Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
These are great ideas Saoirse and cover so much of the curriculum, beyond STEM. I am all for integrating as much as possible as it provides such a rich learning experience for young children
As a post-holder for STE, this is an area I would really like to focus on as part of our SSE process.
I think the curriculum is becoming very over-whelming and while Space Week, Science Week etc are great events I feel they can often be seen as an additional burden by class teachers.
I would love to embed the activities we would engage in on these Event Weeks into our regular day-to-day teaching of stem subjects. The skills acquired by children in doing science and maths are equally transferable across other areas of the curriculum and therefore I would love to see more consolidation or integration of the subjects across my school.
I think when I return to school I will need to look at the gaps that currently exist in the teaching and learning of STEM in my school, and from this establish a team to begin the SSE cycle for STEM. Undoubtedly the teachers in my school are working very, very hard but I just wonder are we getting bang for our buck when it comes to our efforts in teaching STEM and the only way we will know this is by putting STEM as our focus for SSE this academic year.Timetable for celebrating Space Week with Senior Infants:
Monday: Blast Off & SESE (Science)
•The Launch: Read The Way Back Home by Oliver Jeffers. Use a spaceship countdown (10 down to 1) to line up or transition.
•Shadow Investigation: Head to the school yard to trace and measure shadows using chalk, exploring how our star (the Sun) changes position.Tuesday: Math & Planet Exploration
• System Order: Sing a planet song to learn the order and names of the planets.
• Alien Counting: Use laminated cards of goofy aliens with different numbers of eyes, fingers, and antennae to practice counting in 2s, 5s, and 10s.Wednesday: English & Creative Writing
•Postcard from Space: Have students imagine they landed on the Moon. Write a short, simple three-sentence postcard describing what they see and feel.
•Read-Aloud: Share Back to Earth with a Bump and discuss what it feels like to floatThursday: Arts & Crafts (Visual Arts)
•Papier-Mâché Planets: Work in small groups to cover inflated balloons with papier-mâché paste and newspaper strips, setting them aside to dry for a hanging classroom solar system.
•Constellation Art: Paint dark blue card with sponge stars and connect white chalk dots to invent brand-new imaginary star shapes.Friday: PE & Mission Celebration
•Moon Walk PE: Set up a low-gravity obstacle course in the hall where children move in slow motion, leap over “moon rocks,” and crawl through a tunnel “airlock.”
•Rocket Showcase: Display the week’s art and invite another junior class in the school to view the cosmic exhibitionRainy Day or Supplementary Activities:
SESE Science (Replaces Monday’s Yard Shadows)
•Flashlight Eclipse: Close the classroom blinds and turn off the lights.
•Shadow Puppets: Use torches (flashlights) and plastic space toys to project giant alien shadows onto the whiteboard.
•Size Investigation: Move the torches closer and further away to observe how shadow sizes change.PE & Movement (Replaces Friday’s Hall Obstacle Course)
•Cosmic Yoga: Follow a space-themed story yoga session on the interactive whiteboard (like Cosmic Kids Yoga).
•Astronaut Training: Play “Simon Says” with active space actions like “float in zero gravity,” “spin like an asteroid,” or “blast off into a tuck jump.”
•Space Freeze: Play space music and have the children freeze like frozen planets when the music stops.Creative Play & Breaks (Rainy Lunch Breaks)
•Constellation Building: Give students mini-marshmallows and toothpicks to build 3D star constellations at their desks.
•Space Junk Models: Use clean recycling materials (cardboard tubes, tinfoil, plastic lids) to build tabletop rocket models.This is a lovely idea Fintan, I might borrow it and use glow-in the dark stickers so the children can create their own night sky and stick it on their wall or ceiling at home. This would be lovely for infants or anyone struggling with a fear of the dark who might be engaged in play therapy.
Module 3 Forum Post
At the end of a unit of work on Space, I would create an exciting “Alien Landing” maths, art and oral language mission. Children build a custom alien using rolled-up foil, measure its height with counting cubes, and count its paper spots. They then draw a matching planetary home on a crater-dotted paper background.
