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Research Question: Which areas of our playground are hottest and why?
This question would be more than suitable for my 2nd Class because it is connected to climate, it is simple and age-appropriate and very relevant to the vast schoolyard areas and gardens that we have at both the front and rear of the school, it would be easy to investigate through observation and temperature measurements and it is relevant to pupils’ daily experiences.
I would encourage pupils to participate by making the investigation active and enjoyable. We would explore different areas of the playground, such as grassy spaces at the front of our school, tarmac areas in the playground, shaded areas in the sensory garden and places in direct sunlight. Pupils would work in small groups to observe, measure and record which areas feel or are the hottest. They could use simple thermometers, draw maps of the playground and record their findings using pictures or simple charts. I would encourage pupils to ask questions, make predictions and discuss why some areas are warmer than others. Through hands-on activities, pupils would develop curiosity and scientific thinking while learning about the effects of the sun, shade and different surfaces. At the end of the investigation, pupils would share their findings with the class and suggest ideas, such as planting trees or creating more shaded areas, to help make the playground cooler and more comfortable.From looking at the apps, I was surprised by how many satellites pass over Ireland every day. The five satellites I saw were the International Space Station (ISS), Starlink-3576, NOAA-19, Sentinel-2A, and Terra.
I already knew about the ISS, but I didn’t realise it passes over Ireland so often. It is used for science experiments in space.
Starlink-3576 helps provide internet services.
NOAA-19 collects weather information.
Sentinel-2A takes pictures of the Earth to help monitor farms, forests and the environment. Terra studies the Earth’s land, oceans and climate.
I enjoyed using the app because it showed me that satellites are always moving above us. Before this, I never really thought about how much we depend on them. They help with weather forecasts, internet, research and looking after our planet.I really enjoyed watching the HOME documentary. It made me think about how connected we all are to the environment and how important it is to look after our planet. Greta Thunberg’s speech and the Climate Aid 2020 video also reminded me that even small actions can make a difference.
In my 2nd Class, I would keep the topic simple and positive. I would use short clips from the videos and encourage the children to talk about ways they already help the environment, such as recycling, saving water or walking to school, linking it especially to the Green Flag work that we are doing that year. I think this would help make the learning meaningful and relevant to their everyday lives.
Continuing with peer learning, I would also pair my class with 5th or 6th class. The older pupils could help explain ideas, read stories about the environment and work with the younger children to make posters or take part in a simple recycling project.
These videos encouraged me to think about how I teach climate change. I want my pupils to understand the importance of caring for the environment while also feeling hopeful that their actions can have a positive impact.In response to activity 3, Climate Reporters – The Paxi video explained greenhouse gases in a way that I think my 2nd Class pupils would understand. It would be a good way to introduce the topic and encourage discussion.
The future temperature tool helped show how temperatures may change over time. I would use it with my 2nd Class to talk about why it is important to care for our environment, keeping the information simple and suitable for the level of the class.
I would use this activity in Science and link it with Geography and SPHE. We could talk about easy ways to help the planet, such as recycling, saving water and turning off lights. I would also pair my class with 6th Class as I found the 2nd Class group responded extremely well to peer work last year. The older pupils could help the younger children complete the activities and work together to make posters about looking after the environment. This would help build teamwork and confidence.
To improve the activity, I would add more hands-on tasks, such as sorting pictures into good and bad choices for the environment or making a class promise to save energy.
Overall, I think this is a fun and engaging activity that would work well with my 2nd Class and has the scope for multiple lessons.I like the prize incentive too Rachel, nice idea to provide some motivation to help the children to focus on the topic.
After reading Liston’s (2018) Unravelling STEM: Beyond the Acronym of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, I thought about how STEM is used in my 2nd Class. The article explains that STEM is more than teaching Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths as separate subjects. It is about helping children solve problems, work together and make connections across different subjects through real-life learning.
I personally enjoyed activities 1 and 2 from the Weather and Climate resource. Activity 1, Is it Weather or Climate?, helps pupils understand the difference between weather and climate in a simple way. I found the worksheet to be clear and easy to follow. My children could talk about how the weather affects walking to school, playtime or activities such as going to tennis lessons in the local tennis club or walking to the local swimming pool.
Activity 2, Weather Detectives, encourages pupils to observe and record the weather. I think my class would enjoy becoming ‘weather detectives’ and keeping a daily weather chart. We could also link this to Maths by creating simple graphs and looking for patterns over time. I would include a practical hands on challenge where pupils design and build a simple rain shelter or rain gauge using recycled materials. I would also include more opportunities to use tablets or weather websites to compare our observations with weather forecasts.Its such an interesting topic to teach and learn about for kids of any age.I also thought activity one would be more suited to my class and I liked the idea of writing / cutting the sentences – would be very useful for the different abilities in my class next year.
Thanks for sharing this link. It is a great idea to incorporate movement into lessons and I look forward to trying this out next year.
Activity Set: The Sun and Shadows – Sun Activities
I would begin the lesson by discussing with the children things that they do during the day and comparing them to things that they do at night time. I would link this activity with time in maths and encourage the children to make their own day time line (hours and half hours) to depict a typical 24 hour day.
I would then progress on to discuss light, its sources and its importance in being able to see. Using the ‘Day and Night: My Sky Tonight’ activity, the kids will be able to actively discover and understand how the earth moves thus creating day and night. Using the story ‘Bear’s Shadow’, I will use it as a stimulus and introduction to shadows. The children will then use torches and objects in the classroom to create their own shadows.
Integrating with art, the children will then create their own shadow animals – outside if it is a sunny day / inside using torches.
My mind map: https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVOmIylHM=/
This sounds like a fabulously interactive lesson that the children would enjoy. Thanks for sharing this idea.
Inquiry Based Activity in the classroom
Forces
2nd class
The trigger: Magnetic Minions
Wonder: How can you make your own magnetic minion? What materials can you use?
Exploring: Allow the children to experiment with a variety of magnetic and non-magnetic materials. Questions to consider – what items attract to the magnets? What materials don’t attract? What have the items that attract to the magnet got in common?
Starter Question: Which items are magnetic?
Predictions: Are all metals attracted to magnets?
Conducting the investigations:
The children will work in pairs and given various materials to experiment with. They will carry out the experiment to create a magnetic minion and record findings on a worksheet – identifying magnetic and non -magnetic items.
Interpreting the results: The children will compare their results to their predictions
Next steps:
Can you add material (eg: hair or clothes) to your minion? (This will focus on magnets working through materials)
What happens when your minion goes swimming? Can you add any more items in the water?