Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Consider how many songs? poems/art you can think of to connect us to the dark sky.
Songs
‘A sky full of stars’ by Coldplay
My little one is obsesses and the movie Sing 2 which is all about space and is very relevant to the young children.The Greatest Showman – A million dreams or Rewrite the stars
All of the Stars by Ed Sheeran
S Club 7- Reach for the stars
Fly me to the moon by Frank Sinatra
Starman by David Bowie
Poems
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Make their own Acoustic poem on ‘Sky’ or ‘Dark Sky’
Aim High to the Sky by James McDonald
The star by Jane taylorAh Moon and Star by Emily Dickenson
The starry night by van gogh
The Christmas Nativity sceneStory books about the sky…
One of my all time favourites is
Owl babies by Martin Wadell
Can’t you sleep little bear by Martin Waddell
Peace at Last by Jill Murphy
Whatever Next by Jill Murphy
How to catch a star by Oliver Jaffers
The Darkest Dark by Chris Hadfield also comes with lots of lessons for 1st class
Or
The Owl who is afraid of the dark by Jill TomlinsonWe are extremely lucky to have a forest area, planting beds and lots of green space and parks beside our school.
Firstly, I would create surveys and activities relevant to each year group as we are a Junior school.
Junior Infants- Minibeasts and bugs hunt with magnifying glasses, containers etc. Leaf art on the animals and bugs in our area.
Senior Infants- Minibeasts bug hunt and create a minibeast bug hotel in our garden.
1st class- Survey on animals in the local area during the day and nocturnal animals found at night.
2nd class- They could look at the effect of artificial light on species and animals in our local area and make a survey on light in the local area and how we can make changes to our local area.
The whole school could create a short movie or book using our tablets about the research we found during the week.My school is in Dublin West which is quite a populated part of Dublin and is filled with excess street lighting which has definitely effected the beautiful nights sky that can be seen on clear nights. The children probably don’t even realise how much it is effecting their view of the stars and constellations which is a real shame. This has opened my eyes on ways to make them aware and learn the beauty of it.
Firstly, the children could record the nights sky through photos and videos sent into the classroom throughout the week. Afterwards, the children should look at the effects of light in their local area by creating a survey like the one in the Irish times and rate the issue on a scale of one to 5.
-Street lamps
-shop windows
-traffic lights
-sports grounds
-security lighting
Compare and contrast with one another in the classroom and then look into the changes that could be done or improved in their area. This could even help to shed light to their parents at home or write a class letter to their local politicians to help improve. They could also make posters to hang in their local area.Constellations and Planets using Uncle Al’s starwheel, the plough clock and stellarium.
I found the Starwheel fascinating and the different ways to use it. I would firstly use a KWL on the IWB to see what the children know about constellations and what you can see in the sky at night. I would also use a weekly planner Mon-Sun to let the children record their own observations at night time at home to make it interesting and to compare and contrast what they see with the other children. I would download Stellarium to all our classroom tablets so that they could browse and enjoy themselves.
I loved the simple activity of creating the night’s sky with a box, tinfoil, torch and using the fork to create their own favourite constellations.
I feel the plough clock would be perfect for junior classes to get a hang of the three major constellations that you can see all year round. It would also be more beneficial and exhilarating for them to be able to spot them all year round.
We would then make our night’s sky boxes and draw our favourite constellation.
Black paper and chalk is also another effective way to draw our constellations or to pick one that will be shown each month of the year and to draw it.Q. 1 Assemble and Earth tube.
I am really enjoying this course as I have little knowledge myself about space or how to tackle exciting lessons for the children.
As I am in a junior school, I think my classes would really enjoy the earth tubes. Firstly we would research and explore the different planets, their properties and names. I would also teach weight in maths at the same time and make sure the children are aware of KG and grams. We would learn the planet ryhme, songs and lots of different videos on gravity in space from the erso website.
We would gather Pringles cannisters ( 8) per group label each tube by planets. This will give all the children roles to play which will allow for more play based inquiry. Predict how much rice will be needed for each tube based on the planets and then weigh and fill each tube correctly by Phizzi’s planetary picnic chart.
I really like the idea or writing what they learn’t about each planet on the individual tubes. The junior classes can then decorate with pictures, stickers and glitter of course!