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I think this idea is so fantastic. It really would ignite so much pride and sense of belonging and connectivity in the children to their local area and encourage loads of collaboration between the local community, the school and parents / families. They would be responsible in making such an effective and lasting environmental improvement in their homeplace which is so special and memorable.
I have been teaching Junior and Senior Infants for the last number of years and my classes have engaged so brilliantly and imaginatively with any activities linked to the Night Sky. Stories we’ve done include Owl Babies by Martin Waddell, helping Junior Infants adjust to separation on the first day of school and which has led to so many follow up activities in Art – creating their own owls, Literacy – oral language and comprehension, Numeracy – counting and size, Music/ Rhymes – A Wise Old Owl/ 5 little Owls, Science – learning about owls and nocturnal animals etc. Other stores include I love you to the Moon and back by Amelia Hepworth, also Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson. Some rhymes include Twinkle, Twinkle, and I have used The Moon by Robert Lewis Stevenson in Senior Classes. Michael D. Higgin’s poem Stardust is just beautiful. I have also used Van Gogh’s starry night at various levels for looking and responding and each class would have designed their own version either by painting, printing or drawing. I also got the idea here of using this as an introduction to the topic of light pollution as it shows the stars so vividly in a dark, natural sky.
I love these ideas Emma, especially beginning with a story about nocturnal animals, sorting the day and night animals, exploring light with the torches, and then enabling the children to empathise with the nocturnal animals and relate the light pollution problem to their own lives in imagining eating in the dark or sleeping with a light on etc. This is so effective in helping them understand the animals’ needs.
I would engage my class to explore and improve biodiversity around our school by first of all discussing what they understand about the term biodiversity in a brainstorm, then encouraging them to help create a biodiversity survey to record what various plants and animals currently exist around our school gardens and yards in a Bioblitz. This survey could be categorized into Plants and Animals section, or in more senior classes more precise categories could be trees, wildflowers, birds, insects, mini-beasts etc. The children can make predictions about what we might find or what they hope to see, and use nets, trays, clear containers and magnifying glasses to get a closer look, then draw or photograph the various species we observe, without picking any of the plants or flowers. After discussing findings we could then research if perhaps light pollution has driven away anything, and how to improve our school’s biodiversity, by asking the caretaker to mow less and reduce pesticides that could make the animals sick, then perhaps make a re-design of our school garden with a bug hotel and bird boxes, and plant fruit and herbs. A follow up Bioblitz survey a year later could compare results and see if there are any more or different wildflowers, plants or varieties of insects or minibeasts.
I agree Laura that this is something that the children would not have thought about before it has been an issue for their whole lives. I was shocked at the difference between 1997 and 2015 and it made me realise for the first time how less visible the stars are in our night sky now as when I was a child and how terrible that is. I love the idea of prompting the children to become “night sky detectives” and make their observations and investigation more playful and engaging. Also using the Globe at Night programme to compare with other places. Thanks!
I would plan a unit of work on how light pollution is affecting the local area during winter so the children have time well after it gets dark to observe the night sky. My school is in a very urban and light polluted area so the children would definitely engage well with it. I would use the clarity of the stars in our night sky as a focus for the topic. As a trigger I would do a looking and responding art lesson on Van Gogh’s Starry Night and also use it to inspire the children to design their own paintings and ask the children to look out for the stars and moon outside their homes that night. In our follow up discussion the next day we will discuss why it might be difficult to see many stars clearly and what could be preventing this…I think they would respond well to the “What is Light Pollution?” video and then we could begin an inquiry about how to reduce this. I think they would love designing streetscape dioramas with small torches or battery candles as lights for streetlamps, cars, or houses, and glow in the dark stars to demonstrate how the lights are preventing the stars from being visible. They would be prompted to make Junk-Art light shields or covers to point the light downwards, and also explore solutions such as using warmer lights or switching off lights that are not needed, or going to bed earlier to reduce light consumption. I think they would gain a huge understanding of how light pollution is affecting their local area and how to reduce it.
I love this idea Siobhan; I really like using Story-time and picture books as prompts and introductions to a theme and I have never heard of this Eric Carle book; it sounds so engaging and I know my class I’m carrying into Senior Infants would love it. I also love the idea of showing them the night sky on Stellarium; the discussion and learning opportunities this would open up, and the follow up art activity and parental involvement. Thanks for the ideas:)
My plan to observe the moon phases with my Senior Infants next year would begin with a Story-time based on the moon such as “I love you to the Moon and back” or “Zoom to the Moon” prior to one of the weeks when the moon will be visible in the mornings. Also, a song or rhyme such as The Moon Song lullaby would be lovely trigger. In 2026 /2027 these will be: October 4 – October 12 / November 3 – November 10 / December 3 – December 10 / January 1 – January 8/ January 31 – February 7 /March 1 – March 8, & March 30 – April 6 / April 28 – May 6 / May 28 – June 4. We will go outside every morning for the week to observe and investigate and I will give the children moon observation logs to draw and record changes in the appearance of the moon every morning. We can also take photos for the school Padlet to show the results. A large, collaborative puffy paint or paper-mache display could be done at the end of the week also to show the moon in its different phases. In my experience with infants the children are always so fascinated to see the moon in the morning so I know they will love this inquiry and all the cross curricular links it will lead to!
