[Claire Kelly]

Aliens and space

I would begin my lessons with a story book called ‘The Smeds and The Smoos’ by Julia Donaldson & Alex Scheffler .The children would sit in a circle and enjoy the fabulous rhymes in the story. I would ask the children to describe the aliens before showing them the illustrations in the book. I would write the features of their aliens on the board .Having read the story we would compare our predictions with the actual aliens illustrated in the story.

The children would then work with their partner and using lots of materials      ( card, buttons, eyes, pipe cleaners, playdough, etc )  make  models  of the Smeds and Smoos relations . One family is blue while the the other is red.

On completion the children would describe their character by attributes and categorize into  a particular family. We would discuss the similarities and difference in appearance of each family.

The story emphasizes friendship, love, adventure and togetherness.

As a follow on lesson the children could add a chapter to the story using their created characters.

[Claire Kelly]

Hi Ursula

I love this lesson as you have included the story book and images for the children to engage with . Children love singing and making things so this lesson has everything .I look forward to trying it

[Claire Kelly]

Hi Ursula

I love your lesson as it has so many lovely ideas included .Children love songs and movement and you have included both .I’ll be giving it a try .

[Claire Kelly]

I would chose ‘The Sun and Shadows’  as a lesson for infant children .

I can actually remember my own teacher doing this type of lesson when I was in primary school which was a long time ago. It fascinated me that you didn’t need a watch to tell tell the time . Also stepping on our friends shadow was a fun game !.

The children could make  a sundial in the yard using the upturned flower pot with a bamboo stick poking out of it and facing it south on a sunny day . The children could be divided into groups to mark the position of the shadow with chalk every hour . Checking the shadow with the actual time over the course of a few days would be interesting for them . Comparing the result over a few weeks  (waiting for sunny days ) would be an interesting investigation for them.

Dividing the class into small groups with the help of an SNA and having them follow their shadow over the course of a sunny day would also be exciting for them. The children could predict the  direction and length of their shadow every hour and then conduct their investigation . Following on they would interpret their findings and come to conclusions with teacher scaffolding the discussion.

 

[Claire Kelly]

Teaching an inquiry based activity

Strand  :Energy and Force          Strand Unit    : Force

Learning objective   :The children should be enabled to investigate how forces act on objects

Engage : I’m going to Smyths to buy a fast vehicle for my 5 year old son. Using toy cars/trucks/lorries etc from play box I’d ask the children which one should I buy that would be the fastest. Use the question ‘I wonder?’ Invite the children to explore.

Investigate :    Present  different size ,weight ,shape, number of wheeled vehicle Predict : Get the children to predict the fastest over a smooth surface /rough surface /on an incline   -record their predictions on the board

Conduct the investigation :  Divide the children into small groups to conduct their investigation

Share /Interpret data ;  Report back their findings

Reflect :Teacher reflect if children achieved the learning objective /Adapt in future to improve results

[Claire Kelly]

Hi ,my name is Claire and I work in SET with Junior and Senior Infants.

An interesting fact about space is that the number of stars in the Milky                   Way is probably higher than  the number of humans that have ever been                  born .

[Author]

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