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Thanks for the book recommendation. Tom Fletcher is brilliant. I have read ‘Space Band’ before and my students really enjoyed it. I love this lesson. I’m sure the chat from the infants about a rocket trip would be very creative and full of imagination. Thanks for sharing.
I hope to promote Space Week in my school this coming October and I have a wealth of resources and knowledge to share with my fellow teachers and students upon completing this course. I would like to create a school folder with activities, books, videos, links, games, art and general resources relevant to each class level (Infants,1st-2nd etc.) that the teachers and students can dip in and out of.
When planning a lesson/activity it is clear that we need a good ‘prompt’ stimulus to capture the children’s interest and attention and evoke conversation with their peers. I have read both ‘Aliens in Underpants’ and ‘The Way back Home’ and the children enjoy these stories. These would be a good prompt in talking about Space Theme in general. The Stellarium website or plug in light would be great for stargazing and the Planet’s Song is a great way for the children to learn the names of the planets and some information a fun way. I would incorporate the Hoop activity (Planets/Sun/Moon) in my lessons this week in PE and use alien role-play in drama and Star Splatter art as an integration across all the topics.
I would aim to include a bank of simple, fun science experiments for each class level- dancing raisins, separate salt and pepper using static electricity, the gummy bear experiment, inertia etc.
Videos of rockets launching, astronauts performing simple tasks in space such as ‘brushing their teeth, eating etc’ are more difficult due to a lack of gravity. I think these particular videos would spark great conversation and inquiry among the students.
STEM activities would include Design and Making rockets and exploring some features of how they work. Lego and coding activities could be a great tool to use with middle/senior classes to encourage them to do more project/inquiry-based projects! The Fizzy Launcher instructions are very helpful.
That is a brilliant idea. The Friday box will definitely be implemented in my classroom in September. Great resource for all curricular areas and encourages the children to be creative.
Hands-on classroom activities with the following themes: Where Do You Live? Activity Set: Weather
– Animals in the Cold.
– What clothes to wear?
– Investigating Children’s Coats
– Hot and Cold
Weather Watcher activity: Using ESA’s webpage containing lots of videos and stimuli and prompts for the students. I think the younger students in particular would really enjoy ‘Being a Weather Watcher’. I would show them this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uo8lbeVVb4M . Each day the children can write or draw pictures in a journal. I would explain to the children that whilst weather can be unpredictable it generally does follow a pattern for eg. Mild, sunny summer and cold, wet winter. The video explains some common vocabulary-meteorologist, thermometer, temperature. Children could easily set up a weather station; rain gauge, thermometer, wind socks and use their journals to identify patterns. I think they would really enjoy this activity. Mini-meteorologists! This lesson links in well with Maths and uses skills such as recording, predicting, analysing.
love the idea of making a martian using constriction bits. I can only imagine the creativity in infants!
I did make rockets in a STEAM class this year using vinegar and baking soda. The children had to use paper straws to get their rocket to stand. They had great fun.
Activity Set: Stars
I like ESERO’s concept of using marbles to teach children about the vast number of stars in space. I would love to close all the windows and blinds, lights off and move the furniture to the side. Have the students lie on their back and look up, stargaze! I have a light that projects stars and galaxies and planets onto the ceiling and walls. I would ask the children to try and count the number of stars that they can see!
This video is good from Dr. Binocs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSuAPFMXcYM
There are great opportunities to link in with Nursery Rhymes/Music: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little or even attempt Coldplay’s Sky Full of Stars.
I like the activity on drawing constellations. I could find out prior to the lesson, what star sign the students have and show them what their constellation looks like.
Art activities; Paint splatter, create a galaxy with lots of colours and portray how there are so many stars in the sky. The children could make a star lantern for Space Week.
To include STEM activities, the children could use the Bee Bots, create a galaxy using Lego and App software too.
Alien Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqGPhiAlFjU
Stellarium website
The Activity Set that I have chosen to look at is The Planets & The Moon
I would start by showing the children the video The Family of The Sun https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bzj6UEbIvKA as a stimulus for discussion. I would ask the children to listen carefully as I am going to ask them a number of questions at the end. How many planets are there? What does Saturn have that the other planets don’t?
