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The activity I choose to do in the classroom is Fizzing and Foaming-make a rocket ( Esero)
Experimenting-Materials needed
Film canister (no hole), any tablet that dissolves and fizzes e.g.
Alka-Seltzer, Vitamin C tablets, blu-tack, water
Information
When water is added to the tablet the gas carbon dioxide is released. The pressure of INFORMATION the carbon dioxide gas builds up inside the canister until it becomes so great that it blows the canister from its lid. The gas rushing out of the end of the canister pushes it in the opposite direction. The ‘rocket’ can shoot up to 5 metres into the air.
Use Trigger questions at start of lesson
What is a rocket? A cylinder full of materials which can produce gases.
What are rockets used for? Signalling; sending space machines with great
force into the air to get outside earth’s gravity
What gives a rocket its energy to ‘blast off’? A jet of gases released from the
back of the rocket sends it forwards.
The children can blow up a balloon and let it go. Ask them which direction the
released air goes and which direction the balloon goes.
They go in opposite directions.
Experiment- Activity
Attach the tablet (one-quarter to one-half tablet) to the inside
of the lid of the film canister.
Put water into the canister until it is about one-quarter full.
Put the lid (+ tablet) on the canister and turn it upside down.
Wait!
(The canister comes away from the lid with some force).
Follow up Activity
Vary the temperature of the water and note if there is any
difference in the height to which the ‘rocket’ shoots.
Vary the ‘fuel’ mixture used in the ‘rocket’ (e.g. Vitamin C
tablet and vinegar, and see if there is any difference in how
the ‘rocket’ behaves). Be aware, vinegar leaves quite an odour!
A launch pad can be made using a cardboard tube (e.g. a toilet
roll) and a paper plate. Cut three slits about 2.5 cm high in the
bottom of a tube. Bend the cardboard strips so that they can
be taped to a paper plate. Place the launch pad paper plate
down and the film canister on top of the tube.
Watch what happens.
Curriculum Links
English:
Rockets and space can be used as a theme for different styles of
writing about space
Geography
Art
For this Module i choose activity How do animals keep themselves warm? ( ESERO)
You will need the photographs of the penguin and polar bear
. Discussion types of weather
Ask the children what kinds of weather they know. Talk about sunny weather, rain, and snow. Explain that some kinds of weather occur more often in some places in the world. Some places get lots of rain, while other places are very dry. Some places are very hot and others very cold. At the North and South Pole, for example, it is often extremely cold. Do they know any films (cartoon films) about the North or South Pole? What do the children know about these places on Earth? The children find out how animals that live in cold places keep themselves warm.
How do animals keep themselves warm
Ask whether the children know of any animals that live in cold places. Show them the photographs of the polar bear and the penguin. What are these animals called? How do the penguin and the polar bear keep themselves warm? Discuss the ideas put forward by the children. Explain that the animals have a thick layer of fat under their skin to keep themselves warm. However, the areas where the polar bears and the penguins live are so cold that this thick layer of fat is not enough. That’s why the polar bear also has a thick coat of fur and the penguin has a thick layer of feathers.
Question: ‘What do people do when they feel cold?’ People put on an extra jumper or a thick coat. Polar bears and penguins don’t put on a coat. Their fur and feathers act like a kind of coat that they are always wearing.
The skin of the polar bear is black, because dark colours absorb more light and heat than lighter ones. The penguin’s feathers and the polar bear’s fur are also covered in a layer of grease to repel water. Rub Vaseline on one of each child’s hands. Now the children also have a greasy layer on their skin. Drip some water on this hand. What happens to the water? Come to the conclusion that the water rolls off the hand with the greasy layer.
Discuss with the children what they have learned. Come to the conclusion that the penguin and the polar bear have three ways to keep themselves warm: a thick coat of fur or feathers, a thick layer of fat under their skin, and a greasy layer on their fur or feathers.
Explain that the animals have adapted to the conditions that they live in. White animals . Show the children the photographs of the animals again. What do they notice? Explain that the animals that live at the North and South Poles are often white, like the polar bear. This means they don’t stand out in the snow which helps them to hunt unseen. Penguins have a black back and a white front. So when they are swimming in the dark water they cannot be seen from above. And looking from underneath their white front blends in with the colour of the sky. This makes it harder to catch them.
For this Mdule I would choose Life in Space lesson from Esero
What is special?
Explain to the children that we live on Earth. Earth is a planet. There are many more planets in space. As far as we know there are no people living there. But if people did live there, what would the children like to show them here on Earth? What objects or animals here on Earth are so special that visitors from other planets should see them? Encourage the children to make a range of suggestions, and then decide what message to draw and act out. Give each child a sheet of A4 paper and colouring pencils. Encourage each child to draw what he or she has thought of, without letting the other children see. This maintains an element of surprise about what they will be acting out. The children think about how they can best act out their special object on Earth.
Act it out! Sit in a circle with the children. Ask a child to act out what is in their drawing, without showing the drawing to anyone. Let the other children guess what is being enacted. Does it match the drawing? Make sure every child has a turn.
Draw an alien .
