Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Prepare a school project to collect Piseógs/Traditions/Stories of the Night. For Example: Dúchas Folklore Commission
Discuss:
What is a tradition?
What is a piseóg?
Why do people tell stories?
Why were stories often told at night?Introduce the Dúchas Schools’ Folklore Collection and explain how Irish schoolchildren interviewed older people nearly 90 years ago to preserve Ireland’s traditions.
Explain that the class will carry out a modern version of this project.
Children investigate stories relating to:
The Moon
Full moon beliefs
Moon planting traditions
Weather predictions
Stars
Wishing upon stars
The Evening Star
The Milky Way
Fairies
Fairy forts
Fairy paths
Fairy trees
Animals at Night
Bats
Owls
Foxes
Hedgehogs
Dogs howling
Crows
Weather
Red sky at night
Halo around the moon
Mist and fog beliefs
Saints’ Days
Halloween traditions
St. Brigid
Christmas Eve customs
Good Luck and Bad LuckExamples:
Never whistle at night.
Don’t sweep after dark.
Leaving milk for the fairies.
Closing curtains before dark.Children will interview older family members base don the above topics. Questions will be brainstormed with the whole class. They will share their findings with the class and discuss similarities and differences in their interviews. Children will create a night folklore exhibition and invite parents in. They will choose how to display their findings for example story books, art, map, audio recordings.
There are some great songs you have listed that would be great to explore the night sky with the children!
How you would engage your learners to explore biodiversity in your local area and
the possible impacts of light pollution on local biodiversity.The children would explore this topic over a number of weeks. They would begin by exploring different habitats around the school for example- school garden, trees, bushes etc. They would note which habitat contains the greatest biodiversity and why. They would then look at light pollution and how some animals depend on darkness for example- bats hunt insects in the dark, moths navigate using the moon. owls hunt in darkness etc. We would then complete a school investigation by exploring brightly lit areas, dark areas etc. Recording the number of lights, brightness, shadows and wildlife seen. The children will work collaboratively to design ways to help wildlife. If needed I will prompt them with ideas like ‘switch off’ campaign posters, wildlife friendly garden plans, pollinator gardens, dark zones around the school. The children will present their ideas to their peers. We will put some of the plans into place and explain them at assembly to the whole school
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this lesson, learners will be able to:
Define light pollution and identify its different forms.
Compare the night sky visibility in the Harbour with a nearby rural location.
Explain how artificial lighting affects people, wildlife, and the environment.
Collect and analyse observational data.
Suggest practical ways to reduce light pollution in their local community.Introduce the lesson by displaying two photographs:
Harbour at night (street lighting, harbour lights, ferry terminal)
A nearby rural location with minimal lightingAsk learners:
Which place would have the darkest sky?
Which place would you rather observe stars from?
Why?Record responses on the board.
Discuss light pollution with the children teacher will prompt the children why the harbour has more pollution (port operations, ferry terminal, street lighting etc.) Compare this to the rural area (fewer houses, less traffic, limited street lightening etc.)
The class would be split into groups. Some groups investigating the Harbour and the others investigating the rural area. Noting the amount of lighting, visibility of stars, wildlife, human activity, night sky brightness. The class will come together to discuss which location has greater light pollution, why, what evidence supports this? We will also discuss how light pollution affects people, wildlife and the environment.
The comparison of your hometown to the school area is a nice idea that the children will enjoy. This is a lovely lesson that will grasp their interest.
Create an observing plan for autumn that shows which planets are visible in the evening sky.
Strand: Energy and Forces
Strand Unit: LightLearning Intentions
By the end of this investigation, pupils should be able to:
Identify planets visible in the autumn evening sky.
Distinguish between planets and stars using careful observation.
Use a simple star chart or astronomy app to locate planets.
Record observations over several weeks and identify changes in the planets’ positions.
Explain why different planets are visible at different times of the year.The children will be given an observation journal to bring home and a compass. They will observe the sun roughly 30-60 minutes after sunset. Before each observation the children with the help of their parents will check the Stellarium app to check which planets are visible. They will investigate which planets can be observed in the autumn evening sky and how their positions change over time. During their observations they will record the date and time, weather conditions, planet observed, direction. They will sketch the planet’s position in regards to nearby stars. They will complete this investigation once a week during Autumn.
I really like this lesson. I love using a story to introduce a new topic. I would definitely like to use this book next year!
