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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My college text book, published in 1982 “Introduction to Planetary Geology” was out of date by the time I used it in 1985!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.
Marie – have you tried the activity from Fizzing and Alien Slime?
Start with a solid by giving each group of children an ice cube in a snack size zip-locked bag. Ask the students how they can change it to a liquid. Remind them not to take it out of the bag, tear the bag or put the bag in their mouths. They will have to find a source of heat. Tell the children to come to see you when they have a liquid.
I think that could lead to some interesting discussions amongst the children — and is preparation for much later ideas about physical changes vs chemical changes.
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
Celine, it is great to hear from your actual experience — I have used the measuring of the string as part of the learning, but that was with a slightly older crowd. Always adapt the activities to put the focus where you need it.
Ruth – you have the inquiry process spot on. Children can explore the rocket mouse, find out how it works, then ask their own questions to deepen their science understanding.
Measuring the force actually applied can be quite tricky – which opens up further questions for exploration. And, from experience, after a few launches, the mouse gets stepped on, flattened – and then– does it fly as well as it did?
Joanne, there’s definitely a need to spread these activities out – and I like how you have planned to engage the children’s interest with photos, stories and videos. The children could compare their own rockets to rocket mouse, using whichever criteria they think is most important –is “having a rocket shape” more important than “it flies upwards” for example.
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 – there is a whole school CPD offered by SFI -you can find out details at https://www.sfi.ie/engagement/discover-primary-science-and-maths/education/cpd/, which outlines the 2021/2022 offering. It will resume in the autumn. Both Una and I facilitate this, and it can be offered face to face, or remotely.
Mary – is this the poem? http://www.thebestclass.org/uploads/5/6/2/4/56249715/the_aliens_have_landed_6_parts.pdf
How much fun to consider – would eyes work if they were granite? just what is liquid helium? is my teacher really an alien?!
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.
That is a lovely activity outline Ruth, I particularly like the Drama and identifying activities that are more likely to take place in one season than another. Relating that to the clothing that they might wear is great — I am thinking of various sports that start /finish at different times of the year.
