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Here is the story, read by the author. Planets are an interesting topic for children (and for this astronomy-space mad adult!), but don’t worry if they don’t learn the names of the planets. Knowing that they are different from stars is important, and they only show up as a curriculum learning outcome for 5th and 6th class in Geography.
Eilis – I am sure the idea of teddy weather will be ‘borrowed’ by every teacher on this course — it’s super!
You could explore the clothing range in class to make sure it really is suitable for the weather — does the raincoat keep Teddy dry? Does the sun-hat keep the sun out of Teddy’s eyes….
Keith – the mind-map is still hiding – can you check the settings?
Rocket mouse really lends itself to exploration – and the children can have a gentle introduction to fair testing as they consider if the different size bottles are made of the same type of plastic, or if the size of the bottle opening makes a difference, or if the force of their push is the main thing that makes a difference…
Georgia – weather and clothing tied into seasons is so appropriate for young children. There is great opportunity for them to really think through their answers to:
We would orally discuss each season using the images – What season is this? How do we know from the picture?
Could the children actually test their outfits? ie – a raincoat that keeps you dry, a coat that keeps you warm, a T-shirt that keeps you cool, a sun hat that keeps the sun out of your eyes, a hat that stops your hair blowing around (I have long hair!!)…
Is this the book? Looks interesting, but I’m not taken with the reader, who is saying different words than the book! https://youtu.be/YsSTH_B6vYY.
With senior infants will they be able to use metre sticks? or might it be easier for you to ask a child to pace out a few steps / place a marker / pace out a few more steps etc? Or children could place a stone where their rocket goes and then they can compare who went further by looking at the stones.
Georgia – what a lovely maths-centred activity set. Is this the book? https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20359195-adams-amazing-space-adventure
not the book by our own Adam from the Toy Show who wants to be a CapCom?
Fiona – we look at rockets in more detail in module 5 – but I love how you have planned to engage the children, and concentrated on forces as the science topic.
I have given children a toy car and asked them to make it move in as many different ways as possible that they can think of — this is very open ended and the children can discuss and play as they learn.
There are pictures of a rocket launch that can be sequenced in the ISS Primary Education Kit from ESA – you can find it on page 54 here.
Eilis – my colleague was a volunteer at Dunsink at the time, and says that the fire left precious little whole, and there was no way that they could have located the tiny bit of Moon rock! The Independent has an article about it.
This video? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdj8lPvW0rc
Cute characters- but it builds on the misconception that the Moon can only be seen at night! When they are arguing about the crescent Moon – they should have just looked up and seen it in the morning sky!
How would you help the children explore the reasons for the different phases of the Moon? – remembering that phases of the Moon are not part of the primary curriculum, so the emphasis should be on what is lighting up the Moon and how we can only see something that is lit up or gives out its own light.
Rachel – thanks for sharing such a practical set of activities that you have used. I love the passport for an alien, and the alien’s planet is great – it reminds me of these NASA posters for different exoplanets.
Marie – I like how you have started with cold objects that have warmed up – and then extended the thinking to a room temperature chocolate that needs to be melted. This will really pull out the children’s thinking about heat and how it affects everyday materials.
This is a lovely way to access: explore the effects of heating and cooling on everyday objects, materials and substances.
For infants this could be a complete investigation — they could explore lots of different items to see if warming them up makes them liquid.
I see that you have planned to explore removing heat from a liquid to make it solid –but is there a way to that easily other than put it in a freezer? – which isn’t particularly visual and obvious – compared to holding onto a bit of butter or chocolate until it goes melty!
Hi Keith – can you check permissions on the mind map please, I’m getting a “not found”.
Keeping food hot and cold for a picnic is a lovely engaging scenario. The children can consider what they already know and there is a nicely inexpensive set of materials that they might use to test out if the hot chocolate stays hot, and if the icecream stays iced.
Aisling – in your outline about the differences between day and night, you have included
- day vs night activities
- how we see objects (light travels from the object to our eyes),
- sources of light,
- and formation of shadows.
- extension: Sun in the sky.
That strikes me as an ambitious plan. Would you be guided by your class and what they are most interested in? Would you have a range of small torches and opaque objects to let them play with shadows?
Michael – I like the emphasis on the dangers of sunlight for young children, I don’t quite understand why it only shows in SESE Geography for 3rd and 4th class.
Aoife – alternatives for film canisters are fizzy vitamin tablet tubes (99 cent from most major supermarkets or Aldi/Lidl), apparently some yoghurt drink tubes (have not tried this), sports top water bottles, or regular water bottles with a cork (wrapped in electrical tape as needed to get it to the right size).
You can also put the alka seltzer tablet in a zip lock plastic bag and have it pop the bag — and then imagine the pop being directed to make a rocket fire.