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Class plan to engage in Space Week
Space is always a topic that I love teaching. There are many areas for integration around this topic.
Science:
Mouse rockets- I would begin by discussing rockets. What do rockets need to fly? Provide materials to design their own rockets. Integrate with maths to measure which rockets travelled the furthest. Discuss factors that improved the distance they travelled.
The Planets- introduce the planets through the planets song. Learn about the planets- integrate with maths for sorting activities- by colour, size etc
Art-
Design your own rockets
Design your own planets- provide the children with the option to create 3D or 2D planets
Play
Rocket launch role play
Space station role play
Space themed sensory play
Create space sensory bottles
STEM
Build rockets using blocks
Literacy
Oral language based around the theme of space
PE
Moving around the planets.
Activity: Where Do You Live?
Class: Junior Infants
This lesson pack provided some lovely ideas around the topic of homes and provides a lot of opportunities for integration. I would begin the lesson by having an array of pictures of homes. I would ask the children to discuss these homes in groups. Do all of the homes look the same? Are they all the same size? Can you identify a home that looks similar to your home?
Discuss different types of homes- terraced, flats etc. Discuss how many rooms are in their homes. What is your favourite room in your home?
Art lesson:
I would provide the children with materials to create images of their homes. Using different shapes they could create windows, doors, the roof etc. This would integrate in with maths where they could discuss the shapes that they used.
This topic provides a lot of opportunities for oral language work.
Making use of the local environment, we could go on a walk to explore the different types of homes in the locality. They could discuss the differences and similarities of these homes to their own homes.
Junior Infants
Activity set: Aliens
The topic of aliens is always a fun topic for children to engage with.
I would introduce this lesson by reading Alien’s Love Underpants. The children would discuss the appearance of the aliens.
How many eyes do they have?
What colours are they?
Are they tall?
Are they happy?
What alien is your favourite?
Design your own alien:
Using a variety of materials including card, foam shapes, googly eyes the children will be able to create their own aliens. When this is completed , the children would describe their aliens to their classmates. They could also discuss their aliens names and where they may live. What does your alien like to do?
There are plenty of opportunities for integration when covering this topic.
Numeracy: Counting the aliens eyes, arms, legs etc
Sorting by colour
Sorting by shape
Literacy:
Oral language: describing the aliens
Play:
Imaginative play, role play
PE
Alien movement lesson
The activity that I will be discussing is the planets. There are a lot of activities that can spark interest among the infant classes. I would begin by introducing the children to the planet song. This song is very catchy and would be beneficial in teaching the children the names of the planets. There is a lot of opportunities for integration across a range of curricular areas including art, literacy, maths and pe. For art the children could work together to create their own planets- this would lead to discussions including the size, the temperature and its appearance. This topic would also provide an opportunity for the children to create their own planets using playdoh.
For the integration with maths, I would prepare pictures of the planets and the children would then work together to order them by size. This would lead to further talk and discussion.
For PE, using hula hoops to represent each planet, I would create games where they have to move to the planets in a different way e.g. hop, jump, skip.
Inquiry based experiment: Exploring fingerprints
Prompt:
I would show the children the mirror in the classroom. Talk and discussion about how it looks different to usual- it has been covered in fingerprints using paint.
Discuss fingerprints- questions that I would ask would include do we all have fingerprints? Do all fingerprints look the same? Describe the fingerprints that are on the mirror- are they big or small? Could they belong to an adult or a child? Discuss the lines on the fingerprints.
Demonstrate a variety of ways in which we can create fingerprints e.g. ink etc.
The children would then create fingerprints onto chartpaper and work together to identify who left the fingerprints on the mirror. While working to identify who owns the fingerprints, I would encourage the children to look at the lines, the direction of them, identify if they are wavy or swirly etc. Do all the fingerprints look the same or are they different?
This sounds like a lovely activity. It would be very enjoyable for the children and the groupwork would encourage them to work as a team.
Icebreaker: Hi my name is Mags and I am teaching Junior Infants. My favourite fact about space is that there are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sands on earth.
<p class=”MsoNormal”>The activity set I chose is The planets song and the planets. This would be a really engaging pair to use in class. The song would capture the attention of the children and it clearly explains the differences between the planets. It creates a good visual for them too. I really like the activities in the planets lesson too. The children would be very active and it also ties in nicely with spatial awareness in maths. By using the yellow hoop in the middle it also creates a good visual for the children that the planets rotate around the sun. <span style=”mso-spacerun: yes;”> </span>As an extension to these activities, I would do an art lesson based on space. Using different materials, the children could work in works to create their own planets. It would be really important to emphasise the size differences of the planets and ensure that the children understand this before starting. It would create a nice visual representation for them and would be a nice hands on activity.</p>
Great lesson Maria, really like the thumbs up thumbs down, very age appropiate for the younger classes.
The lesson I would choose to do with my class is design your own class weather station. I would put the children into different groups and get each group to make a different item for the weather station- a thermometer, hygrometer and an anemometer. They will do an information exchange and explain to the other groups what materials they used. They will also explain what their instruments will measure and how they work. The class will track the weather for a week and keep note of it in their weather journals. Once they have tracked their findings for the week, they will discuss their results. They will talk about patterns in the results and discuss was there any big differences between days. They will also discuss about how the results may vary throughout the year depending on what season it is. They will also discuss how results may vary in different parts of the world.
