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This is an excellent pan for Junior Infants. I love the way that you use the nursery rhyme to begin and also that there is so many hands on activities in the lessons. I think the children would get great enjoyment and satisfaction out of making the rockets from the Junk Art.
Choose one of the activities or activity sets outlined in this module – How would you use the activity in your classroom? or consolidate your experiences and action plans in the course by creating a class plan to engage with Space Week. Post a reflective piece (150 words min) to the forum as a reply to this post. You may include digital records of the activities.
Module 5
The lesson that I can see myself using from this Module is making the rockets. This is one which will be interesting and have ample learning opportunities with hands on activities.
To begin the lesson I would read the story of The Smeds and The Smoos by Julia Donaldson. After discussing the story we will then focus on how they travelled and lead into discussing rockets.
I would then get the children to carry out the Rocket Mice activity. The children should make their own rockets and be given plenty time to explore how they make their mouse move, I would circulate the room ensuring that I ask questions to make them think about what is happening and what would happen if….
To conclude and reinforce the lessons on rockets I think the children would like to watch a video of a rocket launch
I love this activity I think the children will have fun and be engaged throughout while learning all about the different types of weather. When children are active and involved liked this it is a far more enjoyable way to learn.
Module 4:
In Module 4 I found the activity set Where do you like and weather to be very interesting. The activities are simple, easily followed and the main thing is the children will be active and involved throughout.
Weather plays such an important role in our daily lives from what we wear to how we travel so it is important that the children understand this. The ESERO resources will be very useful. For example the Animals in Cold lesson. Before starting the lesson I would get the children to listen to story of The Curious Polar Bear. This will help to create a word bank and create a starting point for the lesson. To further develop we would then explore how animals survive in different climates and how they adapt to weather changes.
To conclude I would include and art lesson getting the children to create a display of animals and weather.
I like the idea of using a Stary Night in the lesson. It will be great at the end of the lesson too to incorporate an art activity and get the children to create their version of a Starry Night.
Module 3: ASSIGNMENT
Choose from one of the activities or activity sets outlined in this module:
Activity Set: Stars
Activity Set: Space and Aliens
How would you use the activity in your classroom?With my infant class I would like to use the Space Week activity of Design a Martian. To begin I would elicit what knowledge the children have about Martians as I feel this might be an unfamiliar word and they may be more used to used to the word alien, now I can explain the similiarities and differences.
A good started would be to read the story of Aliens in Underpants Save the World. This is a fun, exciting and entertaining story that the children will like. It will then allow a discussion to begin what they think a Martian would look like. Using their predication skills the children can draw their Martian and then make a 3d model using playdough. At the end the children will get a chance to share their Martians with the class encouraging them to give them a name, talk about what skills/powers they have and what their life on Mars would be like.
To conclude I would get the children to sing and dance along to the songs The Martians Came to Play
I agree that this would be an excellent lesson to do as children love exploring shadows. I see this from simple walks with my own children where they are trying t jump in my shadow or make shadow puppets in bed at night time. It would be a fun lesson yet have a vast opportunity for exploration.
Module 2
Activity Set: The Planets
I found this section of module 2 very interesting and I can certainly see myself using this in the class.I would firstly have a chat with the class about space and the planets in an informal way to establish what words they know and understand.
Following this I would let the children watch the Family of the Sun video. It is a set to familiar tunes and the children will easily remember it. After the second watch we would have a discussion on what new information they got from this. I would now be useful to have pictures of the planets to use a visual aid. I also love the idea of following on and using the hula hoops to create the solar system as the children are active and engaged during this.
To close the lesson I would integrate an art lesson and create a classroom display where the children design the planets
I like the way that you have structured this lesson and the lesson can be carried on to further explore what would happen the objects on Earth and in Space. So many lessons are memorised but this is one that will get them thinking and they will remember it for the right reasons.
Then add a reflection (150 words min) on how you would use one inquiry-based activity in your classroom
From module one I liked the idea of the ‘Oops’ lesson and getting the children wondering about how they would clean up the mess. I feel they would like this as it is a common scenario and they will have some prior knowledge but may not have the vocabulary such as absorb/ absorbent etc and this lesson will allow for the children to explore different materials while expanding their language and vocab also. They will also enjoy this lesson as it is hands on and gets them thinking with their friends.
Hi,
My name is Katie, I have been teaching infants for 20 years and each time we explore the topic of space the kids are excited and interested in it. The silly fact that I have about space is that if you scream in space nobody will hear it.
Hi Susan,
I really like your idea of upcycling projects in school. Our local secondary school has been involved in the Junk Kouture project and the children in our have highlighted that this is something that they would like to be involved in. I think there are so many opportunities for getting the children involved in upcycling not just in designing clothes as in Junk Kouture but maybe encourage a class project where we would upcycle and old desk/ chair etc. This would get them being creative while raising awareness of sustainability.
Write a reflective piece on how sustainability is practiced in your local area and how you would engage your pupils to explore this further.
It is great to see that communities are getting more involved in sustainability and changes are being made. In our village we have a Community Hub that works alongside our Tidy Towns committee and they organise regular community clean ups and each road is assigned different group of people to do a clean up. There is also a community garden where people are encouraged to grow their own veg. These bring a great sense of community as well as creating a clean environment in our village.
There is a Coillte Park beside us and they are a Leave No Trace park and when we visit from school it is a great way to eductate the children on what this this is.
Litter pickers and bags are readily available at some of our local beaches and we should envourage all to do their bit while our for a walk or play at the beach.
I like how you mention the children could look at different cultures and how food is used. What has made me think on this is a personal reason as we have just returned from holidays and while away my own children were always remarking the variety of fish and seafood that was on display in the supermarkets and restaurants. I feel we need to educate the children in our classes about the vast variety of fish and seafood and that it is different around the world. A great geography/ maths lesson could extend from this.
This module was especially interesting and it is certainly something that children should be educated on. I feel at times we are so focused on telling children what foods are ‘bad’ for them and what foods they should avoid while in actual fact we should be educating them on the benefits of food and the purpose of different food.
Educating children on different food types is a great way of introducing how foods work together for example calcium works best vitamin D etc. and how food is needed for brain and bone development. Education on nutrition would be the best cure for a lot of things.
In the classroom we could use food and nutrition in many different ways for example gathering data on how often we eat certain things.
