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Pamela,
the activity from https://mysteryscience.com/sky/mystery-6/stars-daily-patterns/128
is a great way to introduce light pollution linked to the appearance of the stars when it is dark, not when it is day.
I’ve signed up for it – its a shame the archived readings are to other sites that you have to sign up for, and some of the features are locked unless you refer people.
“You need to refer five friends to view past mini-lessons – here’s the current one instead.”
Jessica,
I like how you have structured this inquiry, from a suitable prompt (the story), with explore and wonder built around the behaviour of the sponge.
Would you use food colouring as in this video version?
Emma,
thanks for sharing the story suggestion
https://youtu.be/NobYtkKyW5E?si=h8mMMTcxXu3Km22b
It’s interesting how the book alternates between perceptions of aliens and then “don’t gather friends to fight me off, alien monsters have never flown to Earth, you and your planet are safe.”
Jane,
when getting torches for this, look for single LED torches. If you get torches with multiple leds, they then cast multiple shadows.
I go through torches at an unbelievable rate – I usually find myself getting a new set of 12 every year.
I like how you have structured this inquiry to allow the children the free exploration to wonder and explore.
Luke,
I haven’t used Nasa Kids Club (is this it here: https://www.nasa.gov/learning-resources/nasa-kids-club/) but love Nasa Space Place (https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/).
National Geographic Kids is another that I am less familiar with: https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/space where do you recommend to start?
From Nasa Space Place I have just written my own loopy story! I provided the italics words and the site put them into the frame.
Lights in the Night Sky
Last year I traveled so far north, I almost made it to the North Pole. It was so cold that I felt like a frozen pea! I camped in a big sewing machine and made sure to put a lot of paper on the fire to stay warm. One night, I looked up at the bright night sky and saw bright shiniest lights. There were streaks of pale yellow and bright purple. It looked like the colors were crying high in the sky. I thought that I must be bouncing I found out later that I was looking at the aurora borealis, a dark phenomenon that happens when children from the Sun collide with dogs in our atmosphere.Denise,
Night Sky Network has activities with suggested scripts (written out, with participant responses) and videos of their simple activities in action, I think they are great, and they always add a new twist to something that I sort of know.
Main site search page: https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/download-search.cfm
Example activities:
Really worth poking around this site for supports.
Orla,
have you a suggested source for planet colouring? You could use the Tiny Little Book of the Planets that was shared in Module 2, which includes simple facts.
They wouldn’t quite be flashcards, so have you a suggested place to find those, or have you made some that you might share? Armagh Observatory & Planetarium have some that could be adapted to be a bit simpler for use with younger children, I think these would be better for 3rd class+ (https://s3.eu-west-1.wasabisys.com/armagh.space/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/19133706/AOPS-Guide-to-the-Solar-System-FINAL-min.pdf)
Cork Art Supplies (and other craft or home shops, the Range is good, and Baker Ross have this one) have a range of sytrofoam balls, but would you look at the mathematics of measures and have the children select their own?
This would allow access to Mathematics> Measure:
Chooses an object from a group of objects for a purpose based on a particular attribute
Orla,
I’m curious why you have referred to the rest of the world’s usage of seasons and which months are in which season.
Spring (March to May): Milder temperatures, often wet.
Summer (June to August): Warmest season, but still rainy, average temperature around 15-20°C.
Autumn (September to November): Cooler, frequent rain and wind.
Winter (December to February)When I moved here it took a bit of doing for me to learn that the first day of spring is St Brigid’s Day in February, but then it made sense that mid-summer is actually the middle of Summer. (so summer starts 1 May).
Weather diaries are suggested in the Science Curriculum for 1st/2nd class, as a topic where observations of gradual change over time can be made:
Skill: Observing: observe gradual changes in living things and familiar objects and events over a period
and observing weather can be linked to Materials in 1st/2nd with
become aware of and investigate the suitability of different kinds of clothes for variations in temperature.
And of course, appear as an explicit activity for Infants in Geography
record weather observations using a weather chart or diary
but the explanations behind ‘why the weather is as it is’ that are suitable for younger classes are much simpler than you have suggested
recognise that some weather patterns are associated with seasonal change and distinguish between summer and winter
In 5th and 6th class children would start to look at meteorological symbols and factors that influence weather patterns in Ireland.
Pamela,
I recommend explicitly setting out the inquiry steps for children, and ask them to engage, (with a prompt, wondering and exploring) and then set up a starter questions that they make a prediction based on their own understanding.
If they are doing research from books, then they will have to refine their starter question and use the knowledge to verify their own mental models – this is different from doing research to find out facts.
So, in response to
What are the differences between the planets?
children might wonder: does the distance from the Sun affect the temperature of a planet? and predict that closer to the Sun will be hotter, and can then check that.
The next step could be finding out why the 2nd planet from the Sun is hotter than the closest planet to the Sun.
Denise,
thanks for sharing your experience of children “taking the next step” and finding out something that interested them in relation to floating and sinking.
Having a bit of space and a bit of extra equipment that can be turned to this makes all the difference.
Denise,
gravity always pulls with pretty much the same force, at least over the heights you can reach in the classroom. But, gravity keeps something accelerating as it pulls, since it keeps pulling.
So, in the first second that an object falls, it speeds up from no speed, to 10 m/s. In the next second it speeds up another 10 m/s, so is now going 20 meters every second – so has now gone much further in the second second than the first.
You can see this on the ramp in this video:
https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/nvmm-math-fallingbodies/galileos-falling-bodies/
Conor,
you’ve shared a lovely set of cross curricular activities on aliens – thank you. The connections to maths and games as well as the imaginative aliens that can be linked to science understanding hits so many areas.
Clodagh,
that video is really nice
https://youtu.be/cMDCZWTSZvc?si=dDDA6ew20AVa0Lxq
and acts a super prompt for the investigation with fizzy rockets. I really like how you have planned a guided reflection for the children to consider
discuss in the classroom things like how would we make this better if we did it again?
Catherine,
You’ve reminded me of Story Time from Space where actual astronauts (and Mark Kelly was one) read stories.
https://storytimefromspace.com/mousetronaut-2/
There is a video of his twin brother Scott reading Mark’s story from the ISS.
Mark Kelly is now a US politician (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Kelly)