[Frances McCarthy]

Denise – I like how you have realistically planned to get in some support from an older class. I have made foam rockets with all classes from 1st-6th and 1st definitely do need a little bit of help with some of the fine motor skills and scissor work.

The angle can be simplified to be: “will the rocket go further away from me if I launch it straight up or if I launch it horizontally?” and the children can then predict based on prior experience of throwing object — and explain how they think the rocket will move.

Outside on a windy day can throw in some additional variables – and that can be fun to explore.

[Frances McCarthy]

John – which rocket would you use? are there particular ones you have found worked well in the past? I have made the foam rockets with 1st class- but near the end of the year and with some extra help.

[Frances McCarthy]

Thanks for the story suggestion: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52336519-the-smeds-and-the-smoos.

There are some short extracts from the planetarium show “We are Aliens” available from ESERO UK at stem.org.uk. They might be useful for engagement as they share what other people think about aliens.

 

[Frances McCarthy]

Alexandra – do you use them in a very general way to capture all ideas that the children have about a theme? How do you narrow down the W to create a streamlined inquiry question?
Inquiry in science is about letting the children predict what they think will happen based on their understanding  – and allowing the activity to verify or challenge their models and assumptions.

[Frances McCarthy]

Georgia – would you use Amazing Triangles as part of this? I’ve tried the marshmallow towers with 8-10 year-olds, and they enjoyed making the triangle structures, agreed that they made a stronger shape, and then made towers without a triangle in sight!! We rested our toy red panda on the towers – and over they went!!

[Frances McCarthy]

Thanks for the link Conor – I have a copy of the book and just love it.

Special Life is a great activity – and can be linked to the idea of why the earth is so special –which has to do with its distance from the Sun, the so-called “Goldilocks Zone.” If children have lots of questions about this – remember that you don’t have to have the answers– you can help them word their questions into a way that they can then research – or explain that they are asking the same questions that scientists are trying to find out answers to.

[Frances McCarthy]

Denise – I like basing ideas of weather and seasons into the children’s everyday experience of what do they wear to go outside. I am a volunteer leader with a youth group – and no matter how many times we say to our members – “bring a coat! we will be going outside no matter the weather!” they still forget/ or text before the meeting to ask – will you still be going outside, it’s raining!!

Children in school are much the same — how many forget coats, or expect that they will stay inside if it is raining.

Planning for a holiday trip is exciting – I love that.

[Frances McCarthy]

Rachel – glad to hear your experiences with the awards of excellence. Some schools do share their blogs on line – and as you say, a photo of the children in action, or a snap of their copies is plenty of evidence for the awards.

If you want an inspiration for a blog – check out the Renmore Junior site.

[Frances McCarthy]

thanks for sharing your mind map John.

[Frances McCarthy]

Joey – do you have a link to Space Dogs — my google is returning a movie with that title.

If you mention space dogs, then be prepared to talk about Laika, and her sad story of her one way trip to space. There are some humans who are considering being the first humans on Mars – and right now, that would be a one way trip. Would you travel to Mars if you knew you could never come back? How is that different or the same to people who left Ireland in the last few centuries, knowing they would never return….

[Frances McCarthy]

Karen – this engineers week resource from 2021 has a completed framework for inquiry for design a raincoat.

As you have outlined, when carrying out a design and make activity with children, the sections of the framework under Investigate change in emphasis slightly:

STARTER QUESTION > EXPLORE
PREDICTION > PLAN
CONDUCTING THE INVESTIGATION> MAKE
SHARING / INTERPRETING DATA > EVALUATE

You have done a great job of detailing how the children will follow each of those steps.

[Frances McCarthy]

May your whiteboard behave, your internet stay connected, and your children enjoy and learn from the videos! APOD is great due to the variety of images it has, and the explanation that the teacher can access (admittedly, far beyond primary child level). Webb telescope images should continue to arrive and astound – so keep an eye out for those too.

[Frances McCarthy]

Aoife – you can find some nice images of arctic plants in the PolarStar material – and some of it is in Irish. Polar regions really bring home seasons — given how severe their winter is, compared to summer.

[Frances McCarthy]

Aoife – I love the idea of including solar system exploration. You could tell the children that they have to decide which space mission is going to be built and launched– which planet will it go to? what will it try to find out?

This happens every few years in all the major space agencies – there are always more proposals than there is money – so different mission ideas are developed, but only one or two actually get built.

[Frances McCarthy]

Aoife – there is also the chance to throw in a little bit of science fiction ideas — since space is so vast, how did the spacecraft get to Earth? (I expect at least one child will tell you it was through a worm-hole!)

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