Introduction:
Discuss what we have already learned about Space as part of our unit of work. Explain to the class we are going to create our own alien landing.
Activity:
Give each child a ball of aluminium foil to sculpt a small alien body.
Provide googly eyes, pipe cleaners, and coluorful paper shapes to glue on.
Set out interlocking math cubes and crayons.
Sculpt the Alien: Twist and shape the foil into a funny alien with tentacles or extra heads.
Count the Features: Glue on 3 googly eyes, 4 pipe-cleaner arms, and 5 paper spots. Write down each number.
Measure Height: Snap together plastic counting cubes to match the height of your alien. Count how tall it is in cubes.
Design the Planet: Draw a purple planet with black craters on a dark blue paper sheet.
Share and Tell: Show your alien to a partner and share what language your alien speaks.This lesson could also integrate literacy by giving the class an Alien Profile template and getting to create a profile for their alien based on age, where they live, who is in their family and so on.
I also used the planets as my topic. Initially creating an art lesson based on the planets and then dividing the class into 9 groups with each group working on a planet and the sun to create a class project.
I really like the booklet idea as a way of presenting the project, rather than the traditional multiple A3 pages selloptaped together. The booklets could then be placed in the class or school library for other classes to use.
I would create an art lesson based on the planets.
Initially I would ask the class what they already know about the planets e.g. how many planets, can you recall their names, do you know any facts about the planets?
I would use a video from youtube to introduce the class to the planets; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8YzKyot4Pc
I would explain to the class we are going to create our own Solar System, using art and craft materials.
Get your paper ready: Lay your dark paper flat on the table. This is deep space.
Make the Sun: Dip your sponge or brush in yellow and orange paint. Press a big circle on the left side of your paper.
Paint the rocky planets: Paint small circles for Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. Use gray, blue, and red paint near the Sun.
Paint the giant planets: Paint bigger circles for Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune further to the right. Use orange, brown, and light blue.
Add Saturn’s rings: Dip a small brush in white paint. Draw a thin oval line right through the middle of Saturn.
Spray the stars: Dip an old toothbrush into white paint. Hold it over your paper. Rub your thumb across the bristles to spray tiny white stars everywhere.Once dry, the children can create labels using white paper to place planet names next to their planet.
I would then group the class into 3s and assign a planet to each group. We would then use our class ipads to work on group projects based on each of the planets, this could extend over a couple of weeks as a unit of work.I really like this idea for introducing the concept of gravity and integrating it into other subjects a well, because it can be very difficult to fit everything in to the infant day. It also brings an element of fun to the lesson.
My inquiry based activity was also based on gravity and using trays of flour and cocoa powder layered to demonstrate gravity on the moon but your idea Úna would be nice to use as an introductory lesson on a whole unit of work on gravity.
Hi, my name is Elaine. I have recently been appointed to the new Positive Mental Health and Wellbeing Co-ordinator role in my DEIS Plus school so I won’t actually be teaching this year but I am a post-holder and one of my curricular areas is Science, Technology and Engineering.
Space Fact:
An asteroid about the size of a car enters Earth’s atmosphere roughly once a year – but it burns up before it reaches us.
Inquiry-based activity:
This short inquiry-based lesson helps infant classes discover why the moon has craters by testing how objects make marks in flour and cocoa powder.
Intro:
- Look at a picture of the moon together.
- Ask: “What do you see on the moon’s face?”
- Listen to their ideas about the dark spots and holes.
- Introduce the big question: “How did those holes get ther
Wonder and Predict:
- Show the tray filled with white flour and covered with a dark layer of cocoa powder.
- Ask the children to guess what will happen if you drop a rock onto the tray.
- Let them share their ideas out loud.
Investigate:
- Let each child drop a small rock or marble into the tray from different heights.
- Watch what happens when the dark cocoa moves away to show the white flour underneath.
- Try dropping a big rock and a small rock.
- Ask: “What changes when the rock is bigger or falls from higher up?”
Reflect and close:
- Draw a picture oor take a photos of the tray model on paper.
- Talk about what the rocks represent (space rocks called meteorites) and what the tray represents (the moon).
- Explain that when fast rocks crash into the moon, they make big holes called craters.