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Nicola,
Stellarium is a powerful tool and children can use it on their own. We have used it to show the effects of light pollution and to give children a scavenger hunt of objects to find. A similar hunt is here: https://pacificsciencecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/cah-sky-search.pdf
With older students we have used it to plan observing sessions (similar to this: https://www.schoolsobservatory.org/sites/default/files/discover/stemclubs/secondary/NSO-Secondary-Silver-S4-PlanningObs.pdf)
We produced a guide to using Stellarium to find Messier Objects for Space Week 2023, see here: https://www.spaceweek.ie/space-week-resource-pack-2023/
And, it is part of our outreach StarDome experience, where participants are seated in the inflatable dome with Stellarium projected onto the interior of the Dome.
Chloe,
I really like your outline, this touches on parts of SESE Geography for Infants as well as leading towards 1st/2nd class Science>Materials begin to explore how different materials may be used in the construction of homes suited to their environments.
A variant of children drawing what they see that I have done, is to have photos of objects in the immediate area and have the children try to find them.
I really like your idea of comparison of aerial images of other villages. They could be within Ireland, or perhaps of other places that the children have visited / come from. I grew up in Canada, so like to share images of Canada in winter.
Niamh,
this is a lovely set of activities on the theme of aliens, touching so many parts of the curriculum. May I share it more widely at the end of the course in the summary document I produce each year?
(see these previous ones: https://www.spaceweek.ie/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/SpaceWeekJunior_2023.pdf)
Grace,
shadow puppets are great fun, but I was surprised at how difficult it was for my Brownie Guides (aged 7 to 10). We used nursery rhymes and shapes to match (the cow jumped over the Moon etc). They had about 30 minutes to cut out, practice with a shadow theatre made from a large cardboard box and then present – and they needed way more time!
https://www.thepetitpelican.com/blogs/blog/how-to-make-a-shadow-puppet-theatre-at-home
Kayleigh,
I’m not familiar with that book, a quick search turned up this: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51612747-the-little-girl-who-dared-to-dream
and this:
I like the constellation of the child’s name at the end of the story.
Planet images may help the children create their own version. NASA produced some fun Exoplanet posters which could spark the children into creating a travel brochure for their own planet.
Fiona,
Would this site that includes a video from TG4 weather forecast by useful for your class?
Aine,
I really like your idea of the children sharing what Marvin and Milo have prompted them to discover.
There is a book version if you have children who’d like to immerse themselves!
Ciara,
I think the mess potential is quite high – I have done this with slightly older 7-9 year olds, and we covered one large table with newspaper and went at it!. From the star splatters we decided how to assemble them to make a huge collage of a galaxy, with rich star regions and more sparse outlying areas.
Marie,
Growing cress seeds is popular activity, and separating the concepts of germination vs growth is structured in the curriculum where Infants are expected to “explore conditions for growth of bulbs and seeds” and 1st and 2nd class extend this with “explore, through the growing of seeds, the
need of plants for water and heat (design, make or adapt a suitable container for growing seeds) & investigate how plants respond to light”I’d be very clear in distinguishing between what is needed to get a seed to start to grow (germination) vs keeping the plant growing once it has sprouted.
I used to mark Junior Cycle science and many of those students were still confused about germination vs growth.
Niamh,
you have outlined a lovely set of stations that promote playful learning – nice stuff. May we use this in our end of course shared resources?
Margaret,
Your space week plan seems to be a lot of fun – nice stuff. Neil Armstrong definitely has one of the most recognisable names in space history, but Buzz Aldrin is still alive, so I’d add in an image of him (ask the children if they know the name of the 2nd person on the Moon!).
For a real stretch -ask them if they know the name of the 1st woman on the Moon (there hasn’t been one, yet). Artemis will carry women to the Moon.
Fiona,
please do see some of the resources from PolarStar, a past European project where we did produce material in Irish. Curious Minds have a wealth of activities and you can search for those in Irish directly at https://www.sfi.ie/engagement/curious-minds/teacher-resources/classroom-resources/.
Some are in the process of being rebranded, so if you have used one in the past, it will be back again shortly. Amazing Triangles is one of my favourite, and the new Irish version has just been released.
If other teachers have go-to sources of material in Irish, please do share.
Ellen,
there is so much science that can come into the children’s designing of a Martian.
I think it is great that you plan for “The children should be able to orally explain their choices and thinking behind their design” – if they have designed an Martian with a wooly coat, they understand that Mars is cold and that wooly coats can keep animals warm on Earth. Great stuff.
Síle,
did you realise that most of the Mars rovers have 6 wheels? Part of the reason is if one or two break, the rover can still keep moving.
One of the small rovers – Opportunity I think, had a problem with a wheel, so used to drive backwards part of the time. You can see this in the wheel tracks on the Martian sand.
