Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hi Shauna,
Using Dr. Norah Patten as a real-life inspiration is a brilliant idea. She is a wonderful role model for students. I love how the rocket activities link naturally to maths skills like estimating, measuring, and recording. It’s such a creative way to explore space and forces while keeping it exciting and meaningful for young learners.
For this assignment I have chosen to create a Space Week plan suitable for Senior Infants. My aim is to introduce the children to basic concepts about space in an age-appropriate and fun way by integrating some of the activities, hands-on experiments, online resources, stories, songs and cross-curricular and thematic approaches that were discussed throughout this course. Each day will to focus on a different lesson or theme.
Lesson 1: What is Space?
To introduce the topic, I would display a KWL chart on the whiteboard and ask the children to discuss in small groups what they know about space and what they would like to find out. Their suggestions could be recorded on the chart for reference and reflection at the end of the week. I would show the children a short video (e.g. StoryBots – What is Space) to spark curiosity. The children can then create a space-themed collage on black card using various materials (e.g. foil stars, aluminium foil, chalk, drawings, etc.)Lesson 2: The Planets
Using the planets activity set and a story (The Cat in the Hat – There’s No Place Like Space) or a song (The Planets Song) I would introduce the children to the planets. I would follow this with a group activity where children match pictures of the planets and their names and order them according to their distance from the sun. I would also play the Planet Game outlined in the Activity Set.Lesson 3: The Sun and Shadows
To explore the concept of shadows, I would read the story “Moonbear’s Shadow” as a stimulus. I would bring the children outside to the yard to observe their own shadows and see how it changes when they crouch, jump or move. In pairs, they could then trace each other’s shadow using chalk. We could go out again later in the day to see how their shadows have changed.Lesson 4: Space and Aliens
Again I would use an Activity Set – Special Life as the basis for this lesson. The story “My Alien Friend and Me” would serve as a stimulus for discussion about life on Earth and what makes our planet unique. Each child could design and draw their own alien and then create a 3D version using clay or play-dough.Lesson 5: Alien Chemistry
I would base this lesson on the Alien Slime activity from module 5 of the course. It combines sensory play, creativity and science exploration which makes a fun and engaging lesson to wrap up the space themed week.Although each lesson can be taught as a stand-alone daily lesson, there are ample opportunities to further explore the space theme throughout the week through cross-curricular integration with literacy, history, maths, art and drama.
Wow Donna Marie, what a fantastic range of ideas! You’ve created such a rich, playful and integrated approach to exploring the theme of Animals in the Cold. I especially love the Ice Rescue and Arctic Sensory Bin activities. They are great for developing fine motor skills and sparking curiosity through hands-on exploration. The combination of literacy, numeracy art and movement really shows how versatile this theme can be across the curriculum. I’ll be incorporating some of these activities into my teaching next year. Thank you!
For this assignment, I have chosen to base my lesson on the Activity Set: Weather – Animals in the Cold. This hands-on, sensory-rich lesson will help boost motivation, foster engagement and encourage curiosity in a fun and interactive way and will be a lovely lesson for senior infants.
I would start the lesson by asking children to brainstorm various types of weather which I would record on the board or a flip chart. Since I plan to teach this lesson during the winter, I would then guide the discussion towards cold weather and introduce locations such as the Arctic and Antarctica. I would point out these regions on a globe. I would then ask the children to think of any animals that might live in these cold environments and how those animals might keep warm.
Next, I would read the story “The Polar Bear and the Snow Cloud” by Jane Barrera and discuss the animals mentioned in the story. With the support of visual aids, (images of polar bears, penguins, seals and walruses) I would explain that these animals have a layer of blubber under their skin to help keep them warm.
We would then carry out the “Blubber Glove” experiment using baking fat or lard to simulate the insulating effect of blubber. This would allow the children to experience the concept in a tangible and memorable way.If time permits, I would also show the children the short educational cartoon on YouTube – “JunyTony – Polar Region Animals” to reinforce learning through visual and auditory means.
For follow-up lessons or cross-curricular integration, children could learn about Antarctica or the life cycle or the penguin, create penguin themed art using potato prints and cotton pads, or play movement games in PE (waddle like a penguin, stamp like a polar bear, slither like a seal).
