Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Lesson Plan: Making Rockets.
I would begin the lesson by showing the children videos of rocket launches from YouTube to grab their attention. We would discuss as a class what we know about rockets already. We might use a KWL chart or a Mind Map to do this.
I would make up a scenario where an astronaut needs something from home (food, water, medicine etc) and we need to come up with a plan on how to get the item to them. After figuring out that a rocket would be the quickest way, I will tell the children that we are going to design our own rockets.
I would show to children how we are going to make the rockets using the Make a Spacecraft resource. Once the children have completed them, we would make some predictions as to whose rocket will go the furthest.
The children would have great fun with this activity.
This sounds like great fun Laura. I’m sure the children would really enjoy seeing who got the most out of their rocket.
ESA and ESA Kids
I would allow the children some autonomy here while using ESA Kids. I would hand them out an iPad and let them have some fun exploring the many great resources here. In the older classes, I would ask them to report back to their neighbour about some of the things they learned.
Astronomy picture of the day
This would be a brilliant resource to use as a prompt for discussions around Space Week. I would display the picture of the day each morning as the children file in and they could discuss what they see with their classmates before school starts.
Stellarium-web.org
I find this website brilliant for displaying the night sky in the classroom, which is obviously impossible to do outside on a school day! The children would find it fascinating to stargaze and pick out some of the constellations and stars after teaching them about this topic beforehand. The fact you don’t need the internet is also a great benefit.
Activity Set – Space and Aliens.
Design your own Martian/Alien.To begin the lesson I would ask the children their prior knowledge on Mars and ask them to fill in a KWL chart. Each child would get a chance to give their thoughts and questions about what they’d like to know. I would prompt them if needed with questions such as ‘What does Mars look like?’ Or ‘Do they have mountains, rivers, lakes etc on Mars?
I would ask the children if they think anyone lives on mars. I would explain what the word Martian meant and ask the children to come up with ideas as to how this Martian would look. I would draw on the whiteboard as they give me ideas.
The children would have a chance to draw their own martians as a draft and I would ask them to design their martians using clay. The children would make their 3D models and paint them once they were dry.
Some brilliant ideas here Sinéad, thank you for sharing them. I will be using them for sure in the future!
I would choose the activity set: The Moon as the moon is something the children can easily point out in the sky.
I would begin the lesson by asking the children to draw a picture of the moon. I imagine I would get a lot of variety. I would ask the children to describe their moon to their partner and ask what time of day is their moon showing at. The children could discuss why they drew their moon the way they did eg full moons, crescent moons etc.
I would give the children a template of ‘What does the Moon Look Like’ and get them to fill it in for homework once a week over the following four weeks. In school, the children would discuss any changes that came over the moon since last weeks drawing.
I would do an art lesson with the children based on the different phases of the moon with a focus on the light and dark colours. The children would label the moons they’ve done in their art lesson with the correct terminology:new moon, full moon, first quarter, last quarter.
Inquiry Based Learning: The Stars
I would engage the children with a prompt appropriate to their age group such as a story, video, photo etc. We would have a class discussion of various facts the children know about space and the Stars.
I would ask the children to make mind maps of everything they know about the stars and have a group discussion on the topic once everyone had completed their mind maps.
As we have access to technology in our school, after making a list of things we would like to find out, I would assign the children with the task of adding to the mind maps with information they find out online.
We would come back together as a class and share our findings. The children could continue to work on this with a visit to local library and research further with books about space and the stars.
Hi everyone,
I’m Bríd and I’ll be teaching third class next year.
My favourite space fact is that one million Earths could fit inside the Sun – and the Sun is considered an average-size star!
