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Hi Siobhan. This is definitely one the class would love. I`m not sure if you saw or not but someone posted in the last module that there are official songs for Aliens In Underpants too. Might be handy.
I would love to use the activity with the mouse rocket in my classroom this year. It is very simple but effective. I think it would be a great way to test different sized and shaped bottles and different sized “mice” on top of it. This activity would provide lots of scope for prediction and hypothesising. I would first show the children the video clip of the rocket being launched the ask the children if they have ever made a rocket before or seen a homemade one. Some of them may have seen the kind with the alcaselzar tablets or where they jump on a bump connected to a rocket. Then I would show them the mouse rocket and give them the opportunity to make their own and test it. I would provide them with different sized and shaped bottles and encourage them to try and create the most powerful rocket they can and explain their findings to the class.
Hi Emily, I really like your idea of challenging the children to dress up representing different seasons. Thanks
The activity I would use is the one related to hot and cold. In this activity there were ice cubes used but I would alter it slightly to include more options. I did a variation of this in my class last year that worked well. We filled latex gloves with ice and green food colouring to make the Hulk`s hand. Then we talked about different ways to melt them and tested what we predicted would happen to each. We talked about leaving it beside the radiator, on the window sill, in the yard, covering it with salt in the classroom and squirting it with water. We carried out the experiment, timed it and checked each hand regularly with a group of children taking responsibility for each one. It proved to be great fun and a brilliant way to get them talking and discussing the changes taking place and why. We also recorded our findings and presented them to the class.
The activity set I will focus on is Space and Aliens. I like the activity looking at what is special about earth and how to describe them to an alien. There is a poem “The Marrog” about an alien from mars at the back of the classroom that would be a good anchor to use in the lesson. The teacher could role play being the marrog and the children could interview her about life on mars. Then ask the children questions about life on earth and compare and contrast life on earth with life on mars. 20 questions would also work well possibly based on animals to include “Living Things”. I love the idea of designing their own alien using either clay, paint of fabric and fibre. I would also use digital technology as an option to create their alien. Paper mache is a great way to explore the surface of mars. They could add their aliens to their paper mache.
Activity Set: The Moon
The activity I would enjoy teaching most is “The Man On The Moon”. I think it is one the children would enjoy a lot. I like the fact that it is hands on and imaginative. The song about the man on the moon is one they can all relate to, making faces from the moon in the sky and pictures of the moon is one everyone has done at some stage. I would use the lesson as it is with the art work and song but also show them some video clips of the moon during the day and night and taken from satellites up close so they can get a clearer picture of how it looks in real life. I would also go on to tell them that different planets have different numbers of moons and that earth just has one moon. I would display their moon pictures on a noticeboard based on space.
Reflection:
I would start my lesson by playing some “space” music and asking them to close their eyes and imagine how astronauts move on the moon. When they are ready I would encourage them to stand up and move around the room as astronauts to the music. I would introduce the term “gravity” by questioning them on why they are moving in a certain way. From here I would talk about floating and sinking and the similarities between this and being on the moon (buoyancy). I would set them up in groups with a variety of objects to discuss together if they float or sink. I would give them a challenge to design and make a boat that can float. Then we would test whose boat is strongest by testing which boat can carry the most marbles. I would finish up by asking them to write three sentences with what they have discovered in todays lesson.
Hi All,
My name is Marie and I’m living in Wexford. I`ll be teaching 1st Class for the second year and am looking for some ideas to improve my science lessons this year. Space is a topic that the children love to get stuck into so this is a great opportunity to get some fresh ideas and thoughts. My favourite space fact is that an asteroid the size of a car enters the earth’s atmosphere once a year but it burns up before it reaches us.
