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How much fun to make a physical model of the Solar System. You could ask children in what ways the model is good at showing the Solar System and and what ways it isn’t so good.
For me:
Good
- planets orbit in the same plane
- planets are in correct order from the Sun
Not so good
- planet speed is smaller for planets further away from the Sun – so the outer planets should take baby baby steps (this is Kepler’s Laws of Motion – covered lightly in leaving cert physics!!)
- unless you have a huge hall, the inner planets are likely to be squashed together and the outer planets will be too close.
See this beautiful video of a scale solar system being created in the desert:
PBS learning link with additional resources.
They also have the map a solar system to your area – which is great to show and then discuss where each orbit would be in terms of familiar areas near your school.
If the Sun was 200 cm across on Blackrock Castle Observatory, then the Earth’s orbit would be at the far side of the car park and Jupiter’s orbit would across the river at the Dunkettle roundabout!
Glad to see that you find this resource useful – there is also an Irish language version. You can find both and others at spaceweek.ie
The key for me is listening to the children’s discussion and justifications as to which fruit is which planet.
There is also an option of Earth and Moon with objects. Have a range of objects of different sizes and ask the children to choose one object each. Then they have to find another person with a different size object to make an Earth-Moon pair. The Moon is roughly 1/4 to 1/3 the size of the Earth, so there may be many pairs. Plus, someone may be somebody else’s Moon and a different person’s Earth.
Making Mars surfaces is so much fun! Particularly if you use reddish coloured clay material. I have done this on paper plates, and made little volcanoes with the clay.
To explore Mars up close you can use Google Earth, choose Mars from the drop down at the top. For some of the rover missions (Spirit and Opportunity), there is the ability to “fly into the image” and this can elicit more than a few ‘wows’ from viewers when you do this in the classroom.
You can search for the rover in the search panel in the left of the google earth screen.
Look for a little camera symbol on the route of the rover and then you can “fly in”.
Patrick – as part of SpaceWeek we produce a Moon calendar each year. You can find last year’s edition here.
Please note that the Moon is visible in the evenings from the tiny crescent after New Moon until just after Full Moon – so for about 2 week of the month.
Full Moon rises at sunset, so a few days after that the children will have to be looking outside well after sunset. You might want to use images from Stellarium if the nights are cloudy to keep the observing going.
Carol Anne – how great to have a stocked up dressing up box!
Alternatively children could find images of different clothing and use collage, but being able to handle the clothing and describe why it would be suitable is so vital.
If you didn’t have the clothing, you could include the Curious Minds Pass the Parcel activity created with a range of different fabrics or clothing items.
Hi Orla,
welcome to this course. There are lots of posts in the forum with suggestions, resources and ideas from other teachers, including other 2nd class teachers, so I hope you find this useful.
Gravity and falling things is fun to explore, if you find that when you drop ordinary things they fall too fast to compare you could try rolling them down a ramp – it will be a bit slower – although friction/rolling will then come into play.
This is how Galileo explored gravity back in the 1600s! See this teacher article on his thinking.
Daire,
if the introduction has
Explain that there is an order to the planets in relation to which one is nearest the sun. Use rhymes and songs to help remember the order.
what additional research will the children do about this?
Research: Have students research more about the solar system. They can explore how many planets there are and what is the order of the planets, which one is nearest to the sun, which comes next and so on
Inquiry learning is more than asking questions – using the framework for inquiry that is outlined in this module, children can pose their own questions that reference their science understanding and have investigative activities to check their understanding.
So, for planets, children might expect that the planets that are nearer the Sun (as established in the intro) would be warmer than planets further away from the Sun. Books/videos or charts with that information could be shared and children could check if they are correct. If not (and it is a not), then they might ask why a planet that is closer to the Sun – Mercury – isn’t as hot as the next planet – Venus. This could then lead to a practical query on how Venus’s atmosphere acts like a blanket to keep it warm.
Kevin,
do you reckon this is doable with a junior class? SESE Geography has learning statements about shadows and direction, but they are for 3rd/4th and 5th/6th.
3rd/4th: • investigate shadows, directions and sunlight
5th/6th investigate the relative lengths and directions of shadows and the intensity of sunlight at different times of the year
Hi Fiona,
have you seen the SEIA resource on different clothing for different climates?
The full set is here: https://www.seai.ie/community-energy/schools/primary-school/resources-for-teachers/
and the material on clothes is designed for 3rd and 4th class. There is a flipchart for the IWB and a ppt version.
Hi Kevin,
the fingerprint activity can be a great starting point for inquiry learning. I think the important part is the questions that the children pose themselves as they are carrying out the activity.
They might ask – which powder makes it easier to see the fingerprint? Do we need to have a lot or a little of it? How are fingerprints the same or different?
In each case, they should use their own understanding to make a testable question – and this might be quite informal as they quickly say – ‘I think it needs to be a just enough to cover the fingerprint – let me try that.’
I used to have a beautiful set of constellation cards that could be used to make star viewers.
A quick search has produced it here – but the original was from a museum in Australia. These are reversed, for use in star viewers, so that you punch from one side, but look from the other.
Dean,
I recommend Model Magic – it is a great material that makes beautiful, bright planets that are air drying. It is pricey, but a little goes a long way and the planets that can be created are gorgeous.
These are ones left over by children from workshops at BCO:
or you can go really big – like these ones I saw at a planetarium in Portugal
Michelle – there are some ESA activities on space debris for primary children.
There is a Framework for Inquiry to support their use here.
Michelle – adding seasons to this is just a great idea.
Even photos of the shadow of a tree at 1pm at different times of year would be great.
Irene –
Depending on the children in your class, you could include images of houses from different countries. I grew up in Canada, where houses have to be designed to withstand snow in winter (it affects the roofline) and deal with hot summers. Timber frame is the norm there, so siding is often used on the outer skin of the house – quite different to here.
