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I’m sure that the children needed no encouragement to join in with this fun experiment Elaine. That sounds like something the childen in my class would enjoy and I’ll use it as a lesson next year.
Over the past number of years our whole school has engaged in various activities for Science Week. It’s hard to come up with new ideas every year and sometimes we end up repeating experiments etc. I think next year it would be fun to have Science/STEM week themed as Space Week. The boys in my school are always intrigued and fascinated by all things space.
The ESERO website has a huge range of lessons that would be so simple to distribute to teachers around the school. We would need to plan in advance so that all of the materials have been gathered and perhaps buddy up the younger and older classes for some of the more involved experiments.
The infants would love experimenting with the mouse bottle rockets. Taking this activity outside on a fine day would also give them plenty of room to play. We have used the berocca tablets to launch rocket tubes in the past with some success. Older classes could be challenged to design a landing module that can protect an egg.I plan to use the ESERO lesson on Animals in the cold in my classroom. I will be teaching 2nd class. I like how this lesson introduces children to different types of weather and explores how animals survive in extremely cold environments. I would have previously taught the lesson with the globe and animals. The children will already know how to identify places on Earth that are very cold, such as the poles.
The children will learn that both penguins and polar bears have a thick layer of fat for insulation, as well as fur or feathers that act like a permanent coat.I think that the boys in my class would love the vaseline part of the experiment and that the hands-on nature of the experiment will help the concept stick.
These lessons could all be featured during a thematic month on the arctic/antarctic. I would also link to lessons on polar explorers and have used the book “Tom Creen’s rabbit” before to great success. It would link nicely to clothes that humans have to wear when going to very cold places and perhaps also tie in to how technology has changed regarding clothing.I think that the children would love this lesson. It would be nice to display it in the classroom or perhaps a school corridor to let others see it and perhaps build on the idea in their own classroom.
I chose to focus on the topic of aliens as I think that the younger children would be really engaged by this topic. The Special Life lesson is a lovely starting point for children to think about what is so special about our planet. I find that the chidlren in infants often do not know the difference between fact and fiction. I would conduct this lesson as part of a unit on aliens/life other than on earth. There are lots of really lovely children’s books that could be included in this theme. The Smeds and the Smoos and Aliens love Underpants are favourites in my classroom. I would also source some non-fiction books to explain to the children that life has not yet been found outside of earth. There are so many art lessons that could also be tied into this unit, using lots of different materials such as fabric and fibre and junk art.
I also liked the idea of creating homes for aliens. It would draw on the childrens’ imagination and creative thinking skills. The children that I teach would really enjoy that aspect of the lesson.
Love all of these playful approaches to learning Karen. I’m sure that the children would certainly remember this lesson.
I have chosen the activity set based on The Planets. I teach in an all boys school and I think that the boys would love this activity. They really enjoy when learning involves movement! I would pre teach the names of the planets using the song in the classroom. I like how the song goes into a discription of each planet as very often the focus is purely on the name or the order. Following on from this I would conduct the lesson in the PE hall, ensuring that the children have lots of space to move around. I like how straightforard and easily resourced this lesson is. I thought that lessons on the moon and shadows in this module were also excellent. In the past, I have had issues with torches running out of battery when needing them or the room being too bright to see the shadows. A little more planning and forethought is needed for these lessons!
Inquiry lesson on Magnetism
Question: What do magnets attract. Why do some things stick while others don’t.
Make predictions before carrying out experiments.
Provide a range of objects made from different materials for the children to test out.
Children sort the objects into magnetic/non-magnetic categories.
Teacher circulates around the room when children are on task asking relevant questions and fleshing out answers.
Towards the end of the lesson, teacher gathers the children on the mat to discuss their findings. Give them the explanation “a magnet is something that can pull certain metals towards it. Magnets have a force that can pull these metals without touching them.”
Children note their findings in a journal.Floating and sinking is always a favourite with the infant classes. I think it’s because they like to get their hands wet! During the lesson this year I was surprised by some of the children’s reasoning when predicting whether things would float/sink. It was a really fun and engaging lesson.
Hi, my name is Gail Kennedy and I will be teaching 2nd class next year after over 10 years in infants. I’m looking forward to learning information on this course to bring with me into 2nd class. I think the boys in my class will be really interested. One interesting fact is that I have visited the Air and Space museum in Washington DC and loved seeing all of the rockets close up! The space shuttle Discovery was my favourite.
