[Eleanor Mccaffrey]

Activity – Stars
literacy

read the book  how to catch a star by Oliver Jeffers to get the children into the world of magical stars .word on rhyming words / cvc and ccvc words / shared reading and shared writing on dreams and perseverance and success and disappointment

Art

Draw and paint pictures of stars, constellations, and galaxies.
Create star-themed crafts, like glittery night skies

music

Sing songs about stars, such as “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.”
Create simple instruments to make “star sounds” and compose star-inspired music.

maths

count stars in pictures / add and subtract using star stickers /finish  pattern activity using different coloured stars /use different sized stars and order then small to big

PE

do star jumps / make constellations in groups / star tag / mindfulness activities to relax mind and body by looking up at night sky

Lots of cross curricular learning from this topic

[Eleanor Mccaffrey]

Hi Frances

really enjoying the course on this Sunday after noon

sorry bothering you

I’ve uploaded my reflective log

I have handwritten my mind map but where do I post it to please

many thanks

Eleanor x

[Eleanor Mccaffrey]

Thxs Sinead great link

[Eleanor Mccaffrey]

Activity : rockets.

again going back to my favourite author Oliver Jeffers I would read the story The way back home  After discussing the story I would show the children some different rockets and talk about their shake size function – then they could refer to the you tube video  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-THf3CA93w  in groups the children could draw and design their own rocket discussing what materials they would use LEGO / clay/ paper .  Once made  use balloon rockets, foam rockets and rocket mice ideas and how to make rockets go faster , higher , further ? We would at space week assembly present our rockets and findings to the school – enjoyable  inclusive interactive activities

[Eleanor Mccaffrey]

kahoot – Thxs brilliant idea

[Eleanor Mccaffrey]

Weather is always a great theme – lots of different activities to get the the children learning and also you can do it in Irish also

start by discussing all the different types of weather and discuss the daily weather- what season are we in and what clothes do we need for hot day / cold day / windy day etc – sort clothes into the different categories and maybe there are clothes we wear in spring and in summer and we could use this information in a simple venn diagram

we would keep a record on a daily basis of what the weather is like – even make a rain gauge is wonderful activity which incorporates stem – lots of predictions and language activities

poems like itsy bitsy spider/ raining it’s pouring / rain rain go away  would be used in phonics lessons to enhance phonological awareness orthographie mapping and rhyme

on study ladder there are some wonderful weather   activities to develop ICT through story / matching activities and experiments – definitely recommend this

 

[Eleanor Mccaffrey]

Sinead.Thxs for that link to science buddies it’s a wonderful resource – could sit for hours loads of brilliant ideas

[Eleanor Mccaffrey]

Peg boards idea is fantastic as is the Astronomy picture of the day – my literacy co ordinator head going into over drive – fab to use as a resource at morning meeting to get word of the day and lots of work on phonics and morphology

[Eleanor Mccaffrey]

Oh I like this idea Jennifer thanks for Sharing

[Eleanor Mccaffrey]

Topic the Moon

Usually Do this topic in November in aistear  learning lots of fascinating facts about Space before we went into our Aistear Stations – so interesting and lots of fun and laughter

We say this poem in our  morning meeting daily and by the end of the month they children can quote wee lines back —The Moon by  Robert Louis Stevenson – love the line
The moon has a face like the clock in the hall; leads us into theme of time and sequencing our day
In literacy we use the poem to work on rhyming words and also pick a word like moon and discuss “oo” sound

We watch the  first moon landing on the interactive white board and the children dress up like astronauts and jump on the trampoline to try and imagine how you move in space / go to the toilet / brush their hair and teeth write  and  eat – great for developing motor skills- we even do a moon dance like neil and buzz and we get some great dance moves
In Role Play area we had the opportunity to take on the role of an astronaut in The Space Ship.We made space ships from Lego and we drew what we think them looks like and during shared  writing we wrote our own MOON poem- Using play dough we  designed our own moon and astronauts and space ships

An intriguing interesting topic with lots of cross curricular learning

[Eleanor Mccaffrey]

Forgot all about “ how to catch a star? Such an amazing book – will definitely be used next year – Thxs for reminder

[Eleanor Mccaffrey]

Hello

I’m Eleanor McCaffrey – a SET teacher in junior school in Donegal – I’ve always been intrigued about gravity since I was a child and my mum told me about Issac Newton and the Apple -was always looking at the Apple trees in our orchid after that 😀

 

As SET I go in and help the junior clsss teachers and this year in senior infants / first class we made a planet display – we integrated it into our maths by talking about shape and size and how far from the earth / sun the planets were – the children made the planets different colours and sizes and some in 1st class even worked on number of syllables in each planets name and we integrated this into our UFLI lesson ! By end of year most of the children could name the planets and their size – an enjoyable fun activity

[Eleanor Mccaffrey]

Rebecca

i had senior infants do this during science week -the screams of delight are a joy to listen too – children can surprise you with their imagination and thoughts – great fun experiment

[Eleanor Mccaffrey]

Brian Cox has hit the nail on the head Michelle – great way of thinking about it

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