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Hi Mary,
I love the idea of the children creating their own constellations using paper, pens and beads. This is a fun and engaging way to identify patterns or outlines that they make in the sky. Children could also create constellations using playdough and cocktail sticks.
Story time to hook and engage the children on the theme of Space ‘Neil Armstrong’ Little people, Big Dreams. Show children a video of the moon landing and a video of a space shuttle taking off
Music- Learn the planet song from YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7t099KIWVVs
Arts and crafts- create your own solar system e.g. through paper mâché
ICT- project work- group the children into small groups of 2 or 3 and use Ipads/ computers to find information about a planet in our solar system.
Literacy based on the ICT session create a fact file/information leaflet based on the information the children have found out about the planet. Show children the NASA website
Maths- children can do Planet space maths themed topics such as counting on and back in 2’s, 5’s,10’s, 3’s and 4’s. You can also lead onto multiplication using arrays
Science- Rocket launching, create a bottle rocket and use rocket launcher to race and look at distance.
PE- games using pictures of the solar system- children play a hopping/ jumping game to learn the order and names of the planets. Allow each child to jump one at a time onto each planet shouting the name of each planet as they jump. Every child can have a turn while they memorize the rhyme. Then using the blank paper cover up the names of the planets now ask the children to go to a planet (e.g. Venus). You can make the game more competitive by having those that get it wrong are out and winner gets a planet sticker.The activity I have chosen is ‘Activity set weather’ for hands- on activities in the classroom with junior infants.
Introduction: Look at the 4 seasons and what types of weather occurs in each season. Refer to weather chart at top of class. Get one of the children to tell the forecast for the day and discuss what they have worn into school.
Main: Teacher brings in a variety of objects and clothes. Tell the children that Teddy is going on a winter holiday. We need to sort the clothes and objects Ted needs for his holiday.
Children must look at the varied materials and sort them correctly into Teds suitcase while the other clothes go back in the box for Summertime, Autumn and Spring.
Plenary: Children can play dress up going on holidays.
Other games I have done is weather boy/girl and map of Ireland with pictures of different weather- Role play
Matching games – match clothes to the correct weather on worksheets. To consolidate learning.
Arts and crafts- create a windmill,
Science- create waterproof clothes for Ted in Autumn. Look at varied materials and what is waterproof.I love the idea of drawing the clothes for each weather. This really consolidates their learning and can be used to discuss in a plenary with explanations as to why they chose particular clothes.
Love the idea of junk modelling. I did this before with a class and they were so engaged in the lesson and creating their Alien. It allowed the children to really explore and be creative.
Intro: I would read ‘Aliens Love Underpants’ by Claire Freedman to engage and hook the children on the lesson. Have some props from the story perhaps teddies, puppets for children to refer to.
Literacy- Children focus on oral language talking about the different aliens in the book e.g. similarities and differences, physical description. Focus on description of an alien from the story.
Main Lesson: Art and design- Children design their Alien by drawing their own alien.
Literacy- Create vocabulary based on what they would like their Alien to be like (mind-map ideas or write lists). Write simple and complex sentences about your Alien.
Lesson 2: Create an alien using clay modelling or use junk modelling from recycled materials and art supplies different materials. This can also link with the science strand properties and characteristics of materials. Here children can create 3D models of their Alien.I like the idea of the hands on art to engage the children. For larger models they can definitely do paper Mache for a 3D solar system of quick drying clay and painting detail.
In senior infants I have looked at ‘the sun and shadows. Looking at the strand of ‘Light’. I discussed the differences between night and day and how the sun plays a role in creating light and shade and explore how shadows are formed.
This can be done through stations in the class and outside of the classroom environment.
Drama- create shadow puppets and act out using flashlights against a white wall or paper. Children can use hands to create shapes, animals, fingers to represent numbers or have puppets such as lollipop sticks with animals on them creating the shadow shape.
Art – draw out shadows using chalk. Children partner up in pairs or small groups and draw around one of their friends’ shadows. They can then add detail linking to parts of the body e.g. facial features- eyes, nose eyebrows mouth, ears etc.
Shadow matching- you can use a variety of objects to match with the shadow pictures e.g. animals, letters, numbers, shapes, fruit etc. Challenge further by doing visual perception games where children must guess the object based on the shadow.
Hi Claire, I love this experiment. I’m going into senior infants next September so will definitely look forward to doing this experiment. Children can explore a variety of everyday objects that engage their curiosity and allows them to be inquisitive.
Hi, My name is Margaret, I will be teaching senior infants in September. My favourite space fact is knowing that some stars we see are actually extinct. We are only receiving their light now as it takes millions of years for the light to travel and reach earth, therefore we are seeing the stars in the past.
An enquiry- based activity- This year I ran an afterschool Science club with ‘Junior Einsteins’. The children loved doing the experiment the Fizzy Balloon experiment which looks at gases from a volcano and the effects it can have during an eruption of a volcano.
• a Funnel
• drinks bottle
• vinegar
• balloon
• 3-5 tablespoons of baking soda at least
• 1 cup of Vinegar
Pour baking soda into a balloon. Pour vinegar into the bottle using the funnel. Remove the funnel. Quickly fit the balloon over the neck of the bottle. Lift the balloon up pouring the baking soda into the vinegar. Ask the children what they think will happen when you mix the baking soda and vinegar together. Make sure the children hold the balloon on the neck of the bottle and shake the soda down into the bottle, all at once. The balloon starts to blow up because of the pressure, or force, of the gas in the bottle. The more gas given out, the more the balloon fills.
