Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hi Orla, I love your Space Week plan as it is very detailed. Also, I like how the start of the week explores the children’s own prior knowledge and enquiries before leading into the new learning.
For my assignment I would choose the Rockets activity, as I believe it would be a very engaging topic for the children to discuss about and make their own. I would start off by using the book ‘Aliens in Underpants Save the World’ as a stimulus. The children would then get to share what they know about rockets and link it to the story through guided questioning e.g. Why did the aliens use rockets? What do rockets do? This would be an effective way to integrate literacy with STEM through story and oral language. Following this, the children would then get the opportunity to make their own rockets. As this is based on an infant classroom, I would help them to make the mouse rockets, and we would explore how the mouse ‘rockets’ off into space. I would ask the children to share what they think is similiar about their rocket and the rockets in the storybook to consolidate their learning.
Hi Sean,
I liked your point about how curiosity is linked to scientific thinking. Promoting curiosity in activities, perhaps through questioning, is a great way to get children thinking and inquiring scientifically.
For my assignment I chose Hands-on classroom themed activities as an area for the focus of STEM in SSE. I believe that more practical, hands on activities allow for natural inquiry and discussion as the children work together.
For example, engaging in ESERO 11 What Clothes to Wear. The children would get the chance to discuss e.g. clothes and their material that is suitable for cold weather, and then make their own outfits using a range of materials for a teddy bear. This hands on activity promotes the use of science skills such as questioning, making and recording and communicating.
In terms of supporting a School Self Evaluation, evidence can be gathered through the activity to observe and identify if the children are experienced with types of activities, and if the Science Skill focus is being reached in the lesson as planned. This would help to highlight whether practical activities need to be a focus for support in my school.
Hi Sarah, I like your idea of using Van Goghs Starry Starry Night as a stimulus for learning about stars and what they look like. I think it’s a great way to integrate Visual Arts with Science and Mathematics, as the children connect ideas of colour and shape both in the painting and in everyday star patterns.
For my module 3 assignment I chose the Space and Aliens activity. I would begin this activity by introducing a think pair share session, asking ‘What is an alien?’. Each pair would then share their answer and these ideas would be listed on the board to form a common idea of an ‘alien’.
Using a digital resource such as Activinspire, I would ask the children to help me create an alien on the board using different 2D shapes. Different children would be chosen to name one 2D shape and state what part of the body they want it to be e.g. Triangle for the head, circle for one eye.
Following this, the children would be given a box of 2D shapes that they can use to create their own alien.
To conclude this lesson, the children would get to sketch their finished alien on paper and would be asked to share what types of 2D shapes they used.
Hi Aisling,
I like your idea of going out at different times of the day to draw the shadows. Observing the change in the shadows based on the different time of day is a great way for the children to spot and understand how the sun at different points affects the shadow. It is also a very hands on activity that the children would love to get involved in.
For my module 2 assignment I chose ‘Activity Set: The Planets’.
I would begin my lesson with a brainstorm to see how many of the 8 planets we already know as a class. We would then listen to The Planet Song as a fun stimulus and to spot which planets we already know / add new ones to the brainstorm list.
Following this, I would split the class into 8 groups and give each group a planet name. The planet song would be played again and each group would stand up when they hear their planet.
Using the information given from the song, each group would get to create a poster about their planet e.g. Name, what it looks like and a fun fact. The poster layout would be teacher modelled on the whiteboard to support them. Each group would then present their poster to the class in order of the song.
Hi Jessica,
I really like your idea of using a wet sponge to demonstrate rain coming out of a cloud and by adding more water to a sponge, more water rains down. It is a great visual representation for young children who might struggle to follow along with explanations.
An inquiry based activity that I would teach would be to examine different materials and see which would keep a drink the warmest. For example, pouring warm water into four cups and wrapping each cup with cloth, tinfoil, paper etc and keeping thermometers in them for 10 – 15 minutes.
As a stimulus, I would ask the children to name different hot drinks and what type of containers they see people drinking them out of (e.g. flask, mug, lid over cup). I would encourage the children to guess which material would keep a drink the warmest in advance of the experiment taking place and to justify their answer.
I would then ask the children how this connects to Astronauts, i.e. What would their suit need to do? (Protect them against cold weather). We would then decide what type of materials would be best for an astronaut suit based on the results of the experiment.
