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Activity: Rocket Mice
We would read the book ‘The Way Back Home’ by Oliver Jeffers. This would act as the stimulus for the lesson. We would have a whole class discussion on how we could get the Martian back home.
Following the class discussion we would look at a variety of different rockets. I will show the children a video of a rocket launching. In pairs or small groups the children will then create and launch their own rocket mice.
The children will launch their rocket across the floor,(prior to starting the children will record their predictions) we will integrate our maths skills of measuring to measure the distance the mouse has travelled. The children can use concrete manipulative such as unifix cubes or links to measure the distance travelled. The children will record their answers. Following the activity we will have a whole class discussion noting the findings and answering some questions i.e. which mouse travelled the furthest, why?
Some really great detailed ideas Tracy. I love the inclusion of the music and songs. Recording the mouse rocket experiment its a great idea, the children would love to rewatch their experiment.
Hi Susan,
I love the idea of using baby clothes for the teddy bears. This would create great excitement and engagement. I am eager to give this a go next year.
Activity set: Weather – What clothes to wear.
I would start the lesson by reading the book a Stroll through the seasons. This is a great place to start to determine the children’s prior knowledge regarding the seasons and clothing. Following the story we will engage in a sorting game. I would use my bosca draíochta and fill it with lots of various clothes for the different seasons. I will have four hula hoops set up on the ground (one for each season). The children will have to come up and pick something from the box and sort it into the correct season. We will have a whole class discussion to explain why we wear certain clothes in each season e.g. in winter you wear lots of clothes to prevent your body losing too much heat. To conclude the children will engage in a cut and stick activity – sorting the clothes into the correct season.
Oral Language integration: I have a bulletin board in my classroom of a ‘dress the frog for the weather’. This year as part of our morning meetings we dressed ‘Fred’ for the weather each day.
Lots of other opportunities to integrate with other subjects e.g. Gaeilge – éadaí.
Activity Set: Space and Aliens
I chose this topic as I thought it would be a fun and engaging lesson that I would like to implement in my teaching in the coming year. It promotes creativity and imagination.
I would begin the lesson by reading the story Aliens Love Underpants by Claire Freedman. Following the story we would have a whole class discussion about the Aliens and how they looked and acted. This would then follow onto a discussion about Mars and Martians. I would get the children to draw a picture of what they think a Martian might look like. I would hand out modelling clay in various colours to each table and each child would bring their martian to life using the modelling clay and some various other classroom materials such as googley eyes and pipe cleaners. I will invite the children to come up and show the class their martians.
This lesson can be extended and integrated into Mathematics e.g. counting, data (how many red/ blue martians were created?).
Hi Dayna,
This is such a lovely lesson, its very engaging. I love the idea of the letter, it allows the children to connect with the story and lesson in a meaningful way. I am keen to try this out with my class next year!
The activity set I would choose to teach is, ‘The Moon’. I would a station approach to teach this in an infant classroom. I would have the four stations as follows:
Station 1: Dress up/ role play. The children love dressing up and using their imagination. The children would be role playing astronauts on a mission to the moon.
Station 2: Maths station. The children would be using their measuring skills to measure ‘moon rocks’. I would create a variety of moon rocks using tin foil. The children can use balance scales and measure the different rocks. They can also describe the shape and length of each of the rocks.
Station 3: Art: The children can create a puffy paint moon on a paper plate. The children will need a paper plate, shaving foam, marbles, and glue. The children will mix the shaving foam and glue together and paint it onto a paper plate to create a puffy effect. The children will drop marbles onto the paper plate, when it all dries the holes from dropping the marbles will look like craters on the moon.
Station 4: Literacy: the children will create a checklist of items they need to bring to the moon. This can be differentiated, weaker children can draw pictures instead of writing the list.
Hi Claire.
You have some really fantastic ideas, I use station teaching with my junior infants and find it works well, your stations are well thought out and sound like they would be good fun! I love how engaging it all is!
I love this idea Aoife, its a very simple yet effective lesson, I know my junior infants would really enjoy this lesson! I can’t wait to use this next year!
Hi my name is Laura and I am going into my second year of teaching Junior Infants. My favourite space fact is that, there are more stars in space than grains of sand on all of the beaches on Earth.
A inquiry based lesson I love is, using the book How to Catch a Leprechaun by Adam Wallace. I have conducted this lesson in junior infants all the way up to second class and the children’s ideas never fail to amaze me. I use the book as a stimulus, following the story the children brainstorm, plan and design their traps (in groups or individually). Once the children are happy with their traps, they can use a variety of materials to bring it to life. To conclude the children discuss their trap to the class and explain how it works, this promotes scientific talk and ideas.I love how you can integrate the lesson with so many curricular areas e.g., procedural writing in English.
