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Activity set: rockets (This lesson can be done over the week, each day creating a new rocket for Space Week in the classroom)
Introduction: Read a picture book about rockets and space e.g. Roaring Rockets, There’s No Place Like Space etc. Look at a variety of pictures of rockets and spacecraft online – discussion about what rockets do i.e. take astronauts and satellites into space. Simple explanation of what a rocket is for the infant classrooms – a big tube that blasts off into the sky and travels into space, helps astronauts to the moon and other planets. Discuss what happens during the launch – countdown, lift-off, going into space – watch some short clips on Youtube.
Activity:
Build your own rocket – each child will be given materials e.g. to build a straw rocket or a mouse rocket. The children will be encouraged to share their creation and to name their rocket.
Simple rocket experiment – use safe household items such as vinegar and baking soda or vitamin tablet to make a small rocket launch, e.g. fill small vitamin canister with a small amount of vinegar, help the children to take turns in placing a teaspoon of baking soda into the canister and quickly close the lid. Turn it upside down, step back and countdown for the rocket launching (counting backwards from 10 for infant classes to incorporate number in maths).
Conclusion:
Discussion – ask the children which rocket they liked the best – fizzing rocket, mouse rocket or straw rocket and why. Discuss which rockets went the furthest and which force moved the rocket e.g. mouse rocket was launched by the force of air coming from the bottle when squeezed.
Hi Sinead, I love all of the space themed maths activities you have incorporated into your space week. Thanks for sharing!
Hands on classroom theme and activity: The Weather
Objectives; students will learn about the different types of weather and understand what types of clothing are appropriate for different weather conditions.
Intro: Sing a weather-related song like ‘whats the weather like today?’ Discuss what the weather is like today and how the weather makes the children feels.
Activity:
Picture book – read a picture book as a whole-class, engage by asking questions ‘what do you see in the sky? what do you think happens when it rains?’
Weather discussion – discuss weather flashcards ‘what can you see? what kind of weather is it?’
Clothes matching game – this can be either pictures of various clothing or actual clothing items. The children will choose the appropriate clothing to match each weather flashcard and explain why e.g waterproof.
Dress-up race – the class will be divided into 2 teams. Each team will be given a weather type and must rush to the pile of clothes and dress appropriately for that weather before the other team.
Conclusion: Review the key points we learned about weather. Create a weather journal that the children can fill in for the week.
Activity set: Space and Aliens
Introduction: Play ‘little alien space kids song’ for the children on Youtube.
Activity/Investigation: Begin by asking the children what makes us different to aliens? What might be similar between humans and aliens? If you were to meet an alien, what might they look/sound like?
Create a list of questions the children might like to ask if they ever met an alien.
Roll play: Teacher in role as alien who has landed from a planet, the children must ask the alien questions; where did you come from? What does your planet look like? Do you have gravity/water/living organisms on your planet? How far away are you from earth? Do you like earth? etc.
The children will then work to create their own aliens using playdough. Afterwards, they must create a full persona for the alien (name, favourite food, which planet you’re from)
Conclusion: The children will be encouraged to take turns to be in role as their individual alien whilst the other children in the class ‘interview’ the alien.
Hi Laura, love the idea of tying in a clip from toy story of the aliens, it’s a great way to prompt the children, especially those who may be less confident in sharing their ideas of what an alien might look like!
Hi Colette, I love the idea of keeping a shadow journal to show the movement and progress of the shadows throughout the day. Another great website is TigTag junior!
The activity I have chosen is the planets.
Introduction:
Introduce the topic of the planets to the children by asking them if they know any facts about our solar system/planets or if they can name any planets.
Create a KWL chart – filling in what we know already and what we would like to know, encouraging open ended questions etc, e.g which planet do we live on? what do we know about our planet?
Introduce the planets using The Planet Song and using StoryBots ‘Outter Space’ rap.
Activitiy:
Engage in a meaningful powerpoint, exploring each planet.
Discuss the similarities/differences between the planets eg. Our planet earth vs the moon.
Art activity: design a planet of your choosing (paper maché for more able students, playdough for juniors) can be completed in pairs/groups.
Conclusion:
The children can present their planet to the class and explain 3 facts about that planet.
Fill in the rest of KWL chart as a whole-class.
Further extension; Literacy – if you could design a planet what would it look like, who would live on it?
Hi all, my name is Fiona. I am a senior infant teacher who is looking forward to learning lots about space. My favourite space fact is that it takes on average only 3 days to reach the moon by spacecraft!
Inquiry based activity:
Creating mice-rockets
Each pair will be given a round piece of coloured card which they will fold into a 3D cone shape. The children can then use their imagination to add decoration and design to their cone to create a mouse (ears, tail, nose, whiskers). This allows for individuality.
Challenge: how far can you shoot your mice rocket using an empty bottle?
The children will have to explore the various ways they can move their mice rockets and share with the class.
Aim: using the empty bottle, place the mouse rocket on top of open empty bottle. Using two hands bang either side of the bottle, causing the force of the air to leave through the top of the bottle and send the little mice rockets flying!!
Lots of laughs and giggles as mice fly all over the place. This can be furthered into a classroom challenge of which mouse can travel furthest! Also another further enquiry could be ‘if we change the size/shape of the bottle will the rocket travel further or less?’
Results: The harder the bang/push of air from the bottle i.e. the force, the further the rocket will travel.
