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The rockets activity is a great one for multi-grade classes. The curious minds paper rocket template is a great resource also and could be adapted for older children also.
For this assignment I have chosen the rockets activity.________________________________________
To engage the children I would play the ESA/NASA rocket launch. I would also Read a space-themed picture book like Roaring Rockets by Tony Mitton
Some key questions I would ask are
“What do you think rockets need to fly?”
“Where do rockets go?”
“What sounds do they make when they blast off?”
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Next I would use the curious minds paper rocket template
Materials Needed:
Paper strips (A4 paper cut into wide strips)
Pencils (to use as molds)
Sellotape / Tape
Crayons or markers
Drinking straws 1
Instructions for the Children:
Color: Decorate your paper strip with space designs.
Roll: Wrap the paper strip tightly around a pencil to form a long cylinder tube.
Tape: Secure the edge of the paper tube with three pieces of tape so it doesn’t unroll.
Seal: Slide the tube off the pencil. Fold one end down firmly and tape it completely shut (this is the nose cone).]
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Investigate-The Setup: Slide the open end of the paper rocket onto a drinking straw.
Predict: I would Ask the children to guess how far their rocket will fly before they launch it.
The Countdown: Practice backwards counting as a group: “10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… BLAST OFF!”
Launch: Take a big breath and blow hard into the straw to launch the rocket across the room
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Fair Testing: We would then Talk about how to measure the flight paths fairly from the same starting line.
Measurement: Use non-standard units (e.g., counting steps or lollipop sticks) to measure how far the rockets traveled.
Variables: Ask the children, “What happens if you blow softer? What happens if you blow harder?
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To finish we would do an Astronaut Walk: I would have the children move around the room in slow motion, pretending there is no gravity keeping them down on the floor. Explanation and discussion of gravity.Fo this assignment I chose the activity where do you live. I love the simplicity of this for the younger children and the theme is extremely cross curricular.
To begin with and engage the children I would Ask them to describe what their own house looks like. I would Encourage them to name some of its features, such as the colour, what sort of roof it has, whether it’s a house or a flat, whether it has a garden or not.
I love the worksheet attached . I would then hand that out and. Ask the children to draw a circle round the house that looks most like the house they live in. Encourage them to use the colouring pencils to match the colour of their house. Children explore what their own house looks like and what other facilities are in their neighbourhood.
We would then engage in the build a house activitiy.. For this activity the children use their worksheet from the previous activity. I would Explain that they are going to make a model of their house. They can use the house chosen from the worksheet as a source of inspiration. For example, if they circled a house with a flat roof, this should be expressed in their model. Each child would have playdough to complete this activity.
Finally I would then group all the houses together and explain we have made a village full of houses. I would. Ask the children to sit in a circle around the village they have made. Encourage them to look closely at the village. We would talk about what is missing and what happens during a day. Where are they now? In school so the school is missing. What do they have for their lunch today? Where would we get that food? Shops-so the shops are missing. We would make a list of what is missing and I would get the children to work in pairs to make models of what is missing.
To wrap it up I came across a lovely story by Janice Vale-Where do you live? It’s a lovely story about children who live on islands all over the world. Explaining the Earth is such a special place.Hi Lorraine. This is a great simple lesson. Yiu have such a point about not needing equipment all the time. As teachers it’s important to stand back and let the children lead and see where it takes us!
For this assignment I chose the space and aliens set and in particular the activity Special life. What is special…… I would begin by explaining to the children that we live on Earth. Earth is a planet. There are many more planets in space. As far as we know there are no people living there. But if people did live there, what would the children like to show them here on Earth? What objects or animals here on Earth are so special that visitors from other planets should see them? I would ask children to think quietly for a moment or 2 about this.
In order to aid this thought process as the children are quite young I would then read a wonderful story I came across called –If you come to Earth by Sophie Blackall. This story is told as a letter to an imagined visitor from outer space. It introduces the people,places and everyday wonders of Earth while encouraging empathy,curiosity and care for one another and the planet.I would put the children into small groups to allow for group discussion. I would then ask the children to share their suggestions with the class.
Once the children have given their suggestions I would. Give each child a sheet of A4 paper and colouring pencils. Each child will be encouraged to draw what he or she has thought of, without letting the other children see. This maintains an element of surprise about what they will be acting out. The children think about how they can best act out their special object on Earth
. Act it out! 30 min I would . Sit in a circle with the children and Ask a child to act out what is in their drawing, without showing the drawing to anyone, the other children guess what is being enacted. Does it match the drawing? Every child must get a turn.
Finally I would then give the children some playdough and ask them to create their very own alien from outer space!Hi Janet, I love that idea of the Goldilocks zone and equating what Goldilocks was looking for to the earth being just right for us!
I loved the lesson -The planets Journey through the Solar System . It’s a fantastic idea to do it in the gym. The children would be thoroughly engaged and active in the lesson.
I would firstly prepare the names of the planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. I would play the planet song-family of the sun.
I would then engage the children by getting them. to sit in a circle on the floor. Question time
‘What is the name of the town where we live?’ Do they know what country this town is in? And what planet this country is on? On Earth. Can they name any other planets?
We would talk about the names of the eight planets in our solar system. The children find out what planets there are and that they orbit the Sun. explain the meaning of orbit using a hoop and a ball.
