[Fiona Ni Shuilleabhain]

love this idea, the class would really enjoy making their very own lava lamps!

[Fiona Ni Shuilleabhain]

I would begin my inquiry-based activity by asking the class questions about night and day. We would make use of a KWL chart to record their previous knowledge if a class discussion were to arise from the questioning.

Some of the questions I could ask would be:

Why does it become dark at night and bright during the day?

Why do you think it gets dark at night?

Is it night-time everywhere at the same time?

I would then get the class to write their answers on their whiteboards and discuss them with their partners, groups and the class.

Next up we have a hands-on exploration/investigation. We would do this by sticking a little person on our class globe. We would shine a flashlight on one side of the globe and slowly rotate the globe and observe what happens to the person. We would discuss our findings and relate them back to the classes’ predictions/answers.

I feel this inquiry-based activity would develop the children’s critical thinking, their observation skills and give them a basic understanding of astronomy.

[Fiona Ni Shuilleabhain]

Hi my name is Fiona and I’ll be teaching third class this year. My fun space fact is space is always getting bigger so it’s impossible to reach the ‘edge’.

[Fiona Ni Shuilleabhain]

Thank you Niall, I was having difficulties uploading it last night and couldn’t see it until today. Norah is fantastic role model and one I look forward to focusing on next year.

[Fiona Ni Shuilleabhain]

module 5

Class Plan to engage with Space Week (Rang a 2)

The activities below would be be tailored to the class level.

 

English

·         Postcard from space

·         Acrostic poems related to space

·         Diary entry while in space

·         ‘If I could invent a planet’ creative writing activity

 

Irish/Science

·         Table quiz on facts they have learned during the week.

·         PowerPoints on different aspects we have studied; planets, rockets etc.

 

Maths

·         Spaced themed maths games; subtraction, addition, telling the time.

 

Geography

·         Study about Dr Norah Patten.

 

History

·         Space travel through history; famous astronauts.

 

PE

·         Astronauts and aliens in space; children create a game and teach it to the aliens.

·         Meteor Ball

https://www.thepeshed.com/_files/ugd/ff464b_807905806d444fc983b9d2cf9af99035.pdf

·         Meteor Battle

https://www.thepeshed.com/_files/ugd/ff464b_7d29cc54ba334b6bb1e5c169c92be089.pdf

 

Music

·         Songs based on the planets, space and rockets in Irish and English.

 

Art

·         Tonal aliens.

·         Mindfulness collaborative work

·         Space sun catchers

·         3D rockets

 

Drama

·         Space themed stick puppets; groups create mini-stories including some of the facts they have learned.

·         Hot seat as Dr Norah Patten.

 

SPHE

·         Discussion on how they would feel about going into space and what they would be looking forward to/worried about etc.

[Fiona Ni Shuilleabhain]

Class Plan to engage with Space Week (Rang a 2)
The activities below would be be tailored to the class level.

English
• Postcard from space
• Acrostic poems related to space
• Diary entry while in space
• ‘If I could invent a planet’ creative writing activity

Irish/Science
• Table quiz on facts they have learned during the week.
• PowerPoints on different aspects we have studied; planets, rockets etc.

Maths
• Spaced themed maths games; subtraction, addition, telling the time.

Geography
• Study about Dr Norah Patten.

History
• Space travel through history; famous astronauts.

PE
• Astronauts and aliens in space; children create a game and teach it to the aliens.
• Meteor Ball
https://www.thepeshed.com/_files/ugd/ff464b_807905806d444fc983b9d2cf9af99035.pdf
• Meteor Battle
https://www.thepeshed.com/_files/ugd/ff464b_7d29cc54ba334b6bb1e5c169c92be089.pdf

Music
• Songs based on the planets, space and rockets in Irish and English.

Art
• Tonal aliens.
• Mindfulness collaborative work
• Space sun catchers
• 3D rockets

Drama
• Space themed stick puppets; groups create mini-stories including some of the facts they have learned.
• Hot seat as Dr Norah Patten.

SPHE
• Discussion on how they would feel about going into space and what they would be looking forward to/worried about etc.

[Fiona Ni Shuilleabhain]

some fantastic ideas here, thanks for the inspiration!

[Fiona Ni Shuilleabhain]

love the dressing teddy activity, so fun and interactive 🙂

[Fiona Ni Shuilleabhain]

The activity I would like to undertake with my class next year would be ‘Animals in the Cold’. I always find that classes enjoy learning about animals and this activity seems like one they would actively engage with. As I have second class and work in a Gaelscoil I would focus on the vocabulary associated with the different types of weather first so that the children have the ability to discuss the types of weather that occur more often in some places in the world.
The focus would then move onto the animals (again learning the vocabulary first so they can discuss the different facts) and how they keep themselves warm. I would connect it to other subjects like music, art and drama to ensure the pupils active participation in their learning. Scoilnet has a few resources linked to these which would be helpful. The children would have the opportunity to learn about the lifecycles of the penguin and polar bear and I would encourage them to find other animals that live in the cold.

[Fiona Ni Shuilleabhain]

Brilliant thanks so much.

[Fiona Ni Shuilleabhain]

I’ve never heard of that modelling material, will definitely look into it, thank you!

[Fiona Ni Shuilleabhain]

These are some fantastic activities Sinéad, love the idea of aliens flying around the room.

[Fiona Ni Shuilleabhain]

Activity Set – Space and Aliens

I like using a book to introduce a topic or activity with a class and I feel this time the story ‘Aliens wear Underpants’ would be a fantastic was to introduce a lesson on designing aliens, while discussing space and Martians.
I would make use of a KWL activity again by using a mind map with the class with the centre point being space and aliens.
As the children learn new pieces of information, they would add them to their mind map.
We would make use of a variety of materials to create our aliens; for one lesson we could focus on painting making use of ‘one colour’. For example a green alien but by adding a little bit of white paint/black paint they could change the colour slightly to create a tonal alien. We could also make our aliens 3D by making use of clay, construction materials or even marla.

There are so many opportunities to integrate this topic with other subjects, which is fantastic. This lesson’s focus would be integrating with art so I was thinking that each pupil could create a diorama by themselves or with a group and their 3D Martians would have their own little ‘habitat’.

[Fiona Ni Shuilleabhain]

Station teaching is a fantastic way to ensure a fun engaging way of learning, well done!

[Fiona Ni Shuilleabhain]

I think I would like to try the activity set based on the planets in a lesson for the upcoming school year. I feel the class I will have in September will greatly benefit from such active learning. They are a class that love being active and PE and by playing the planet game, dancing the planet dance and spinning their own planet they would feel there is a connection between learning and being active when they are learning science facts.

The song ‘Family of the Sun’ is a familiar tune for them to learn some facts about the planets. As I work in a Gaelscoil I would have to translate this to Irish but that is a task that happens a lot in a Gaelscoil. They would also enjoy the rap ‘We are the planets’ and I feel this song would also give me an opportunity to link our planet lessons with English lessons.

[Author]

Posts