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These photos are great Frances. I love what they’ve included for the theme of Space. The kids would love that.I’d love to do that next year for one of my themes in Aistear. Thanks for sharing.
In this lesson for infants, we would begin by reading ‘Aliens Love Underpants’. Any infant class, I’ve ever been in really enjoy this story and I feel that it would really engage them in the lesson. Afterwards, I would begin a discussion about rockets and how we think they work. I would then play a video from SESE Explorers of Neil Armstrong landing on the moon to elicit a discussion on the topic.
Afterwards, I would ask the children to work in pairs and plan how they might create their own rocket using the junk art materials from Aistear. After the children have made their plan. I will ask the children to create their own rockets. At the end of this lesson, I would use the scientists chair as a means of getting the pairs to discuss why they choose the creations they did to make their rockets.
Throughout the week to celebrate space week, we will do morning fun fact about space.Hi Sinéad. I like how you’ve included so many ideas to incorporate space week across the curriculum. I feel like this would spark the children’s interest regarding space week and involve all learners as there are so many different ways you’ve included the topic across the curriculum. I love the passports to space idea.
I’d like to describe a hands-on classroom activity that I would use as a lesson on the theme of weather while incorporating STEM.
I would first discuss with the children different weather we experience in different seasons. I will question the children to elicit responses.
Afterwards, I will set up 4 different coloured hula hoops, each signifying a different season. I will have different items of clothing and as a whole class activity we will sort the different clothes into the correct hula hoop. Afterwards, I will split the children into small groups, and we will do an activity. This activity will comprise of a set of pictures with each season and different items of clothing. The children will sort the items of clothing in the season that they’re meant for.
Then, I will hand out some whiteboards and marker and individually the children will design an item of clothing that would be appropriate for the season that we are in. This would incorporate stem into our lesson. They would then get some modelling dough and could make their item of clothing that they designed. If time allow, I would use the scientist’s chair (variation of the artists chair) to allow a couple of children to describe why their creations would be appropriate for the season in question.Hi Laura, I really like your ideas for this lesson. I especially like your student class blog to share the learning experience. I think the kids would be really interested in this and gain a lot in terms of learning from each other.
The activity set I’ve chosen to focus on is ‘stars’. This lesson would be aimed at the infant classes. I would begin the lesson by having a discussion about what we see in the sky in the night. I would then read the book ‘How to catch a star’, by Oliver Jeffers.
After this, I would show the children a short video of a night’s sky and question the children using higher and lower order questions.
Game. I would split the children into pairs and give then 2 hula hoops each. One would signify day and would signify night. I would give the children some pre-made pictures of things you would do during the day and night to differentiate between the two.
After the pair activity, we would engage in a group activity. Each group would get a shoe box several holes punched on the lid. They would also get some black string and tinfoil for making their stars. To end their activity, each group could present their star box creations.Hi Eleanor, I think this would be a fantastic lesson for infants. The content is fab. I love the way you’ve integrated this topic across the curriculum. This would really consolidate the learning on stars for the children. The lesson is a really lovely infant level lesson.
I would use the activity set ‘The Planets’ to teach my lesson as I feel the children would love this. My class this year especially loved STEM based activities and science evoked a sense of curiosity within them.
I would begin by finding out their prior knowledge on ‘The Planets’. I’d then use ‘The Planets song’ as my stimulus. I’d also have a visual representation of the planets for the children to look at. I’d then start with a game using a yellow hula hoop as the sun and other coloured hula hoops as different planets. I’d give each group of children one planet and if I called their planet, they’d have to jump into their hula hoop. After that, I’d let the children in their groups research their planet on the iPad. At the end of that lesson, I’d review what new learning has been obtained. The next day we’d make papier Mache models of our planet. I’d also try to organise a talk on the planets with an outside agency via zoom if possible, to consolidate the learning.Hi, I like the idea of using a different planet each day or two to focus on. I feel like this would consolidate the learning much better than doing too many all at once. Also, it’s a great idea to make use of Aistear to integrate the learning obtained from the planets.
I made lava lamps with my senior infants this year. Before we made these, we explored some different reactions in the lead up to this lesson (mentos and coke, vinegar and and lemons). I began the lesson with a KWL chart. We also made some predictions on what we thought would happen. The children loved making their own lava lamps and were fascinated watching how the effervescent tablet created the lava lamp effect. We discussed why this happened afterwards and they children drew a diagram of their lava lamp and labelled it with my help. I thought this worked well. The children in my class love STEM and I think it is so important to foster a sense of curiosity for STEM in the children. I also think it’s so important to have hands on activities to promote the subject. You cannot underestimate the importance of learning through play when it comes to STEM for the younger classes and beyond.
Hi Louise, this lesson on the moon seems really good and I think the children would really like it . It would definitely spark their curiousity regarding the moon. I think it’s so important to provide interest based fun lessons in STEM. The chidlren would just love working with the flash light seeing the moons different phases as well as working with playdough exploring craters. I’m definitely going to use this in my own class.