Investigate
Planet game – I would. Spread the hoops throughout the room: these are the planets. Put the yellow hoop in the middle: this is the Sun I would Explain to the children that in this game they are space rockets flying from one planet to another. They can do this by hopping, running or jumping between the hoops. While they are doing this, call out the names of colours/fruits/vegetables as they are quite young.. Only when children hear the name of one of the planets may they land on a planet
Next step –planet dance
. This activity focuses on the pupils’ spatial orientation. I would stand in the central hoop (the Sun) and give the following instructions: • Stand with legs wide apart on your planet. • Stand in your planet. • Stand behind your planet. • Stand next to your planet. • Stand to the left of your planet. • Stand to the right of your planet. • Stand under your planet – hold the hoop above your head. Check that the children are obeying the instructions properly. Repeat the activity a couple of times. Spin your own planet 5 min. I would Explain that the planets revolve around the Sun, but also spin on their own axes. The children will now do this with their own planet. I would Ask them to ‘Roll the planet like a wheel around the Sun, stay walking next to it.’ Then tell them to hold their planet in front of them and spin it.
Reflect- Talk to the children again about what planets there are. What do the planets revolve around? Follow up art activity-draw your favourite planet.Lesson Plan: Mighty Materials and Spillages
Learning Objectives
By the end of the lesson, children will:
Identify different materials (wood, plastic, metal, fabric, paper).
Describe simple properties (hard, soft, rough, smooth, waterproof, absorbent).
Understand that different materials react differently to spills.Resources
Small objects made from different materials (plastic cup, wooden block, metal spoon, fabric cloth, paper towel)
Tray or table
Water in a small jug
Sponge
Paper towels
Small cloth
Plastic sheet or tray for containing spills
Chris Hadfields video on how astronauts clean up in space.Using the 4 step esero inquiry model I would firstly engage the children by:
Showing the children a selection of objects.
Ask:
What is this made from?
How does it feel?
Is it hard or soft?
What happens if it gets wet? Lets predict!Introduce the words:
Hard
Soft
Smooth
Rough
Waterproof
AbsorbentInvestigate- Mighty Materials Investigation In small groups I would get the children to
Place a few drops of water onto:
Paper towel
Fabric
Plastic
Metal
WoodAsk the children:
Which material soaked up the water?
Which kept the water on the surface?
Which would be best for cleaning a spill? Lets predict!Next step-Record their ideas on a simple chart and check were any predictions correct.
Material Soaks Up Water? Waterproof?
Paper ✔ ✘
Fabric ✔ ✘
Plastic ✘ ✔
Metal ✘ ✔I would then play”Chris Hadfields video on how astronauts clean up spillages in space. Small group chat on how cleaning up spillages is different in space and why. Explore the meaning of gravity.
Reflect and Observe whether children can:
Name common materials.
Describe at least one property.
Identify an absorbent material.Hi Melanie I agree the one page template is a great resource and love the simplicity of this activity for junior infants.
Ice breaker activity.
Hi my name is Barbara. I will be teaching junior infants in September. An interesting fact about Space that I came across is that there are more stars than grains of sand on earths beaches! Astronomers estimate there are around 100-200 billion galaxies each with billions of stars!
I really like this research question. It has huge scope for exploration and investigation and would get the children thinking personally about their daily actions.
My research question would be how extreme weather events linked to climate change are contributing to soil erosion and can plants help stop this ?
I would begin by explaining to the children what soil erosion is.It is what happens when the Earth is saturated with water and cannot absorb anymore. I would show pictures of soil erosion and explain – it cost the world billions of dollars every year. It Causes pollutants in our water supply and it is a big problem in the world at the moment. I would ask the children do they think the extreme weather events that are linked to climate change that are occurring around the world ..flooding etc. may be contributing to this?I would then explain to the children that we are going to do an experiment, to see can plants help stop soil erosion. I would divide the class into four groups and show them the step-by-step experiment that we are going to do. This is an experiment that I came across on a website called science buddies.The children will have some foil trays . In three of the trays we will plant seeds in the other three trays there will be no seeds just earth. They will follow the step-by-step experiment where they will water carefully all of the trays over a couple of weeks and then at the end of the experiment they will open the tray and simulate a hill by just placing it gently on a container and then see do the plants help stop soil erosion . They will compare the data from the trays with no plants to the trays that do have plants. I will get the children to measure and analyse the data and record it and see how this could be applied in real world situations. I found this research question and experiment quite a nice and easy one to do within the classroom setting. It does not require a lot of materials and highlights the fact that soil erosion is such a huge problem globally that is being affected by climate change.
<p style=”text-align: center;”>I agree Grainne , this resource allows for huge cross curricular links and could lend itself to a thematic approach in teaching.</p>
Module 4-I downloaded the teacher resource activity guide for nose up high in the sky. I thoroughly enjoyed exploring the activities in this resource pack.Exploring and exposing the children to the weather Proverbs has huge educational benefits. The one I suppose I am most familiar with is -red sky at night sailors delight red sky in the morning sailors warning. I think the children will gain huge benefits from working in small groups discussing an assigned proverb and then reporting back to the class what the proverb means. A task like this has huge cross curricular links and would be fully supportive of the PLC. opportunities for oral language ,communication comprehension skills and teamwork could all be linked to this activity. In activity 2-sensing the weather the children will learn how to use their senses to predict the weather and understand that scientists would need scientific tools to provide accurate and reliable weather forecasts. I thoroughly enjoyed this activity as as very often if not daily I lookat the sky to see what the weather will be like and use my own senses. As we are aware, our weather is very unpredictable in Ireland. I thoroughly enjoyed this activity and the children could write and draw about what their weather forecast is using their senses. In the last activity building your own weather station I really enjoyed these activities.I think the children would enjoy these activities very much so. I think the class could be broken up into groups one group using the thermometer to measure the weather one could create the anemometer and one group could do the rain gauge. The weather station could be used on a weekly basis over time and children could keep their own weather diary to record measurements. I think the children will find it very interesting to compare their home-made instruments to store bought instruments to see the difference in measurements. This last activity brings the first two activities together and has huge stem and cross curricular links.