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Orla,
you have collated a lovely set of activities that cross the curriculum nicely featuring the Moon.
All of these allow infant children to access the learning statement
• identify and discuss the sun, the moon and stars
Nice stuff.
Yvonne,
will you use the milk containers as the launchers (like Rocket Mice does) or are they part of the rocket?
If launcher – then the mice (the cone) actually do launch upwards (like a rocket).
Roaring Rockets is a nice book – just watch out for the glossary that mentions “gravity boots” -it is on my pet peeve list. The astronauts wore thick soled boots because the Moon is cold! and the surface of the Moon is made of very rough, sharp and sticky rock dust that would cut through space suits. The gravity of the Moon is more than enough to keep the astronauts on the lunar surface.
Colette,
Are you planning to run stargazing sessions with Stellarium? It can take a bit of time to get used to, but is a powerful way to present the night sky. It works best if you have a room that can be completely darkened – do you have that at your school?
Can you identify some of the specific
visual aids and interactive games.
that you might use? I have used https://www.esa.int/kids/en/Games/Space_Cleanup
and spent so much time zipping around collecting broken satellites!
Thanks for the book recommendation. I found the author’s website and the book seems lovely.
Rachael,
what a super way to engage the children and make a fun lesson out of underpants! I can imagine the little pants dripping dry! I’m trying if the best underpants are absorbent or not — perhaps this could be “nappy” design, where the most absorbent won’t drip at all and the worst would drip all the water out. If the material was not absorbent at all, then the drips would all come at the beginning, and a semi-absorbent material would drip away for ages.
Did you use this template for the underpants?
Irene,
it is great to plan balloon rockets as Design & Make – children will then try an improvement, see if it works, and refine as needed.
I have been about 15 years getting balloon rockets to work – and I find they are best for me when I make the strings vertical, with a weight (usually a roll of sellotape) holding them down.
Orla,
if you have issues with the platform, try working in a text editor and then paste as text into the box, rather than writing directly into it.
You can also drop cpd@teachnet.ie a line to see if they can help.
I like how you have connected the different experiences of the children to the clothing they wear, and then linked to animals and how they don’t wear clothing. You could ask any dog owners if their dogs have jackets!
Is this the video Paula?
https://youtu.be/6IDeyAIjbbo?si=HLQISRQckuaWiapf
Designing coats is always a popular and rich learning activity. My social media feed has lately been full of the British Sewing Bee – I’ve been watching lots of fashion going by! The sequin bomber jacket could be a fantastic inspiration -the children could be asked if they’d wear something like that?
Blubber glove can be so much fun (messy fun too!) and children can inquire with it – asking
“does more blubber help keep your hand warmer?”
“does more blubber mean you can’t bend your hand as much?”
etc
Mary,
do you feel these activities will be suitable for the children you work with? The fine motor skills that are needed with ‘Make the Plough’ mean that I would do the string and lengths with ages 10 and up – and use straws with younger children.
I have seen star lanterns made with mobile phone torches as the light source – they can be very effective in a dark room.
Hi Sue,
I have binned the second occurrence of your post – the forum might have glitched and it duplicated.
The story you have chosen looks lovely, simple explanations and lovely drawings. I like the idea of looking for a shadow of an airplane – I think you’d have to be quite high up a hill with a very clear area of fields to be able to see it.
Rachael,
giving the children the time to explore before making their prediction is so essential – I love how you have allowed for that in this plan.
Sinead,
I hope the balloon rockets work for you – I finally got them working for the first time last year, as part of the “Heavy Lifting Rockets” activity with children.
I found that the line needed to be taut. I used fishing line which was smooth, with a large diameter bit of straw on it. We found that the positioning of the balloon attachment to the line mattered, since the balloons would go in circles around the line if the straw wasn’t lined up with the opening / neck of the balloon. I also destroyed a lot of balloon pumps!
Hi Rebecca,
this demonstration can make a great prompt when looking at Inquiry based learning.
Children could then consolidate their science understanding by posing simple testable questions that they can then verify with an investigation.
A child might suggest: “I think that if there is more oil then it won’t work… because…” and then check out if the more oil scenario does or doesn’t work.
Another child might think – there needs to be lots of water or the tablet won’t fizz- can I try it with only water?
In this way children act as scientists and confirm or refute their own understanding.
