[Elaine Fitzgerald]

I have created a plan for space week to undertake with my senior infants this October. We have never taken part in Space Week so I am quite excited and I know the children will love it.
Monday- Planet Earth and the other planets
Using a story as a stimulus as well as photos and videos we will explore Earth and then we will get a brief insight into the other planets in the solar system. We will use song and an art activity to consolidate our learning.
Tuesday-The Sun is our biggest star
We will learn about the importance of the sun and we will make shadows outside at different times of the day
Wednesday- The Moon
We will conduct the lunar landscape hands-on activity mentioned in this course. This will enable the children to see what the surface of the moon looks like.
Thursday-Astronauts
We will learn about people who have explored space. We will design our own spacesuits.
Friday-
We will focus on spacecrafts and rockets. We will watch videos from the international space station and NASA. We will make our own rockets and try to fly them.

[Elaine Fitzgerald]

Hi Elaine,

This sounds like a very fun and engaging lessons. I am definitely adding this to my bank of lessons for science week this year. Thanks so much for sharing.

[Elaine Fitzgerald]

Hands-on classroom themed activities based on the broad theme of weather
I would start off by doing a KWL grid. I would elicit from the children what they know about the theme of weather, what they would like to know and then after completing the lessons we would reflect on what we have learned.
For my lessons I would use the prompt, wonder and explore technique.
To start off the lessons we could keep a weather log for a week- we could predict what we think the weather might be based on the season, we would organise our findings and collate them. We could learn about hot and cold places- the equator, the northern and southern hemispheres, the desert, Antarctica etc. We could explore hot and cold items in science, boiling, freezing and melting. We could learn about what clothes we should wear depending on the weather and explore what we can do to keep warm and keep cool. We could conduct experiments on different materials and find out which material/s would be best for certain types of clothes for certain weather conditions.

[Elaine Fitzgerald]

Hi Kate,

I love the ideas you have shared on how you would teach the children about where do you live? and animals in the cold and the cross-curricular approach you have used. I fully agree with you that these activities promote curiosity, creativity and the practical application of STEM concepts.

[Elaine Fitzgerald]

Hi Jennifer,

Great idea to use Julia Donaldsons story “The Smeds and the Smoos” as a stimulus into the theme of aliens. Like you I find the children really enjoy the topic of space and find it so fascinating, as do I!

[Elaine Fitzgerald]

I have gained lots of inspiration in this module that I would use to plan lessons for my class. One of the activities that stood out to me was the Lunar Landscape one, developed by UNAWE. In this activity the children would create their own lunar landscape, using everyday objects. The children would use marbles/stones and project them into a tray of cocoa/sand/flour. The children observe how the marbles/stones size, shape, weight, direction of origin etc can influence the craters created thus gaining a deeper understanding of the moons surface. This activity stood out to me as it is playful, hands on and engaging. Another activity that I feel the children in my class would enjoy is drawing their own constellations. We would start off by learning about the stars and observing stars in the sky (through videos and images). We would then have the opportunity to create our own constellations using a range of medias.

[Elaine Fitzgerald]

Hi Mary,

Thanks so much for sharing such a lovely lesson based on the planets. I think it’s important for children to realise that we are just a tiny part of something so vast and your lesson plan does that.

It’s great to end the lesson through song and to revise over what they have just learned.

[Elaine Fitzgerald]

Activity Set: The Moon

As mentioned in this module the moon is a great introduction for children into astronomy. The moon can be seen with the naked eye and can be seen in the day time as well as at night.

I would use a multi-disciplinary approach based on the theme of the moon. In history we would learn about the first people to set foot on the moon and the lunar calendar. In maths we would connect the shape of the moon to the area of 3 d shape, we would also explore distance and learn about day and night, months of the year, seasons etc. In art we would make clay models of the moon and mix sand and paint to make a bumpy texture to mimic the surface of the moon. In science we would learn about space exploration, space rockets and astronauts etc. In SESE we would learn about the space race and NASA.

[Elaine Fitzgerald]

Hi Sandra, I love your ideas and know that my class next year would really enjoy this activity. I especially like how you linked it with other curricular areas. Thanks so much for sharing.

[Elaine Fitzgerald]

An inquiry-based activity that I will use in my class will be based on exploring objects that sink or float.

Subject: Science

Strand: Energy and Forces

Strand Unit: Forces

Curriculum objective: The children will investigate floating and sinking with a range of objects and materials.

Skills development: questioning, predicting, observing, investigating and experimenting, estimating , analysing: sorting and classifying and recording and communicating.

I will engage the children by using a prompt such as a video or story to stimulate discussion. To spark wonder I would pose a problem and ask for their assistance in solving the problem. We would explore  and consider the various options.

We would then move on to the investigation part. I would present them with a problem to investigate. In this case- what objects float and what objects sink. The children would make their predictions and provide reasons for their choices. They would then conduct the investigation using a range of objects such as a coin, a plastic toy and a lollipop stick.

We would then go through their findings and apply their learning to a new scenario, make connections with the world around them and  thoughtful actions based on their own environments.

To conclude I would reflect on the lesson- what went well, would I do anything different the next time. I would also give the children time to reflect on their learning too.

[Elaine Fitzgerald]

Hi,I’m Elaine. I will be teaching senior infants in September. I am doing this course to gain more knowledge and ideas about space. A space fact I find fascinating is that footprints on the moon will always be there.

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