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I will focus on rocket science for this assignment as I think it is a great topic that provides so much fun and engaging lessons for children.
I would begin with the story “aliens love underpants”. I would start a discussion with the children about aliens, where they live, how to get there? Etc.
We would look more closely at rockets. The video provided in this module with a rocket taking off is the perfect starting point for talking about rockets. We would talk about astronauts and what they wear etc. In first class, the over the moon English programme has a chapter about space and astronauts so this would link in nicely as well.
I have a rocket experiment that I have used in summer camps over the years. A plastic bottle connects to a foot pump. You press the foot pump afew times and the bottle/ rocket shoots up into the air. The children would make and design a small alien to attach to the rocket to send into space!
They can also design and make a nest for an egg. We can attach the nest to the rocket, with the egg inside the nest, and see if the egg will not get broken when it falls back down with the rocket.
To finish this lesson I would show the children how to make paper aeroplanes. They would experiment with different sized pieces of paper, different sized wings etc. and see which aeroplanes will fly the furthest.
Hi Deordre, the two links in this assignment are really useful. They are a nice way of getting the children’s attention and teaching them abit more about rockets. Thanks for sharing them.
I will choose to complete hands-on classroom themed activities based on weather. I teach 1st class in a DEIS school and I have to cater for a wide range of learning abilities in every lesson.
I think weather is a very broad topic that has many cross curricular opportunities.
I would begin by starting a mind map with the children to see how much vocabulary relating to weather they already know.
I would read the story “whatever the weather” from Twinkl to start a discussion about types of weather and appropriate clothing.
I would set up a sorting activity. The children would work in mixed ability groups for sorting out bags of clothes. They would assign each piece of clothing to a particular season. There would be a sheet with the name of one season on the wall in the 4 corners of the classroom. we would then work as a whole class to discuss which clothing they assigned to each season.
I would then set up an experiment for the children to explore which materials are waterproof. Again in mixed ability groups, they would explore a range of materials and see which ones are waterproof. Which materials would make a good umbrella? They would record their results on a simple checklist.
We would then discuss as a class which materials would be most suitable for an umbrella.
The children would then design and make their own umbrella in groups. They would use appropriate materials that are waterproof . They could use straws to make the parts of an umbrella that hold up the material.
Another STEM activity would be to design and make a house to protect your favourite toy from weather. In small groups, children could use blocks, magnets, lego etc and design houses with aa waterproof roof.
Recording the weather daily on a weather chart is another SESE activity that would link well with this topic.
As an art lesson this could be further extended to painting an umbrella, mixing primary colours to create the colours of a rainbow for their umbrella.
Hi Lucy, this sounds like such a lovely lesson. I love the idea of incorporating drama and asking the children to do a weather forecast/report. It’s a great opportunity for them to use new weather vocabulary.
I would use the activity set “space and aliens” aimed at infant classes.
I would begin by reading the book “aliens love underpants” as a stimulus to this lesson.
We would discuss what the aliens look like, how many eyes, arms, hands, etc. Discuss the colours and sizes of aliens I the story.
We would then discuss where aliens live. I would introduce the planet song from YouTube to teach the children abit more about the planets. We would discuss the most suitable planets for aliens to live on, giving reasons for out choices.
I would ask the children to design/draw their own alien and to give it a unique name.
Finally, I would do a construction/STEM lesson where the children would design and make a suitable home for their alien to live in.
We would conclude by letting the children intoruduce their alien, describe his/her unique features etc. Then they would describe the homes they have created for their aliens.
Hi Sharon, I love the idea of using the picture book during this lesson. I can imagine the conversation possibilities that this would provide. The children would love singing twinkle twinkle while constructing their constellations too. Lovely ideas!
The activity set I would choose to teach my class would be the sun and shadows.
I would begin my lesson by reading the poem “let’s play shadows”. https://images.app.goo.gl/fyycD6vsLLXiti5D7
I would teach the children the actions to this poem. We would then have a discussion about shadows and how they are made. I would elicit any prior knowledge the children have about shadows or the sun and I would record it on a KWL chart.
We would then go outside on a sunny day and use chalk to draw the shape of shadows. I would get the children to work in small groups, with some groups focusing on different shaped shadows.
We would practice making our own shadows jump, run. Crouch, crawl etc. as discussed in the poem.
We would see how shadows are different sizes in different areas around the school. We would discuss the differences and reasons why.
To further extend this activity we would go back inside and explore the use of flashlights on small items like Teddy bears to make shadows, as was shown in this module.
We would complete our KWL chart with an end of lesson discussions.
For some cross curricular links I would do an art lesson focusing on shadow silhouette shapes.
This a lovely child friendly lesson. I love starting a lesson with a story too, as I find it contributes to great discussion, questioning and use of imagination!
I love the inquiry based lesson about falling that we learned about in this module.
I would use a “prompt” where an item falls off my table to begin the lesson discussion. We would use a KWL chart to discuss what we know about falling and how it occurs.
We would use a prediction sheet to guess which way various items would fall, discussing differences in size, weight, width etc.
We would conduct the experiment by dropping items from the stairs in our school hall and observing how they fall, noting any spinning, floating etc.
We would mark where everything landed on the floor. This would lead to engaging discussion about how the different items fell.
The children would record results on their experiment sheet. Most importantly we would finish the KWL chart and add in all of the new information the children learned.
I’m looking forward to trying this lesson!