Lesson: Gravity and Weight – Build an Earth Tube and a Moon Tube
Learning Objective:
Students will understand that gravity is different on different celestial bodies. They will learn that a person’s weight changes depending on gravity, but their mass remains the same.Materials:
2 empty Pringles tubes with lids
2 marbles (one for each tube)
Water
Thick syrup or golden syrup (or glycerine)
Tape
Art supplies (markers, coloured paper, stickers, paint)Activity:
For this lesson, students will create an Earth tube and a Moon tube. They will decorate one tube with pictures and colours representing Earth and the other with craters, stars, and the Moon’s grey surface.
The Earth tube will be filled with water, while the Moon tube will be filled with thick syrup. A marble will be placed into each tube before the lids are securely taped on.
Before carrying out the investigation, I will ask the class:
“Would you weigh more or less on the Moon than you do on Earth?”
“Would your body have more mass on the Moon?”We will discuss that gravity is the force that pulls objects toward the ground. The Moon has much weaker gravity than Earth, so people would weigh less there, even though their mass would stay exactly the same.
Students will then turn both tubes upside down at the same time and watch how quickly the marbles travel through the liquids. The marble in the Earth tube (water) will reach the bottom first, while the marble in the Moon tube (thick syrup) will move much more slowly. The different liquids provide a simple model to help students visualise the idea of stronger and weaker gravitational effects, even though they do not perfectly recreate real gravity.
Discussion Questions:
Which marble reached the bottom first?
Which tube represented stronger gravity?
Why would you weigh less on the Moon than on Earth?
Why does your mass stay the same wherever you go?This is a lovely activity. I really like the home school link getting the children to observe it at home too!
Mind map:
Aliens: living things from other planets
Stars: huge balls of gas, give off light and heat, sun is the star closest to earth, billions of stars in the universe.
Moon: it orbits around earth, reflects the suns light, has phases, affects the tides in earth’s oceans.
Rockets: used to travel to space
Earth: Our home, has land, water and air, only planet that we know of with life, orbits the sun.
Sun: a star, gives earth light and heat, helps plants to grow, needed for life.I love space week especially in the infant classroom as the children love all things space! Last year I completed the following activities with my class over the week and they were a real hit!
I began by reading the story the smeds and the smoos and we discussed all things space and aliens in the book. This was a real hit!
The next day there was an alien teddy sitting on my desk with a note. The note read ‘Hello Earth Scientists!, I am Smoos and I come from planet Zoom. My rocket has run out of fuel! I found some strange Earth powders and liquids but I don’t know what happens when they are mixed. Ca nyou become Alien Scientist and help me figure out what materials will refuel my rocket so I can return home?’
Beside the teddy was a box labelled ‘Alien Chemistry lab’ the children predicted what might be inside, what they think the alien could use and what would a scientist do?
The first day the children were given baking soda, vinegar, food colouring, cups. They predicted what would happen when they mix the ingredients together. They drew their predictions and then drew what actually happened beside it. We then discussed if this would be a good mix to get Smoos back to planet zoom. We left it out that night with a note for the Alien and the next day he left a note thanking us as he had returned to his planet with our special mixture.I will definitely do this lesson again as they kids loved it!
I completed a lesson similar to this last year and the children really enjoyed it. It was great to see their imaginations run wild when design their own rockets. This is definitely a lesson I would teach again!
Here are the variety of activities I would do in the Junior and Senior infant classroom based on the themes where do you live and weather.
Where Do you live?
Curriculum Strand: Human Environments – Living in the Local CommunityLearning Objectives
Children should be enabled to:
Recognise different types of homes.
Talk about where they live.
Identify features of their local environment.
Develop language associated with homes and communities.Activity 1: My Home
children will engage in circle time with prompts from the teacher such as: where do you live? who lives with you? what colour is your house? do you have a garden? etc. Each child will share a fact about their home.Activity 2: Build my home
Using a wide variety of materials for example lego, blocks, boxes, art supplies, cubes, playdoh the children will build their own home. They will then compare their homes to their pairs discussing things like height/ apart/ bungalow etc.Activity 3: Where do we live?
I will place a variety of pictures around the classroom showing different places people live for example: city, town, village, countryside. We will discuss each picture and the type of things you would see in each place. The children will then move to the picture to show where they live.Theme 2: Weather
Curriculum Strand: Natural Environments – WeatherActivity 1: Polar animal investigation
I will show children the children a video of the Artic. We will discuss the different animals that we seen in the video and how these animals stay warm in the cold weather. I will introduce new vocabulary like thick fur, blubber and feathers. The children will then place the correct animals under the correct heading based on how they stay warm.Activity 2: Build an Igloo
The children in groups will design and create an Igloo. They will be given materials like sugar cubes, marshmallows, cotton wool, lego, playdoh. They will then compare their designs to their peers.