I love these ideas; particularly the Storybots song or another one similar as a trigger as these are so attention grabbing. Also including follow up work at home and getting parents and other family members involved in the learning would make it even more engaging and memorable, as well as including the topic in outdoor learning with observation sheets for the class to write the position or draw it, and which could be included in self evaluation. I really like the effective, to the point questions which allow the children to actively investigate and record the sun’s position at different times.
One Year on Earth – Understanding the Seasons: I would engage my Senior Infants class with this topic next year by first of all including it as part of our calendar discussion every morning. We begin by asking “What Day is it Today?” and moving the labels Yesterday was, Today is and Tomorrow will be to the correct days of week on the board, before moving on to the date, month and then season which leads on to the weather; including songs, rhymes, Numeracy and Gaeilge wherever possible. After seeing the resource “One year on earth- understanding the seasons” in this module I will now include more observation and chatting about the day length and also the position of the sun. Our calendar is done every morning at the same time so I liked the idea of marking the position of the sun on the window or display, perhaps a Velcro cut out and previous marks so the children can observe changes in its position throughout the seasons and link it to daylight length in their minds. For stand-alone seasons lessons in Maths and Science I loved the 4 trees resource where the children can match the season to each photo and explain their reasoning. The children are so observant and absolutely love our seasonal activities in every curricular area.
I think that’s a brilliant idea Valerie; to carry out the rocket launches against a backdrop of a block wall or similar and number each one upwards to allow us to count how many blocks high the mouse goes, and record / compare the height and discuss whether the container used made a difference to the height reached etc. Thank you!
An activity from this module that I can’t wait to do with my Senior Infants is the Rocket Mice. To excite the children about rockets I would read the Smeds and the Smoos to them; then we could chat about other Julia Donaldson books they know and the mouse from the Gruffalo etc and how he may like to visit the Smeds and the Smoos on their planet but how could he get there from Earth… Then we could begin designing our own rockets using bottles from the Junk Art box and the template mouse provided; I think they would find this so enjoyable, and love the competitive element of trying to make it go the highest or be launched the quickest; and develop an understanding of forming pressure inside the bottle by squeezing it. This has so many cross curricular links too such as Literacy; Hickory dickory dock or 3 blind mice, procedural writing, Drawing a picture and describing the mouse’s adventure in Space, Maths; measures and height, Art; designing and decorating the rockets further etc.
I love the idea of setting up a weather station in the school, Louise. The children would engage with this so brilliantly as they love discussing and investigating the weather every day. It provides numerous cross curricular links also and would develop STEM skills wonderfully.
An activity from this module that I will do in my Senior Infants classroom next year will be the Investigating our Coats idea. I would do this as a whole class lesson ideally at the end of a unit of work on materials so the class would have already carried out other investigations on materials and be familiar with the various characteristics and vocabulary such as hard, soft, furry, fuzzy, rough, smooth, shiny, waterproof, colour words etc. I would begin by getting ready for yard or home-time earlier and singing our Cuir ort do chóta song as a trigger, then gather the children in a circle for the lesson with the game; If you are wearing a pink coat join the circle, a coat with a zip, buttons, shiny coat, furry coat etc etc. to revise and further explore the materials / coats vocabulary.
We will then investigate the types and characteristics of the coats further with question such as What colour do we see most in our coats today; predict and count/ make a data chart if time permits. I would then ask the children to make up other questions about the coats for us to “predict and count how many”, I could extend this by prompting them to include more than 1 characteristic – how many coats are pink with buttons? Make a real Venn diagram with hoola hoops for the children to step into each time if time permits.
A follow up activity for the week after in Aistear would be for the children to design their own coat for one of the dolls in Junk-Art using materials such as felt, plastic, cotton wool, pipe cleaners, sequins, pencils, crayons, buttons, fabric and fibre; discussing what season/weather it is and why they are choosing particular materials for the coat; and where she may be going in it.I also love the theme of Aliens and the Aliens love… books; also the Julia Donaldson book The Smeds and the Smoos. The children are fascinated by them and their imagination responds so well. I have also encouraged the children to design their own aliens in the Junk Art and playdough stations with pipe cleaners, googly eyes, sequins, sparkles, buttons, tinfoil, sticks, bottle caps etc. during Aistear and found it fantastic in helping them develop their creativity, fine motor skills and explore their thinking around Space further.
