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Mark, Thanks for sharing such a detailed rockets themed activity outline.
I also like the balloon rockets from Curious Minds, called Rocket Launch in the resources you can download from this module.
Rachael,
I like how you have planned to include their experience in swimming. You could link in how the arm floats that they might have used when they start swimming help them to stay afloat in the water.
Although – in searching for an image that could be used as a prompt, I came across this scary article: https://weaquatics.com/blog/are-arm-floaties-safe/
Emma,
if you do include the solar system to scale, you might adapt from this Space Week Ireland resource:
https://www.spaceweek.ie/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Classroom-Resource-Booklet-Our-Solar-System.pdf
or from the club activity The Solar System Walk: https://www.spaceweek.ie/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Solar-System-Walk.pdf
I have taken groups for walks, counting out each step and sharing our favourite planet facts when we reach the required distance. We have place planet pictures on sticks so that we could look back and see where they are.
You could also share this interactive that maps the orbits of the planets (you can choose the scale) to really bring home how close the inner planets are to the Sun and how much further away the outer planets are.
Meadhbh,
What a great plan for infants for space week.
Here are handful of space words in Irish:
https://www.thejournal.ie/readme/the-irish-for-space-4731061-Jul2019/
Catherine,
have you tried the Straw Gun or Magic Balloon . They are both suggested for ages 11-16 and look tricky enough to me. Would you adapt them for the children in your class?
They could be used as teacher demonstrations, to serve as the prompt for an inquiry, and then children could propose changes to the set up, make predictions about those changes and then check if that is what happens.
Catherine,
thanks for sharing these sites. I find the sky at night is a good guide for the deep sky objects that you might see with binoculars or telescopes and prefer this guide from Mayo Dark Skies:
https://www.mayodarkskypark.ie/discover/stargazing/
because of the simple graphics and easy to compare views.
Is this the site Deirdre? https://mysteryscience.com/
Short and sweet videos are a great prompt for inquiry work and I’m a big Chris Hadfield fan. I like his Chris Kitchen videos, including how to make a peanut butter tortilla
https://youtu.be/AZx0RIV0wss?si=af-aybkOtw99uGxf
and rehydrating dried spinach
Michelle,
what a great story: The Big Box, Oxford Reading Tree Level 1
https://youtu.be/GS2DHx4jcVA?si=dVzap0DQLzoVGC1u
the illustrations show clearly what happened to the box when it rained, and this is a great prompt for an inquiry.
Plenty of opportunity to ‘explore‘ what happens to a material when it gets wet, in this case in terms of structural integrity. You could link it to the paper towels of Mighty Materials and do they stay strong when they get wet.
Meadhbh,
I think the discussion could also be really interesting if they have visited anyone over the summer – is their house similar to other houses? If you are in a city school you might have children who live in flats, as well as the more suburban 3-bed semis or bungalows in the country.
Would you take a walk of the local area and look at the various styles of houses? Google streetview could do that if the weather is against you, or if you are very rural with only a few houses nearby.
I love this drama/journey concept as a physical activity (the putting on coats etc is just gorgeous),
thanks for sharing.
Ailbhe,
as someone who was the right age when ET came out (cough 1982) – I love this idea of the alien left behind.
Would you show the children the ET poster?
or the trailer?
Conor,
I found one read along of Astromouse, but the energy levels were just too much!
https://youtu.be/v1quwfChw5M?si=OQjhhC-qjB6EEXGk
One of the reviews on goodreads has:
This is a lovely book that would be very useful to extend children’s thinking as part of a topic on space or travel. The mice characters are very engaging and sure to appeal to young children. The book includes reading comprehension questions and suggested activity ideas. These are useful, ( and I’m definitely trying the recipe for moon paint), but I think there would also be considerable scope for problem solving and Design and Technology activities. I would use this at the start of a topic, as part of a ‘Knowledge Harvest’ to find out what children already know about space and explore their thinking about space travel.
Thanks for sharing your mind map. It can be useful to take a screen shot of it as you continue to add to it over this course.
Ciara,
What a great set of activities to really bring Space into your classroom.
you could show them Chris Hadfield brushing his teeth in space!
https://youtu.be/3bCoGC532p8?si=jkx5AkiEwppqRMPX
Space weather has a specific meaning – you can explore it in this spaceweek resource: https://www.spaceweek.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/MagneticSunandSpaceWeather.pdf
and for space music – check out this lovely vocal activity (linked from Mission to the Moon)
Catherine,
using a Wonder Wall sounds like a great way to include the children’s ideas and wondering.
Do you implement in it in this way? https://artsintegration.com/2018/09/01/a-low-prep-strategy-to-cultivate-inquiry-voice-and-choice/
