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Hi David,
having looked at some of the map projections here: https://gisgeography.com/map-projection-types/
which map would you choose?
Nothing beats a sphere for me – either a school globe or the more fun Earth Ball.
Fionnuala,
for the short video from an astronaut – there are recordings of astronauts reading space stories, which might fit with the books you have suggested to engage the children.
Check: https://storytimefromspace.com/
David,
I like that you have followed the inquiry framework with engage/wonder/explore before heading into the investigation. Be sure to give the children the opportunity to share the reasons behind their predictions.
With regards to the “next step,” buoyancy is quite a tricky concept for most people – so I would suggest making this about constructing a raft – that floats on the top of the water, with as little “underwater” area as possible.
If you do want to look at it, then the Curious Minds activity Design a Boat / Making a Diver here in English or in Irish is suitable.
I looked up and found this version of the Mariah Carey song:
https://youtu.be/CziCidR4KcY?si=94U0RxxztIYBHPRB
can you tell me more about the “Create your own twinkle star.
The children would create their own star using plastic containers,stars, water and glitter. This gives the idea of how a star twinkles. A nice one to take home.”would this be like the sensory jars? https://inspirationlaboratories.com/solar-system-sensory-bottle/
There is an activity to look at why stars twinkle – but it uses a laser (I use the little red dot that comes with my projector’s remote control) and a lit candle.
See: https://www.scienceonstage.ie/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/SOS_twinkle_star-1.pdf
Sinead,
what a nice way to tie these activities together – now I am imagining a walrus in a suit!
Blubber and fur fit nicely to protection from cold, which gets taught more explicitly as insulation in the older classes,
Materials and change: 3rd/4th: investigate the suitability of different kinds of clothes for variations in temperature
recognise that some fabrics keep us warmer than othersvs Materials and Change for 1st/2nd
• become aware of and investigate the suitability of different kinds of clothes for variations in temperature
recognise that some fabrics keep us warmer than others
design and make or assemble an outfit for someone who is going on holiday to a very warm or cold placebut it appears in the junior class curriculum as
Heat:
“• identify ways of keeping objects and substances warm and cold
wrapping and covering (e.g. cosy on teapot, cool-box, clothes, shade from sunlight)
design and make a suitable cover to keep a hot drink warm.I’d suggest discussing with your senior class colleagues so that you can work together to build the children’s understanding over the years, and not have them design clothing each year. (Although I want to see the coats for penguins!)
Louise,
a teacher who took this course last year also suggested that children could “teach each other” an experiment. She said it really encouraged the children to choose an activity they liked, and she had a rota over the year so that less confident children could see how it went with other children, and then go later in the year when they had a bit of familiarity with the process.
Camilla,
a slight caution on “I would explain that the biggest star of all is the Sun”
it appears the biggest because it is closest.
In the planetarium when I go out to schools I often hear this from children, so I tell them “my thumb is bigger than your head” – and ask them to show this by holding up their own hand and blocking out their view of another person’s head.
We then discuss if our thumbs are actually bigger, or just appear bigger – and that the Sun is like that – because it is close, it looks big. If it were further away it would look smaller. Older children sometimes appreciate this as a “Father Ted moment” – (a big cow far away, a small cow up close).
Thanks for sharing a new to me book “Moon! Earth’s Best Friend” by Stacy McAnulty.
https://youtu.be/EMtkf8rrxLs?si=nZAjvqrTwDMWkGSo
It uses American units of miles, pounds and references some quite complicated material – is there a particular reason you chose it?
It has a suggested age of 4-8, and a guide that it is to be an adult who should read the book for the first time to children.
Personally I prefer the Cat in the Hat rhymes of There’s no Place Like Space:
https://anyflip.com/icenx/mnac/basic
Whatever Next is for quite a bit younger children – suggested for ages 2-4, so it may be too young for senior infants.
Fintan,
“explaining that it’s always a sphere, but we only see part of it from Earth.”
is exactly the approach I think should be used when discussing the appearance of the Moon. I’d carefully choose the video you use so that it is not too heavy on the language of “phases of the Moon” – it is enough for the children to be able to refer to a crescent Moon, a Full Moon etc.
With 2nd class would you model the Moon using a sphere lit from one side?
https://youtu.be/wz01pTvuMa0?si=GCvgGL2Q5ez0YG1c
Dark room with bright light source
or
https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/news/393/
day time activity
Blathnaid – I have merged your reply into this thread.
Glad to get more recommendations for stories, and great to see how you use them.
Your creative task could also serve as an investigation (within the inquiry framework outlined in this module) if the children can share their understanding of some aspect of the topic and carry out an investigation to confirm their ideas.
What would you take on a picnic to the moon?
can the children create a lunch that weighs very little (so that it is easy to take to the Moon by rocket), and fits into a certain size lunch box. This lets the children explore the early maths idea of weight “*Weight: heavy/light;” and capacity.
This also connects to Science; Materials
• observe and investigate a range of familiar materials in the immediate environment
water, wood, textiles, food, plastic, metal,
rockHi Eimear,
when we reference Inquiry learning in this module, we are particularly referencing the Inquiry Framework from Curious Minds ESERO, with the steps of engage, investigate, take the next step, and reflection.
You have plenty of Engage in your outline, but is there a particular focus that might enable the children to develop their science understanding by investigation?
Why does the Moon change shape could be such a focus, but, as we discuss in Module 2, phases of the Moon are not explicitly mentioned in the Irish primary curriculum, so I recommend approaching that topic as an example of light illumination a sphere, and how your viewing angle makes the sphere appear more or less lit up.
Aoife,
with 1st/2nd class children you could extend the arts activity by asking them to sort the aliens into families / or at least into groups of aliens that might live on the same planet. They could then link the features of the aliens to the type of environment they might live in – and connect that to animals of Earth that they are familiar with.
I make a simple alien with children using pipecleaners, similar to this one:
https://youtu.be/E7lbiq8z_bU?si=RqDQSbvFG9df-qJE
and they are easy to modify:
Jeremy – have you a particular “We begin with a short story or video showing what the Earth looks like from space and how it spins.” recommendation?
https://www.esa.int/kids/en/Multimedia/Videos/Paxi_on_the_ISS/A_view_of_Earth
doesn’t quite show the full Earth – which I think would be needed.
The beginning of this cartoon might work:
Aoife,
have you a particular “interactive visualizer of the nine planets” that you would recommend?
I am slightly familiar with Celestia – but find it tricky to master since I don’t use it enough. Better for me is https://eyes.nasa.gov/apps/solar-system/#/home
Hi Fionnuala, welcome to this course.
The taking items to a planet is a lovely way to connect children to the ideas and wonder of space travel. We have a resource that uses that with a maths focus as part of Mission to the Moon. This was written with the old maths guidelines, but can easily be used as an open ended activity on space and shape (and measure).
The science ideas of what do you need to survive on a planet could be used to design a spacesuit – possibly using the ESERO resource: https://esero.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/20_A-real-spacesuit.pdf
In each case I like that the children will
All groups could comment on whether they could or not.
since in that discussion the children can reflect on what they have chosen and consider if it is really needed for life support.
You could link this to plants and what they need to live as well – possibly using one of the ESA resources on Astrofarmer.