Ask the children if they know what an alien is. What do they think an alien would look like? Encourage them to make a drawing of this. When they have finished, discuss what they have drawn. Why does their alien look like that? Explain that no-one has found any real aliens yet, so we don’t know if they exist or what they look like.I love the idea of printing out certs for participation in space week a great idea one I will be using next year.
The activity I would chose to do in the classroom is that of Rockets.
Engage
To introduce the topic I would use a story such as the ‘The way back home’ or Aliens in underpants save the world’. A video or a rocket being launched would also be very effective as it appeals to the visual learners and would create great discussion afterwards.
Once the children are excited about the idea of Rockets they can make some rockets ( linkage with Art )and start exploring how they work. I would get the class to make Rocket mice.
How can you make your Rocket mouse fly-Prediction, what materials might we need/, working in groups together. Gather the materials you will need- an empty plastic bottle, sticky tape ,some decorations, Rocket mouse templete.
When cutting out the templete maybe I would buddy up older children with younger children to help with the cutting and construction. Two classes could be working together on the project
Place the Rocket Mouse on top of the bottles- Prediction will the rockets fly?
You could go to the school hall to carry out the experiment. Did it work?
Investigation
What made the Rockets fly? Did they stay up in the air? What made them come down again?
If you did the experiment in a different setting-eg outside did it work? Was it better? You could vary your standing positions/launch Rocket while sitting/ kneeling –which worked best/ why?
Try the experiment with different sized bottles. Which worked best? which were not so effective? Which ones made your mouse go higher?
Results- squeezing a bottle increases the pressure inside and this is wat pushes the Rocket
Taking the next step
Can children consider how the fins of a Rocket are similar to fins on darts or arrows in archery
Look at things that fly through the airI love the idea of space theme in Aistear. A teacher in our school had her whole room decorated with various stations for different aspects of Space. She got some fabulous costumes and resources on Amazon!!
For this module, I would use the lesson ideas for What Clothes to Wear (ESERO)/Investigating Children’s Coats (Curious Minds) in my own classroom.
The lesson plan suggests using the Colour the Seasons activity, but you could use pictures of clothes or actual clothes and put them into categories according to whichever season they might be worn. You could have a discussion about the type of material, how heavy the clothes item is? Would it keep you warm/dry/cool. Where you might wear the clothes item and why would you choose one item above another?
I really liked the What Clothes to Wear? activity. This involves the children choosing appropriate clothes for each season from the dress-up box and using teacher questioning to informally assess understanding. For example – Why do we wear fewer clothes in summer? Do you need to put your coat on to go outside in the winter? Why?
When teaching about the seasons you could link this to other curricular areas. The obvious one being Geography-Hot countries/Cold Countries. What animals would we find in each different environment.
Maths- Money and shopping- How much would you need to buy this coat for Winter/ What change would you get out of a set amount of money? Data-drawing graphs –How many people prefer winter/summer/spring/autumn? Ditterent clothes during different seasons
Music –Listening to ‘the Four Seasons’- Linkage to Art draw how the picture makes them feel/ Describe different emotions
PE – Playground games –If you are wearing blue you can cross the river, if you are wearing a jumper….etc
Gaeilge –An Aimsir and the new vocabulary to be learned about this topic.
Art – I have also linked this topic in with art lessons where the children divide a blank piece of paper into four sections and draw in all four seasons. I have found this great for discussions on the different colours that we associate with the four different seasons.Stars- I would use these activities with my class
Look at drawings of constellations. What do you see?
Can you recognize some of them?
Now make a star lantern which is going to project the constellation on the walls!
What do you need:
Needle, coloured paper, glue stick, flashlight , newspaper, brush, crepe paper, luminous paint, string, A4 paper, stapler
1. Copy a constellation or create your own on a piece of paper
2. Paint it with luminous paint on the coloured paper
3. Prick holes in the stars
4. Fold the paper in a circle and staple it.
5. Tie a piece of string across the cylinder.
6. Tie the flashlight to the stick.
7. Hang the lantern from the stick and decorate it.
8. Light it.Stars- Seeing Stars-Looking at the plough in two different ways
What you need for this activity
An A4 sheet of black cardboard
Bluetack
Seven 15x 15cm Squares of tin foil
Seven 30cm lengths of black wool
A ruler
Sellotape
A Pencil to poke hole in the cardboard.
Star map from Activity sheetMethod
1. To start stick the star map to the black cardboard using the sellotape
2. Poke a hole through each of the stars on the map so that there is a hole in the black cardboard.
3. Now make the stars , To do this use sellotape to stick the end of a piece of wool to the centre of a piece of tin foil.
4. When this is done crumple the foil up into a ball.
5. Do this until you have made seven stars.
6. Now starting from the black side of the model poke the free end of each piece of wool through the cardboard and the star map. Don’t pull the wool all the way through as we will use Maths to calculate how long each piece should be.
