offer a visual choice board so children can opt in or out of the tactile activity.I really like this lesson! One reason is how inclusive it is. Being mindful of children’s different living situations, including apartments, hotels, or emergency accommodation, ensures every child feels comfortable and represented from the very start.
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.
I really like this lesson! First, starting with the E.T. clip and open-ended questions is a great hook for infants. Second, the hands-on alien making with the teacher circulating and asking follow-up questions keeps the activity playful while still building oral language and reasoning skills, and the drama and writing extensions offer lovely ways to build on it further.
Activity Set: Stars
Introduction: How many stars?
Sit in a circle. Show a handful of marbles and ask if there are more stars in the sky than that. Count them into a jar, then compare to the number of children in the class, then fill a jar to the top — explaining there are far too many stars to count. Ask: “Have you ever seen the stars? When do we see them? Is the Sun a star too?” Explain the Sun is our nearest star, giving us light during the day, while other stars twinkle at night.Starry sky painting
Give each child dark paper and let them splatter white/yellow paint using a toothbrush and comb to create a starry sky, choosing their own star colours (just like real stars come in different colours).Draw your own constellation
Once dry, children connect a few of their painted stars with a pencil line to create a shape — an animal, object, or creature — just like ancient people did.Conclusion
Children share their constellation and give it a name.I thought this was a great lesson because the Think-Pair-Share mind map gets every child talking and thinking before the hands-on investigation even begins, building strong vocabulary and curiosity from the start. I also loved how the torch-and-bear investigation lets children discover the science of shadows for themselves through guided questioning, and then extends beautifully outdoors with real sunlight and animal shadows.
Activity Set: The Planets
Song: Start by singing along to “We Are the Planets” by Outer Space on YouTube, encouraging children to move and dance as each planet is introduced.
Introduction: Sit in a circle. Ask: “What planet do we live on?” Talk briefly about the eight planets in our solar system, starting from the Sun: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
Planet game: Spread hoops around the room, with a yellow hoop as the Sun in the centre. Children are “space rockets” moving between hoops. Call out familiar names; when they hear a planet’s name, they land in a hoop. Remind them the Sun’s hoop is too hot to stand in!
Conclusion: Gather back in the circle and ask each child to name their favourite planet from the song, encouraging them to share why they picked it.Hi Niamh,
I really like your idea of introducing your inquiry-based activity with Paddington Bear! This would definitely engage the class with the topic as they would all love to help him solve the problem of forgetting his wellies.
It would be a great art activity extension to create the new wellies for Paddington.
Hi everyone,
My name is Áine and I will be teaching in our ASD class again this year. Some of the children in my class have a special interest in Space so I am looking forward to learning new ways to engage with this topic in the classroom.
My favourite fact about space is that there is little to no gravitational force and objects float!
An inquiry-based activity I would like to focus on in my classroom would be a sink or float experiment. We would use a few common items like rocks, a toy, cutlery, plastic balls etc. and ask the question “Which items do you think would float?” and “Which items do you think would sink?” “Why/why not?”.
We would predict and then observe and record the results. It would work well for my class as they would each get the chance to be hands on with the experiment and there would be a clear outcome at the end. I have a number of children with limited verbal language but they would be able to communicate via a tick box activity whether the objects floated or sank or they could sort the objects into 2 groups “sink” or “float”.