[Coral Mathews]

This is a lovely lesson idea and one you just know the children are going to love!

[Coral Mathews]

I would engage my second class students in the “One Year on Earth” activity by starting with something that they are already familiar with – the changes they see around them throughout the year. I would show them four pictures of the same tree in different seasons and ask them what they notice. I would encourage them to work in pairs to decide which picture they think is spring, summer, autumn and winter and, more importantly, explain why they think that. I think this would be a good way to get them talking and sharing their ideas before introducing the topic. The resource uses this approach with photographs of a tree to help pupils identify seasonal changes.

I would then show the children the satellite images from the resource and explain that we can even see changes in the seasons when we look at Earth from space. I think the children would find this really interesting as it would give them a different perspective on something they see every day.

For the next part, I would use a globe and torch to represent the Earth and Sun. In small groups, the children could explore what happens as the Earth moves around the Sun and make predictions about which part of the Earth receives more sunlight. I would keep the explanation suitable for their age and focus on helping them understand that the Earth is tilted and that this affects the seasons.

I think this activity would work particularly well with second class because it is visual, practical and encourages the children to observe, question, discuss and investigate rather than simply being told the answers. It would also give them an opportunity to work together and connect their learning about space with changes they can see in their own environment.

[Coral Mathews]

Space Week Plan
Monday: Moon Day

Introduction: Begin with a discussion about the moon, followed by brainstorming ideas and watching the video “What Is the Moon?” to spark curiosity.
Story Time: Read “Moon: Earth’s Best Friend” to introduce the moon in a fun and engaging way. Story Video.
Experiment: Conduct the “Flour Craters” activity from Universe in a Box to simulate how craters are formed on the moon’s surface.

Tuesday: Seasons

Introduction: Discuss the concept of seasons and watch the video “The Four Seasons” to visualisee the changes throughout the year.
Experiment: Use the Universe in a Box globe and torch to explore how the tilt of the Earth affects the seasons.
Movement Activity: Organise a relay race where children dress up in clothes appropriate for different seasons, reinforcing their understanding of seasonal changes.

Wednesday: Stars

Constellation Drawing: Teach the children about constellations and have them create their own constellations using ESRO resources.
Craft: Make star lanterns using ESRO materials, allowing children to create their own glowing stars.

Thursday: Rockets

Story and Animation: Show the Marvin and Milo balloon cartoon strip to introduce rockets in an entertaining way.
Craft: Create rockets inspired by Marvin and Milo, using simple craft materials to build and decorate their own rockets.

Friday: Rockets

Story Time: Read the story of Sadie building a rocket “Sadie Builds a Rocket” to inspire creativity.
Rocket Building: Design and construct their own rockets with various materials, applying their new knowledge from the week’s activities.

 

[Coral Mathews]

This sounds like a fantastic lesson Dympna!

[Coral Mathews]

Lovely ideas that I’m excited to try this year!!

[Coral Mathews]

Online Resources & Tools

This module has been very beneficial and insightful and I’m excited to incorporate some of the resources it introduced into my teaching.

Marvin & Milo: I believe they will be captivated by these visual aids when conducting science experiments, as they are presented in a very child-friendly manner. Additionally, the students could create their own comics to illustrate the steps of their experiments, reinforcing their understanding and creativity.

Stellarium: I thought this was excellent! It would serve as a fantastic introduction to a lesson about space, instantly capturing the students’ interest. This resource could spark engaging discussions and enhance oral language skills, particularly when exploring the differences between night and day. Furthermore, it presents excellent opportunities for cross-curricular activities, such as art projects where students create space-themed pictures using chalk or paint.

[Coral Mathews]

I’d chose ‘Space and Aliens’

I’d start with a brief discussion about space, explaining that it’s a vast area where we find stars, planets, and moons. Visual aids on google and youtube would support this. Next I’d read “Aliens Love Underpants”. It introduces aliens in a playful context and connects to everyday items (underpants) that children are familiar with. Following the story I’d facilitate a discussion about aliens and get the children thinking about their appearance, if they’re friendly or scary etc.
I’d then incoorporate art into the lesson by getting the children to make their own alien using marerials like aper plates, coloured paper, glue, googly eyes, markers, pipe cleaners etc. I’d get the children to introduce their alien to the class and to describe their features for oral language.

[Coral Mathews]

Me too they’re fantastic!

[Coral Mathews]

I think the moon is something children are always interested in as it’s something that they can constantly see changing so I would teach about the phases of it.

i’d start with a suitable book or perhaps ‘Hey Diddle Diddle’ (The Cow jumped over the moon reference)and discuss what they already know about the moon. i’d ask the students to observe the moon over time and take photos to post on Dojo to document changes that they see.

At the end of the month, displaying all the pictures offers a wonderful opportunity to discuss how the moon changes each week and to introduce the names of each phase, with the possibility of adding extra phases if the students are particularly curious.

[Coral Mathews]

This is a lovely idea to introduce the lesson!

[Coral Mathews]

My name is Coral. I taught Third Class for the past few years but will be taking Junior Infants class in September.

One of my favorite facts about space is that on Neptune and Uranus, it rains diamonds. The extreme pressure and temperature inside these planets can turn carbon into solid diamonds, which then fall like rain.

I chose this course because I wanted some ideas as to how best I could teach a topic like Space to the younger children.

A simple inquiry-based activity I frequently used in Third was growing seeds in various conditions:

Introduction: Discuss what plants need to grow (soil, water, sunlight) and the concept of an experiment.
Hypothesis: Students predict the outcome of seeds grown under different conditions (e.g., no sunlight, too much water).
Setup: In groups, students plant seeds in labeled pots and place them in different environments (dark cupboard, extra water, sunny spot).
Observation: Students water the plants as needed and record daily observations about growth and health.
Analysis: After two weeks, students compare observations, discuss which conditions were best for growth, and why.
Conclusion: Groups present their findings, compare predictions to results, and discuss the role of experiments in learning.

The children loved checking the progress of their seeds each day and changing their predictions depending on what they noticed!

 

[Coral Mathews]

Hi Aideen, I taught third class for the last number of years andi’m making the move to Junior Infants this year. This sounds like a great inquiry based activity to do and probably one I may not have considered doing with infants, Thank you!

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