Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Una, you have a really nice grouping of activities for learning about the planets. It can be interesting to ask children to select pairs of planets from a range of different sizes balls – which planets have they chosen? There is a version of this for the Earth and Moon – that gets quite complicated, but for young children they can just compare larger to smaller, and have Jupiter or Saturn as the larger ball, and one of the terrestrial planets as the smaller one.
Roisin – I’m not familiar with planetstoday.com – and trying that address bring you to a very general site – do you have the actual link?
There is the NASA eyes on the solar system: https://eyes.nasa.gov/apps/orrery/#/home
and this ESA poster that shows missions that have explored each planet: https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2019/02/ESA_s_fleet_of_Solar_System_explorers.
The children might ask their own questions about why the planets look the way they do – and is it related to what they are made of? where they are in the solar system etc. This can be inquiry, even without an investigation “practical” activity.
Do you have a favourite one Catherine? As a fellow Canadian I love the all! but particularly the Chris’ Kitchen ones like this: https://youtu.be/AZx0RIV0wss,
The Moon is a great way into astronomy and space for children – have you a particular way you would like the children to record the moon phases? Would you start with the daytime moon at 3rd quarter and have a class observation?
Mayo Dark Skies have a Moon Observing Log that could be adapted for younger children: https://mayodarkskypark.ie/discover/the-moon, perhaps by putting in the suggested times that the children might look for the Moon – ie look for the Full Moon and the crescent Moon at sunset or sunrise, look for the 1st quarter moon in the afternoon, look for the 3rd quarter moon in the morning.
Hi Sinéad – a few years ago we worked with the National Children’s Choir and Jack L to do a Bowie video: https://youtu.be/xBZ034GHM4Q
Do you have a link to your class’s song?
thanks for sharing the mind-map – don’t forget to add to it / modify it etc as you progress through this course.
Welcome Nora – there are plenty of 2nd class teachers around in the forum, with a wealth of ideas and experiences that they are sharing. I like the Moon footprints as an engaging space fact – and even more, I like the cakes that can be made with that as the topping:
It would be interesting to ask your space enthusiasts about the image Picture of Solar System”
from the details in it, I would guess it was made pre-2000, given this from NASA:
Number of Moons in the Solar System (12/18/2001)
Mercury – 0 moons
Earth – 1 moon
Mars – 2 moons
Jupiter – 28 moons
Saturn – 30 moons
Uranus – 20 moons
Neptune – 8 moons
Pluto – 1 moonEven though astronomy is an ancient science – humans have been trying to work out how object in space are related and move…, there is always something new to be discovered.
My college text book, published in 1982 “Introduction to Planetary Geology” was out of date by the time I used it in 1985! It references the 16 satellites of Jupiter.
Hi Teresa – you might share this with your son: https://www.esa.int/kids/en/learn/Our_Universe/Planets_and_moons/Venus
and sulphur compounds are the ones that make that nasty eggy smell.
see also this article about the smell of some other planets: https://www.science.org.au/curious/space-time/smells-space-planets
This link should work for you Mary: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_jB5a664Qe5SNNcrGrZCLssZqP-RyruA/view?usp=sharing
Holly -resources in Irish can be very hard to find. SpaceWeek has some in Irish, and our YouTube channel has a handful of videos, which are produced in March each year – https://youtu.be/UTfWwYJPHWc
In our European project PolarStar we had some material translated, so you can find powerpoints and activity sheets that you might be able to adapt for your class. See for example: https://polar-star.ea.gr/content/solar-system-astronomy-irish
Mary – the little book of planets is designed to go with the song – it has the same lyrics as the video. You may want to hold it in reserve, or use it in a different way. Please do feel free to edit it as needed. I have a microsoft publisher version if you are able to access that version for editing – let me know if you’d like me to send it to you or create a link for you to download it.
thanks for sharing the video links – I love finding new songs about the planets. This autumn it will be quite easy to see Jupiter and Saturn when it gets dark in September/October/November/December and at Christmas-time we’ll even be able to see Mercury and Venus as well. This will make news, so I’d suggest trying to include Planets as a theme before Christmas, or straight afterwards.
