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Hi Niamh, such lovely ideas for Space Week.I like how you are integrating the moon landing for History and interviewing the astronaut for role play in Drama. Great ideas!
I would like to try the Rocket Mice activity in Junior Infants as it’s a very simple idea whereas the fizzy rocket and straw rocket would be more suitable for middle/ senior classes.
We would look at the Milo and Mervin cartoons on different types of rockets. Children would work with a senior class when constructing the mice rockets, especially with cutting out the cone template and sticking onto the top of the bottle. We would use different types of bottle containers and the children could predict how high the mouse will travel. I like the idea that was posted previously on using towers of blocks to see how high the rockets travel.
After the investigation, the children could decorate their rockets and create little aliens using play dough. Such a lovely activity that’s ideal for Junior Infants.
Such a lovely idea Sharon. I will use this rubber glove when teaching Animals in the polar regions. Thank you.
The hands on classroom themed activity that I teach every year is ‘Where do you live?’ I like that it integrates Geography with Science, these subjects interlink so well together.
Firstly, we usually spend time looking at a globe & map to identify Ireland and our own county Donegal. Our next lesson is based on our town, types of buildings/homes we see on our way to school. We look at some similarities and differences. New vocabulary is introduced and pictures of different types of homes are shown to the class. Children spend time drawing their own home and then recreating a 3 D model of their home. This design and make activity allows children to construct their homes using cardboard boxes,some children might use modelling clay for this.
Eventually we place the houses/homes together to form a village. Children discuss their own home counting windows, identifying 2 D shapes. We go outside and look around the area to identify types of homes. We can see bungalows/detached/semi detached/terraced houses from the school yard. Children create houses from lego in their play and also enjoy the small world dolls house. We always integrate Gaeilge as well as other subject areas. The Three little Pigs is a storybook that we read to reinforce materials, types of materials and their properties.
Matthew, a lovely non fiction book on stars, I think I will use this next year when teaching this topic.
My topic would be Stars.
Firstly, I would begin with reading the story How to Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers. We would discuss what stars are and using the ESERO activity sheet Lots and lots of stars, I would question the children to elicit prior knowledge. This could be recorded on a KWL. What is a star? How many stars are there in the universe, is the sun a star?
The children would use black card to complete the starry night art activity using paint and a toothbrush and comb. Next we would discuss star constellations. I would explain that a star constellation is group of stars together and these constellations are sometimes named after animals and mythological creatures. Constellations are seen after sunset and before sunrise.
I would give the children simple star constellation template sheets and using stick on stars the children recreate some simple star constellations. These would be displayed in the classroom with the starry night artwork. We would revise all new words and facts that we have learned and create a class display.
Other activities would include constructing stars using shapes, counting stars, sorting stars by colour/size. Using play dough the children cut out stars using cutters. We would listen to and sing TwinkleTwinkle.
Hi Elaine, I also like the idea of station teaching for this topic. It’s great when a SET teacher can help out for stations, always find it more difficult on my own! I love the integration of Maths and Oral Language development that you mentioned for this topic.
Module 2
I would base my lesson on The Sun and Shadows for Junior Infants.
As a stimulus I would use a book, ‘Moonbears Shadow’ by Frank Asch that was mentioned in this module. I would pause to discuss questions throughout the story. I would also elicit prior knowledge and use a KWL to record their ideas. By using a torch/ table lamp as the sun and a toy teddy the children could engage in playful learning by exploring how shadows are formed and how shadows can change.
I would then bring the class outdoors to explore their own shadows in the playground. We would trace using chalk the shadow of a child and then come back at a later time to see how the shadow has changed by having the child stand in the same position.
I would also teach songs and poems with this topic, it really is a topic that can be integrated throughout the curriculum.
My name is Finola and I am teaching in Junior Infants for a number of years now. I love incorporating picture books as a stimuli for science lessons. Some that I have previously used were ‘Night Monkey, Day Monkey’, ‘Whatever next’.
My interesting fact on space is that the moon is shaped like a lemon, with flattened poles at each end.
A science in investigation that I have previously taught was on materials and their properties. The class teddy got left outside and was saturated one day during playtime. This prompted the children to wonder how they could keep teddy dry while outside. We decided to create a waterproof coat for teddy.We explored different materials to investigate which were waterproof. The children first predicted and recorded their predictions. After conducting our experiments, children reflected on their predictions. This lead us to creating a little coat for the class teddy. The children really enjoyed this investigation.
