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I have decided to focus on designing rockets with my class as an activity for Space week. This lesson would be really engaging for my first and second class. I will use the Curious Minds Framework to plan this lesson.
To engage the children I will read the story ‘Whatever Next’ by Jill Murphy. This story provides a lovely stimulus for exploring rockets and space. After reading the story I would encourage the children to explore different rockets and how they move.
To investigate we would then design and create rockets. The children will work in pairs/small groups to do this. The children will use the skills of predicting, comparing, communicating and observing while completing this task.
Next Step would be to see if they changed their design in any way would their rocket launch better.
Reflection we would then discuss what worked best and take some digital recordings and photographs of the children launching their rockets
In our school we have decided that the focus of SSE for the coming year will be on the development of Science skills such as investigating, predicting and experimenting.
The first step will be to gather evidence, the thoughts and opinions of the staff, parents and students. This will be done through a variety of ways through staff meetings, discussions, questionaires, examining results and assessments.
Once the evidence has been gathered we will then look at this information and analyse it based on the students motivation, interest and engagement in their learning in Science. What is their attitude towards the subject and are students able to apply science skills in different situations.
Based on this information we will be able to identify the areas and skills that need to be improved and prioritised. A plan will then be made to target specific skills. A report will be compiled and shared among the school community.
The implementation of the plan will then proceed throughout the school. The plan will be reviewed and discussed regularly to make sure skills are improving and targets are being met.
I think this approach to improving science skills in our school will be the most practical and inclusive approach.
Activity Set Space and Aliens
After completing module 3 the following is a lesson I am planning to teach next year with my first and second class.
I will introduce the topic to the children by reading the story ‘Aliens love underpants’. This is a fun story and a great way to begin the lesson and to spark their interest.
We will then discuss the story and what an alien might look like. I will encourage the children to come with with their own ideas of what an alien might look like, what features they have, how many eyes etc We will then discuss where Aliens might live. I will elicit from the children ‘planets’, which will then lead us to discussing planets further. We will examine some images of the different planets, their names and characteristics and explore the living conditions for aliens living on the different planets for example cold planets, cold planets, dark planets etc.
In pairs/small groups, the children will then design their own Alien based on the characteristics of the eight planets. The children will be prompted to think about and explore for example if their Alien lives on a cool planet they might have no fur, if they live on a really hot planet they might just have skin and no fur. If their Alien lives on a dark planet they might have lots of eyes or big eyes etc. The children will use a variety of materials to construct their aliens such recyclable materials, play doh, card etc
Afterwards the children will present their Alien to the class and discuss what planet they live on and why they designed their Alien in such a way based on the characteristics of the planet their Alien lives on.
This is a lesson that provides lots of opportunities for integration with other subjects. We could extend this lesson by designing a rocket to bring their Alien to space and then writing a story based on their Alien.
Lovely lesson, really like your extention activity. My class would love to get a letter from a Martian too!
I chose The Sun and Shadows Activity Set as a fun inquiry based lesson for my class. I would begin the lesson my eliciting the childrens prior knowledge of the Sun and shadows by showing them images of a sunny day and shadows and a cloudy day and shadows. To explore we would go outside to the playground and observe different shadows in our environment. The children would then work in pairs and draw each others shadow with chalk. The children would then later in the day go outside and draw their shadows again and discuss and compare the two outlines. They will discuss what is different between the two. They will be encouraged to predict why their shadows have moved. The next step would be that the children would then investigate with torches and different objects in the classroom. They would explore what happens when the torches are close or further away from the object what way the shadow is. To reflect I would look to see if my learning objectives have been met and what I could do diffently in the future.
Lovely inquiry based lesson, really like your activities the constellation connect the dots and the cardboard tube telescopes and that they are encouraged to bring them home to star gaze at bedtime.
After completing this module one inquiry based lesson that I will teach next year is the Mighty Materials lesson outlined that looks at what materials absorb what and at ones that do not – waterproof.
To structure this lesson effectively I will use the Curious Minds/ESERO Framework for Inquiry template which is a fantastic resource.
To engage the children I would pretend to accidently spill my water. I would ask the children what I should use to wipe up the spill. I will brainstorm ideas and ask them which ones will absorb water. We will then explore a variety of items that we have in the classroom such as toilet paper, newspaper, blue roll, card, wool, plastic bag, sponge, cloth etc
The children in small groups will then investigate the materials to see which ones will soak up water. The children will be enouraged to predict before they test the items and these will be recorded. The children will be encouraged to discuss and compare each material and the results of the investigations. These will also be recorded on a block graph for the whole class to discuss together.
To take the next step the children will then design a waterproof raincoat for our class puppet George. Waterproof and non waterproof materials will be further discussed based on our previous learning.
To reflect on our lesson I would discuss with the children what materials worked best to wipe up the spill and also what material was best for the raincoat. After I would self reflect to see if my learning objectives were achieved and what I could differently in the future.