The Man in the Moon activity is very cute and I think the students would really enjoy making their own moons. I think this John Lewis ad would be a lovely prompt for the lesson too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGY-T4W-BOc
I like the ESERO 1 activity about bringing the children outside, great link to PE and using hoops etc to imitate the planets, the Sun, the Moon and have the children running, hopping, jumping etc between them all. Activities that I would do with the class as we explore this theme are:
Chant and Move: Create a simple chant with actions for each planet. For example, “Mercury spins fast (spin around), Venus spins slow (turn slowly), Earth is where we live (point to the ground),” etc.
Create a Space Adventure Story: Encourage kids to imagine they’re astronauts visiting each planet. Discuss what they might see or do on each planet.
Planet Hop” Game: Use chalk to draw planets on the ground or place them on paper indoors. Call out planet names and have children hop to the correct one.
Space Treasure Hunt: Hide “space treasures” (toys or cut-out stars and planets) around the classroom or playground. Provide clues related to the planets to guide the children in finding them.
Shadow Play: Use a torch and foam balls to demonstrate how planets orbit the sun and how day and night occur.
Dress-Up and Role Play- Provide astronaut costumes and props. Encourage the students to role-play as astronauts exploring the planets.
I really like your ideas Sue! The story is such a lovely way to introduce the topic and I think the cut-and-stick activity works so well for an infant class. Exploring shadows with torches and then taking it outside on a sunny day makes it really hands-on and fun for the children. Great choice!
That is such a lovely idea Deirdre. I would love to see what they came up with. Such a great idea to observe what they already know about the Moon. Thank you for the book recommendation- I look forward to reading that to my class this year.
In this module, I really liked the Mighty Materials experiment. It encourages children to chat about what they (or even their parents!) use to clean up spills at home. From there they can explore different materials, talk about their properties and predict which ones might do the best job. I think this would catch their interest straight away because cleaning up messes is something they’ll have seen plenty of times before and they will really enjoy being allowed to make a mess! They may have some prior knowledge but they might not yet know words like absorb or absorbent. This lesson is a great way for them to try things out, test their ideas and build on their vocabulary at the same time. What I like most is that it’s hands-on and practical, so the children get to investigate while working and chatting with their friends. I also love the idea of using smiley faces—it makes it even more engaging and fun for them.
Hi Everyone,
My name is Dawn and I teach in Loreto in Dublin. I have been teaching 4th class for a number of years but am making the move back down to Junior Infants in September.
My favourite fact is that Space is completely silent!
Harriet your plan is very detailed and mentions and activity for each curricular subject. Just like you, my school has not taken part in Space Week to date so I’m looking forward to promoting it this year and it is great to hear from other teachers/principals and gain insight into lessons and activities that worked well and indeed sharing resources.
I hope to promote Space Week in my school this coming October and I have a wealth of resources and knowledge to share with my fellow teachers and students upon completing this course. I would like to create a school folder with activities, books, videos, links, games, art and general resources relevant to each class level (Infants,1st-2nd etc.) that the teachers and students can dip in and out of.
When planning a lesson/activity it is clear that we need a good ‘prompt’ stimulus to capture the children’s interest and attention and evoke conversation with their peers. I have read both ‘Aliens in Underpants’ and ‘The Way back Home’ and the children enjoy these stories. These would be a good prompt in talking about Space Theme in general. The Stellarium website or plug in light would be great for stargazing and the Planet’s Song is a great way for the children to learn the names of the planets and some information a fun way. I would incorporate the Hoop activity (Planets/Sun/Moon) in my lessons this week in PE and use alien role-play in drama and Star Splatter art as an integration across all the topics.
I would aim to include a bank of simple, fun science experiments for each class level- dancing raisins, separate salt and pepper using static electricity, the gummy bear experiment, inertia etc.
Videos of rockets launching, astronauts performing simple tasks in space such as ‘brushing their teeth, eating etc’ are more difficult due to a lack of gravity. I think these particular videos would spark great conversation and inquiry among the students.
STEM activities would include Design and Making rockets and exploring some features of how they work. Lego and coding activities could be a great tool to use with middle/senior classes to encourage them to do more project/inquiry-based projects! The Fizzy Launcher instructions are very helpful.
Great ideas for different lessons Saoirse. I hadn’t heard of the Stellarium website before this course and just looked at it-The students will love looking at the stars and will be so engaged. Great idea to use role-play activities with Milo and Marvin. The Smeds by Julia Donaldson would be a great story to read with the children during this topic too!