7. Each of the seven stars in the plough is actually a different distance from earth, the distance chart in the activity sheet lists how far each star is from our planet and gives a length for each piece of wool we will be using to hold our stars
8. As all our pieces of wool are 30cm long using the chart calculate how much wool needs to be pulled through the back of the paper
9. Make calculations and pull each piece of wool through to the correct length.
10. When all the stars are set they can be sellotaped in place at the back of the paper.
11. Now you have built your 3D model of the Plough
12. Use your bluetack to stick your Model to the ceiling or the underside of your table
13. When you look up at it you will see that your stars look just like the plough, but when you look at it from a different angle you see what the stars in the plough would look like from space.
These activities would be great as a group work within the classroom. Mixed ability groupings or putting an older class with a younger class to carry out the activity. Older children could help with the Maths calculations.
At Assembly the children could describe the process involved and display their Models in the hall for the whole school to appreciate.Hi Laura
I love the idea of creating a sundial. It is very engaging for the children- one which I will be trying out.
I would choose activity set The Sun and shadows
These activities from the sun resource booklet by Maeve Liston from Mary Immaculate College are ones that I would use in my classroom. I think the children would find them very engaging and enjoy them.
Activity: The Day and Night Sky
You will need: Pictures of the day and night sky, paper and crayons.
1. Place different pictures of the day and night sky on display and ask the children “what
are the differences?” between the two.
Questions: Describe the sky during the day. Describe the sky at night. What is the
difference between day and night?
2. Ask them to list as many things they see in the sky at night (Moon, Stars) and during
the day (Sun, Moon, Clouds). Get them to describe shapes, size, textures and colours
of these objects and the sky using descriptive and comparative language for example
light, dark, bright, shade etc. Discuss how we are never in total darkness because of the
Moon and stars.
3. Ask them to draw pictures of a day and night sky or make a collage of a day and
night sky as a whole class group.
Activity: The Sun in the Sky
You will need: Pictures of a cloudy and sunny day (in the sunny day try to include shadows).
1. Show them pictures of a cloudy and sunny day. Ask them to describe the sunny day.
Ask them: do they notice anything else in the picture (shadows)? Ask them what are
shadows, what does your shadow look like? how are they formed?
2. There are many Videos on YouTube about Shadows for example ‘Sesame Street – My
Furry Little Shadow.’
3. Ask them to describe the cloudy day. Discuss: is the Sun around on a cloudy day?
Note: Shadows are the absence of light i.e. darkness. They are black. They are not grey or
any other colour that children may decide to use to draw shadows.
Questions:
Why is it darker on a cloudy day? What does the Sun give us? Is the Sun important? If we
had no Sun in the sky would it matter?
Discuss that the Sun gives us light and heat and why these forms of energy are important to
support life. Discuss how you are hot on a summer’s day and cold on a winter’s day.
What type of clothes would you wear on a hot day and on a cold day?
1. Ask them to complete the picture of a cloudy day (might discuss the rain here) below.
2. Ask them to complete a picture of a sunny day (discuss shadows here) below. Get them
to draw in the Sun’s rays of light.
Activity: Shadows in the School Yard
Concepts:
• Light travels in straight lines.
• Sunlight light does not travel through opaque objects and so casts a shadow.
• Shadows are areas of darkness.
You will need: Worksheets and black crayons
1. Go outside on a sunny day.
Questions:
Why can we see today? Where did the light come from? The Sun.
What do you think your shadows will look like? Why?
2. Then get them to stand in a line with their back to the direction of the Sun so that they
can see the shape of the shadow that forms on the ground in front of them.
3. Get them to describe its shape and colour.
Questions:
Ask them why is it black or dark?
So, what is a shadow?
4. Trace with chalk the shadows of some pupils in the class.
5. Ask them to describe its shape.
What does your shadow look like?
Is it the exact shape of the person? Why?
When can you see your shadow best of all?
Do you always have a shadow?
How do you think Shadows are formed?
Where is the light coming from?
For Aistear teaching you could incorporate what they learned about materials and when it comes to tidying the kitchen area/ resturaunt spillages -ask them what materials would work best
Items handy in the classroom for experimentation
Paper
Tissue
Kitchen roll
Crepe paper
fabric from art boxes
Hi Gwen
I find it very interesting that you weigh less on the moon-pity it didn’t work on Earth!!!
I agree your job sounds very interesting. I would be interested to find out more!!!
Hi my name is Mary. I am currently a SET teacher. I do a lot of in class teaching and I thought this course would be very helpful especially in the area of Aistear.
My interesting space fact-The hottest planet in our solar system is 450C
.How you would use one enquiry based activity in your classroom.
Students have questions that they are hungry to answer.
Use Trigger question –Oops I have spilled water what will I use to clean it up?
Brainstorm ideas
Exploring the materials you have to clean up the spillage
What are the materials like
Similarities/ Differences
Have you seen or used the materials before
Predict- Which material would work best?
Conduct the Investigation
Spill water on table /Tray
Use a material at a time to soak up the water
Observe which one they think works best
Record results-Put a smiley face next to the material that worked best . Put a sad face next to the material that worked worst.
Interpret the results
Make a pictogram using smiley faces of the results.
Extension- Which material would you use to make a coat for Teddy?
Teacher Reflection on activity.