Hi Deirdre,
This sounds like a creative and engaging lesson! I love how you connect music, art, and storytelling to help the children explore constellations. The hands-on activity with chalk and black paper is a great touch—fun and memorable!The activity I would base my lesson on is the Activity Set – Special Life.
I would begin the lesson by asking the children to think about what makes Earth special. Using prompts such as family, animals, plants, food, etc., I would encourage them to share some of their favourite things about life on Earth. Each child would then draw a picture on a square piece of paper, which we would later combine to create a collaborative class mural titled “Our Special Planet”.
I would then read the story “My Alien and Me” by Smriti Prasadam-Halls. After the story, we would have a class discussion about what Earth might look like to an alien visitor and what they would show an alien friend.
The children could then draw their own alien. I would give prompts for them to consider such as what shape and colour is it, how many arms, legs and eyes does it have, etc. They could give their alien a name. We would then have a Show and Tell circle activity where the children could present and describe their alien creations to the class.
This lesson provides lots of opportunities for cross curricular integration.
Art: Children build their alien using play-dough or clay.
STEM: In small groups, children design and build a spaceship using blocks, cardboard, Mobilo, Magna-Tiles or Lego.
Oral Language: Children listen to and discuss the poem “Id Like to Meet an Alien” by Ken Nesbitt.
Literacy: Children create a class book by writing about or drawing pictures of what they would show an alien visitor to their class.
Drama: In groups, children create a role-play showing an alien around their class and things they like to do for fun.Hi Criona,
This is a fantastic approach to making a complex concept accessible and engaging for young learners. I love how you’ve planned to use real-world observation across different times of the day. It’s such a powerful way to show how the Sun affects shadows. The integration with maths, literacy, and art adds great depth and variety.
The Activity Set I have chosen to explore is “The Planets” as I believe young children are naturally curious and fascinated by space and the solar system.
I would begin the lesson by displaying a KWL chart on the board and elicit from the children any previous knowledge they have about space, and in particular, the planets. I would then read the book “The Cat in the Hat – There’s No Place Like Space!” to introduce them to some fun and engaging facts about the planets. After the story, we would follow up by recalling some information about the planets (what colour is Mars, which is the biggest planet, etc.). I would teach the children the mnemonic – My Very Excellent Mum Just Served Us Nachos – to help them remember the names and order of the planets.
Next, I would divide the class into small, mixed-ability groups, and provide each group with pictures and names of the planets and the sun. Their task would be to match the names to the correct pictures and arrange the planets in order according to their distance from the Sun. We would then review and correct this together as a whole class using an interactive drag-and-drop whiteboard activity. To conclude the lesson, we could sing the Planet Song.
If weather permitted, I would bring the children outside to the yard to play the Planet Game as fun and movement is a great way to reinforce learning and help memorise new information.
Hi Rachel. I love how you connected the concept of falling to the children’s real-life experiences. Using everyday objects and taking the experiment outdoors is such a fun and engaging way to explore gravity. It gave me a few ideas I’d love to try in my own classroom! Thank you.
Hi,
My name is Audrey and I will be teaching Senior Infants next year. I am looking forward to increasing my knowledge and learning new fun and engaging ways to teach the space theme to this age group. One of my favourite space facts is that the sun is so big that over one million Earths could fit inside it and yet the sun is considered to be an average sized star!
An inquiry-based lesson my students enjoyed last year was a lesson based on “Floating and Sinking”.
I introduced the lesson by asking them what they thought would happen if we put different objects into a basin of water.
I then showed them various objects (coin, paper-clip, cork, marble, leaf, pencil, crayon and Lego brick) and asked then to predict whether each object would float or sink. The children recorded their predictions on a simple worksheet.
In small groups, the children were given a basin of water and a set of the objects to test. They carried out the investigation, observed the outcomes, and discussed their findings together. Afterwards, we came back as a class to share and compare results, discussing why some objects floated while others sank.
To extend the lesson, I gave each group two pieces of play-dough and challenged them to make one piece float and one piece sink.
The children loved this hands-on activity and were enthusiastic to try the experiment using other objects found around the classroom.
