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Hi Emily, I taught in autism class also for a couple of years and used music in almost every lesson , its a great introduction for any lesson..
This reflective piece will be based on the lesson surrounding Rockets. I will also highlight how to easily integrate this lesson across the curriculum.
We will begin the lesson with a story, “The way back home” and then discuss it which will introduce the topic of rockets. This lesson will also take place in early October during space week where at the end of the week we will showcase our work to the rest of the school as the whole school will be partaking.
We are going to make a rocket, we will be wondering and exploring the different types of rockets and view and discuss a selection (Rocket mouse, Balloon rocket). We will then focus on designing a rocket with the class split into groups of 4. Each group will design and make a different rocket. This lesson will coincide with Shapes and space in maths and we can discuss the various shapes involved in the rocket and their size. After the design is complete we will then collect the materials needed and make our rockets.
A fun experiment to do would be the alkaline seltzer rocket which I have previously done and the whole class enjoyed. They can write this up afterwards extending their vocabulary.
Once completed we will display our rockets along with our design process.
The activity set I have chosen is “Where do you live?” and Weather. I would focus on ways there weather influences our lives and observe and record these influences. The clothes we wear in different weather and the seasonal changes in weather. I would do further investigations into the suitability of different types of clothes.
Where do you live activity set from ESERO 05 has an excellent activity/plan which I would adapt , making our model village from both play doh and one half of the class using Lego and incorporating a map of where we live (integrating with Maths and Geography , SESE)
This lesson would follow on to a lesson on what clothes we wear and living in the west of Ireland the weather varies greatly leading to great discussions, talking about topics the children can easily relate to and are comfortable contributing to .
My STEM focused school self evaluation SSE will build on these activities, creating clothes, what materials we could use, experiment with materials, why are some suitable and others not, waterproof materials, wool for warmth etc. we would also record the weather throughout the year and make predications for weather/storms/heatwaves and compare our climate with that of other countries.
I choose to reflect on the Stars lesson activity as outlined in the ESERO activity specifically lesson 13. My specific learning outcomes would be for the children to know a star gives off light and that one can only see stars at night. they would become familiar with the fact that the Sun is a star which children often find surprising and there are lots and lots of stars. We would practice counting a number of star and writing and reading the number of stars.
I would begin the lesson by questioning the children to ascertain what they already know about stars. I would dim the lights and pull the blinds to show them a picture of a starry night questioning about the picture, what do you see?, have you ever seen stars? etc.. I would introduce some key facts and read a story about stars.
Linkage with other subjects can easily be done for example Maths , counting stars, if I have 7 stars and get 2 more how many have I? , Visual Arts by creating a starry sky night painting as outlined in ESERO lesson 13. Music star song etc.
I would conclude the lesson by doing a circle time asking , what is a star?, when do we see stars?and asking each child to write one thing they learnt about stars.
Gravity is a fascinating force that shapes our world and for 2nd class children exploring it through inquiry as outlined in the above lesson is engaging and interesting for the children, it is also very inclusive. Their imagination would be ignited as soon as the question is posed during a brainstorming session, What does Gravity do? This hands on lesson would go on to the children observing and participating in watching and dropping objects and seeing what happens, do they fall, spin, drop quickly/slowing, float etc. We would explode push and pull forces by lifting and moving objects feeling the resistance. Introducing magnets would offer the chance tp compare magnetic forces with gravity , promoting questions about what attracts and repels. This topic can be easily integrated , in art, we would create gravity themed drawings and sculptures. We would write and tell stories about things floating in space. Numeracy through timing objects falling, counting etc, size and shape of objects and always developing and expanding language and vocabulary.
Hi, great idea to introduce the lesson through reading a story and the following discussion, I have used this method and will again..
Great lesson, super
integration with other areas of the curriculum and team work which is so important..
Excellent lesson and so appropriate for junior infants.. I love all the questioning continuing to expand their vocabulary . The children would love making homes for the aliens and make for a very interesting lesson..
Hi, love this lesson, children are always fascinated by shadows and this simple lessons both explores and explains shadows and why they can’t appear without the sun! Thanks Louise