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I would like to try making rocket mice with my class next year. I would do this activity during Space Week and I would introduce it by reading one of the stories I have in the library on the theme of space & rockets. I feel the children would love to work in small groups making the rocket mice and they would also love testing them to see whose works the best and why. I would make sure to teach them about having a fair test as this is key to learning. After the testing, I would get the children to write up whose mouse rocket went the furthest and why. To integrate other subjects areas, we would act out being astronauts during role play in Aistear, measure the distance the rockets went in maths, design rockets in art and learn a poem about rockets in oral language/English.
Hi Laura, this sounds like a great lesson. Very well laid out, step by step and also very enjoyable for the children.
Forgot to add we would also do a science experiment on blubber to give the children a greater understanding of how animals keep warm in these icy conditions. This experiment uses shortening (a type of fat), zip lock bags and bowls containing iced water. It can be found on http://www.sciencefun.org and is called the Polar Bear Blubber experiment.
I would like to try the activity set about animals in the cold. I think this is a lovely topic for junior classes in particular and can be integrated into so many other subject areas aswell as Aistear. I would teach this lesson during the winter months and I would begin by reading one of the books I have in my school library about penguins/polar bears and we would discuss the type of climate they live in and how they adapt to it. We would also discuss the weather in our own country and how we adapt to the cold by dressing appropriately etc. We would explore the theme further during Aistear time. For art we would make penguins/polar bears and to link English writing we would write a few sentences on the animals also.
The topic I have chosen for this module is stars. If I were to teach a lesson about stars I would begin by reading the book ‘How to Catch a Star’, by Oliver Jeffers. We would then learn about stars and what they’re made up of using a powerpoint and also learn about the various star constellations via YouTube videos. I would ask Blackrock observatory to visit the school with their inflatable dome where the children lay down inside and they project the different constellations onto the ceiling of the dome. This would further educate the children on this topic. After this, as an art lesson, we could make our own constellations by sticking small pieces of silver tinfoil onto black card. Each student would then present their constellation to the class and explain what they have created. They could also write a few sentences on it to link it with an English writing activity.
Great linkage with other subjects Eleanor. Would definitely use some of these ideas! Thanks for sharing.
There are lots of ways I would incorporate lessons on ‘The Moon’ into my classroom.
First, I would show the children the moon landing on Youtube – a short clip of Neil Armstrong and his famous “One small step for man, One giant leap for mankind”.
Next, I would teach some facts about the moon, space travel & astronauts probably using a powerpoint from Twinkl and also using facts from the websites mentioned in this module aswell as Youtube videos. For English we would do some factual writing and draw pictures on the topic of the moon. After this, I would allow the children to dress up as astronauts during Aistear where they pretend to be Neil Armstrong & Buzz Aldrin landing on the moon. For Art, we would use paint to create the moon and include the craters. There are lots of great resources online & listed in this module to support the teaching of this in the classroom.Hi, my name is Linda. I’ve taught Junior Infants for the past 5 years and will be teaching 1st class next year. My favourite fact about space is that the sun is so big it could fit a million planet earths inside!
After reading & listening to this module I would love to try the fingerprint activity. I think the children would really engage with it & enjoy it. It is suitable for lots of different class levels & can be adjusted accordingly. I love the idea of posing a problem for the children to solve e.g. Who stole the sweets from the jar? and then taking fingerprints to find out the culprit. It creates an element of fun & suspense in the lesson. There are also not too many resources needed for this activity which is good. It can be easily done with pencils, paper & cellotape!
