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Module 2 Assignment
I would teach a lesson on the moon. The moon, as mentioned in module two, can be/ is seen by every human being on planet earth. Most calenders are based on the lunar cycle and even Lúnasa- the month of August As Gaeilge- is derived from the Latin word Luna meaning moon. The moon causes tides, thus affecting the waves and the moon helps the children to understand the difference between day and night.
I would first introduce the moon by showing the children a clear image on the Interactive Whiteboard. I would ask them what they know about the moon and write their answers on a flip chart at the top of the room. I would ask the children what they see when they look at the moon. Shadows? Crators? The “man on the moon”?
This would lead to the man on the moon- the moon landing. I would show the children the clip of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s moon landing on the IWB. We would discuss gravity, the use of oxygen and discuss the astronauts helmets and suits. I would give the children the opportunity to ask questions about the clip and thd moon landing. We would then choose two children to take part in a role play at the top of the room during which they would re-enact man’s first steps on the moon. We would then play hot seating and the other children could ask Neil and Buzz questions about their experience in Space (more specifically- on the moon!)
The children would then create their own moons using paper (with a pre drawn circle) light fabric, paper, glue, sequins for creators and a scissors.
We would finish up by singing a song about the moon called The Moon Song by Kids Learning Tube.
Ive been interested in all things space from a young age and have always wanted to visit a planetarium. I find it fasciniating and i always find that children love to learn about the solar system, rockets, astronauts and partake in sciencd activities. Last year, I taught 1st class for the majority of the year before moving to SET. They adored science and we used to check NASA live, use images from NASA hubble (as lesson prompts for Visual Art, Mindfulness, Drama and oral language activities to name a few) and I found a wonderful picture book which they loved called Little Comet by Autumn Publishing. I read it to infants and first class and they were intrigued by the asteroids in the story and the story of the little comets journey around the sun. Id highly recommend this book for the early years!
Thank you for sharing this link to the resources you use. It’s great to have these saved before September for when the class I work with are covering Space. So handy!
Thanks for sharing the photos. It looks amazing and the junior classes in particular are visual learners so this would definitely intrigue them.
Thematic planning is definitely worthwhile and makes for better learning, in my opinion. Particularly in infants.
<p style=”text-align: left;”>Thanks for sharing these ideas. I work in SET and I love the idea of placing a cube on a star for differentiation purposes and finishing up by asking if they see stars at night time.</p>
There’s so much scope with Aistear. Teaching Space through Aistear is so interesting and the children love it.
My name is Catherine and I’m a learning support teacher. Last year, I taught 1st class. I teach in a DEIS 1 school. I have always been interested in Space/ the Solar System and my favourite fact is that the planets within our solar system produce sounds (which are not audible in a traditional sense as space doesn’t carry sound waves). They are plasma waves which have been converted to an audible frequency which can be listened to on NASA’s channel and social media pages.
In inquiry based activity which I love to teach and facilitate within the junior classes is the Floating and Sinking experiment. The children sit in groups and each group is given two clear plastic tanks; one filled with soda water, the other filled with still water. The Children are each given two raisins. They drop one raisin into the soda water and the other into the still water. In their groups, they then make predictions. What will happen to the raisins? Will they float or sink? Will the raisins act differently in each tank? If so, why? They then discovered that the raisin ‘dances’ in the soda water and we discuss the reasons for this. We then record our findings on the Whiteboard and in their Science copies
<p style=”text-align: left;”>I would choose to teach a lesson on Sun and Shadows.</p>
To assess their prior knowledge, I would ask the children to take part in an interactive quiz on the IWB based on the sunEg: Is the sun a planet or a star?
Is the sun solid? etc
They would come up to the interactive Whiteboard individually to answer these questions and then we would discuss the answers together. We would then watch a documentary on YouTube about the sun and discuss shadows.
I would ask one child to come up to the top of the classroom and trace his/her shadow. We would then go to the yard as a whole group and I would divide the children into pairs. They would take turns tracing the outline of each other’s shadows using chalk (weather permitting). If the weather was bad, they would take turns outlining each others shadows on flip chart paper and we would create a collage of their shadows.
