Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Thanks for creating such a comprehensive list and sharing! Definitely one to share for the coming school year.
Describe how you could implement a version of “Design Your own Dark Sky place” in your school/classroom?
I was fascinated by this module in particular and shocked that I didn’t know what a Dark Sky Place is. I’m not far from Kerry but this was brand new. I’ve gone down a wormhole now reading and researching. I’m excited to bring this back to the children and share it with them. It’ll be interesting to see if some of them are aware of these places already.
There would be a lot of prep work needed before we begin any activity but I would certainly start with the children creating their own model of a Dark Sky Place in the classroom. I like the idea of a window display or a diorama which the children are used to. This would also create community awareness of Dark Sky Places. There would need to be lots of ongoing chats during the process to choose the correct wildlife, animals, bug hotels, lighting protection etc. these chats would hopefully cross over at home too and maybe parents and guardians could work with us to create awareness and add to the projects.
Once local interest has been stoked, the children could create posters for the local shop and community centre to help reduce light pollution. The opportunities are endless for a small villageLove the idea of the event – and the idea of downward facing lights. We often forget that the school grounds are home to many creatures after dark!
How would you engage your learners to explore biodiversity in your local area and the possible impacts of light pollution on local biodiversity?
Working with the younger classes I would first need to explain and teach them exactly what biodiversity is. after this, we would take a local walk to look at trees, wildflowers, butterflies, bees and birds. We could stop at various intervals and chat about who might live where and why certain plants and flowers are growing where they are. Anything we find on this walk could be brought back to our already existing nature table.
Our class takes a few movement breaks during the day so I would take them outside to listen for any nature sounds they might hear and compare to what they might hear at home.
Something we have done in the past and was very popular was the Mini Safari on the school grounds, the local park and a nearby farmer’s field. I would revisit this again with more background prep work done first. This be supported by structured worksheets and the children in pairs.
From engaging with the module, there are a few angles I would like to explore to assess the effects of light pollution in the village. While there are few bright lights, they can still affect the natural rhythm of wildlife – especially bats and birds. I have a friend who is a specialist in bats – I would get them to come and talk to the children on the particular light pollution and creatures in our area.
Living in a new build with no blinds or curtains really opened my eyes to how much light pollution is affecting my local area. We live on a hill with a view of many small towns and villages. We also live within sight of a 24 hour petrol station with a stunning (insert sarcasm here) 360 degree light which glows considerably at various intervals. The most unusual fact here is that I never really took much notice and maybe even enjoyed the lights at night until we had the bad storm and the electricity went out in all areas. Even though light is silent, its absence brought a new sense of peace and quiet. My children also commented on this – even in the house there is always an overload of light coming from somewhere and we have changed this now. Softer bulbs and softer colours have helped, but also we are more aware of turning off lights when we don’t need them and appliances that may have standby lights. We didn’t realise that this was causing some over stimulation. I would love to explore this further with the children at school and uncover how they feel about the points mentioned above.
Hi Gráinne, some very detailed points there. It was indeed a very interesting module and you have some great ideas to explore with 6th Class who would lap this all up.
A perfect activity for science week and something different from the normal experiments. So many opportunities for integration.
I decided on ‘Plan to Observe The Moon’
The children are already curious about this as discussion have risen when they see the moon on the way to school and the big question always is – how can the sun and the moon be ‘out’ together. We could explore this and find the answers together and the science behind it.
The children already have a moon phases page in their homework diaries so we could make practical use of this. I would also print a moon calendar for the classroom that we could explore together and also for independent learners to visit and read when they had a question or query.
Every child in the room will have a room or bedroom in their house that will show the moon in different aspects. an idea for homework would be to sketch their window and show where the moon appears in the frame. I had a child a few years ago that had a round window in her room and she would watch every night until the moon was perfectly in the frame. I would draw on this for the children.
Lovely ideas here Marie. A challenging but very rewarding classroom. They would no doubt love the practical activity at the end and I really like the art integration.
One Year on Earth – Understanding the seasons.
I had a request from my children at the end of the year to spend more time teaching and exploring the planets and space so here we are!
I found this resource interesting and useful. The children often comment on how the seasons have changed unnoticed by us so I am going to start the year by documenting how the parish looks, how the air feels, how people act and behave is this environment. Our children love setting up committees so this would be a must and they could travel to other classrooms, explain what is happening and report their findings. Other classes could have a ‘reporter’ to report any changes and finding back to the committee
Our classroom is already hit with light on three sides so we would observe more closely how we have to adjust the blinds to filter light at different times of the term and seasons. The children are naturally curious about this already and comment informally so it would be a good to explore more formally and with scientific facts and evidence to help them further understand.
Differentiation in our classroom takes many guises so I would have sorting activities and simple rhyming songs on hand to encourage participation of all.