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I would use the Online resources and tools in my classroom in order to have enhance my SSE lessons using STEM.
I have Junior Infants for the coming year and I just know how beneficial and engaging Milo and Marvin will be in my classroom. The animated creatures wonder why things happens which would therefore spark curiosity and wonder within the children in my class. The cartoon strip is very bright and vibrant which I feel will get the children very interested and engaged at the beginning of the lesson. This resource is so straight-forward as it provides a list of the equipment that will be needed for experiments and a step-by-step guide of how to carry out the experiments. The children will learn so many new skills from the various experiments provided.
Another online resource I would love to use is The Astronomy picture of the Day. I just know that the children will find it very exciting to see the different images each day. I would love to have the website open every morning as the children come into the classroom so that they can exam it themselves or with their friends before a whole class discussion on it. I feel like they would learn so many new facts and enjoy looking at the Earth or Space from various angles.
I would use the ‘Making a Rocket’ activity in my classroom.
To begin, I would introduce the topic of Rockets and Spaceships. The children would engage in think-pair-share and come up with some ideas as to what kind of features are important in rockets in order to make them suitable for Space.
The children would then work in pairs to create their rockets. They would firstly draw a labelled sketch of what they plan to do with the materials provided in order to create a rocket. They would then begin to design and make their rockets using a variety of recycled materials. The children would make use of their creativity skills in order to design and make their rockets. The could also make use of their mathematical skills to measure the length of the various parts of their rockets. The children could explore different ways to make the rocket stand up freely and then they would present their rockets to their classmates.This sounds like a great lesson idea, Laura. I love the fact that you would use recyclable materials to create the rockets as it also ties in to our planet and the importance of looking after our environment. You are right, it is a great way to develop creativity, fine motor skills and ensure the use of teamwork in a lesson.
I agree with you Aisling. The ESERO lessons are a very good guide for teaching the topics outlined. It is great to have a resource that covers all the different levels of the Junior school curriculum. The lessons are so engaging for the children and comprehensive for the teacher. I also love the idea of the ‘What Clothes to wear’ lessons for children in Junior Infants as it would very engaging and practical for the children to take part in such a hands on activity using real clothing.
I would use the Stars activity set with my class.
To begin, I would introduce the topic of Stars by playing the song ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’. The children would join in, sing along and dance along if they wish.I would ask them some lower-order/higher-order questions about their previous knowledge of Stars including ‘Have you ever seen stars?’ ‘What exactly are stars?’ ‘How far away do you think stars are?’ We would then talk about constellations of stars and I would show them some images of them on the IWB.
After this, each child would be given a template to draw their own constellations. They could compare them with each other and the images on the IWB. The children would then work in pairs to create Star Lanterns. They would copy one of their constellations onto their lantern. The children could then present their Star Lanterns to the class.Niamh these ideas are amazing! I am definitely hoping to use some of them in the coming year as I will also have Junior Infants.
I would use the Activity Set: The Planets in my class.
To begin, I would introduce the planets to the class. I would use visual aids and the IWB to display pictures on the different plants and how they differ from one another. I would tell the children the names of each of the planets and chose 8 individual children to stand at the top of the room. Each of these children would be given a label with the name of a different planet on it. The class would work to put the children in the correct order of the planets (the order could be displayed on the IWB in the background to assist them). I would then play ‘The Planets song’. We would listen to it twice and I would ask the children to join in with it. I would then go on to play The Planet Game with the children on the IWB for a few minutes. We would then finish the lesson with The Planet Dance.
I love this idea Laura. I did something similar with my class last year except we used our own shadows and drew them in the yard at 3 different times during the school day. The children were so fascinated how although we were standing in the same marked spot each time, the location of our shadows had changed as the Earth had moved.
An inquiry based approach I would take to a lesson with Junior Infants would be demonstrating how the Earth orbits the sun using our own shadows.
I would start the lesson with a question – do we think that the Earth spins slowly or stands still. Children use the think/pair/share to come up with their answers and reasons as to why. I will then explain to them how the Earth moves very slowly everyday around the sun which is why we have day and night.
Each child would be provided with a piece of chalk on a sunny day. We would head out to the yard three times on that specific day for example at; 9am, 11am and 1pm. The children would each be given a specific space on the yard and they would have to draw their own shadows. They would do this three times in one given day at the times mentioned above and it would show them how their shadow has moved as the sun has moved during the day.I did a lesson very similar to this with my Junior Infant class last year Aoife. The children were engaged in the lesson instantly when we opened it with the song ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’. We then went on to speak about the stars and I shared some basic facts about them. The children were so interested and fascinated by the idea of stars being so huge and so far away. We spoke about the shape of stars and how bright they are too. We also finished our lesson with the children decorating, designing and cutting out their own stars that we stuck onto large black paper to create our own Space Wall.
I have Junior Infants again in the coming school year so I hope to do the same lesson with them as it was so engaging for them.
Hello everyone,
My name is Laura and I have been teaching Junior Infants for the past three years and will teach them again this coming September.
Space has always been one of my favourite topics to teach the Infants over the years. One Space fact that I find interesting is that driving a car to the nearest star at 70 mph would take more than 356 billion years! I just find the vastness of Space so interesting and so hard to comprehend.
