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This is a lovely lesson, Kate! There is a lovely book we did this year in infants – The Hundred Decker Rocket by Mike Smith. There are aliens and spacecraft and a dog, and at the end there’s a big fold out page of the 100 Decker rocket. It led to some lovely art lessons towards the end of the school year too.
For this reflective piece, I have chosen to focus on teaching a lesson about rockets, inspired by the activities and strategies outlined in the module, and to integrate this into our class plan for Space Week.
During Space Week, I would like to introduce a multi-faceted lesson about rockets that engages my 5-6 year old pupils through a combination of storytelling, hands-on activities, and creative expression. The goal is to spark curiosity, encourage problem-solving, and foster a love for learning about space and engineering.
1. Storytime and Discussion: We will begin with a storytime session, reading a picture book about space travel and rockets. A book like “Peigí’s Adventures in Space” by Shane Bergin and Declan Fahie would be a perfect starting off point (it was recently sent free to many primary schools from UCD – https://www.peigisadventures.com/). It is child friendly and introduces the concept of rockets and space through the eyes of a friendly Red Setter.
Discussion Questions:
-What do rockets do?
-How do you think rockets work?
-Why do we need rockets?
2. Building and Testing Model Rockets: Next, we would move on to a hands-on activity where pupils build their own simple model rockets using craft supplies like cardboard rolls, paper, glue, and markers. This would be an open-ended task where pupils could design their rockets in various ways, just like the characters in Peigí’s story, allowing them to use their creativity.
Steps:
-Demonstrate how to create a basic rocket structure.
-Encourage pupils to decorate and customise their rockets.
-Once the rockets are built, we will go outside to test them using a simple launching mechanism, like blowing air through a straw to propel paper rockets.
3. Exploring Numbers and Measurements: To integrate numeracy skills, we could measure the distance each rocket travels and record the results. Pupils will be encouraged to compare the distances and discuss what factors might have influenced the outcomes.
Questions for Reflection:
-Which rocket travelled the farthest? Why do you think that happened?
-How can we make our rockets go further next time?
-Can you count the steps from the launch point to where your rocket landed?
This rocket lesson integrates multiple learning modalities, from auditory (storytime) to kinesthetic (building and launching rockets) to visual (drawing and measuring). By offering varied activities, I can cater to the diverse needs and learning styles of my pupils.
One significant change I am making is the inclusion of more open-ended tasks that encourage exploration and problem-solving. The rocket-building activity, in particular, allows pupils to experiment and learn through trial and error, fostering a growth mindset.
Additionally, this lesson emphasises collaboration and communication. Pupils will work together during the building process, discuss their results, and share their reflections, building their social and language skills in the context of a fun and engaging topic. This approach not only makes learning about rockets and space exciting but also helps pupils develop critical thinking, creativity, and teamwork skills, laying a strong foundation for their future learning experiences.Oh wow, I love the idea of looking at and waiting for JUICE! The infant room love learning about the solar system, and Jupiter is a always a “big” favourite! But it would be a lovely lesson to do at infant level, and then save their work and bring it back to them when they are in 6th class. It would be their entire lifetime, and more meaningful because of it!
The weather is a common and (in Ireland, at least!) ever changing topic and theme in the infant room. In my multi-grade scheme, a lesson very similar to the “What Clothes To Wear” is already a part of my Gaeilge scheme. Since it is, it would be very easy to adapt it to include the science suggested in this module. Not only that, we could link it to P.E. and have group races to see who could put the winter clothes on a volunteer the fastest! It would certainly help me out at break times, if I had more skilled zippers and buttoners in the room! After this, it would be lovely to have the children design their own coats, and suggest ways that would make putting on their coats easier for them. We could explore different types of fasteners in a sensory bin, and base our suggestions on our findings there.
(I[m also very taken with the earth ball activity – I’m on the hunt for a little penguin and polar bear to blu-tac onto our class globe!)This sounds lovely, Deirdre! I was thinking of Goldilocks myself during this lesson, so that book would be a great addition to our library! I’ve used the Smeds and the Smoos, so it would be a nice way of considering how life adapts to different environments, and relate that to our place in space. Thanks for the idea!
The activity for the plough and the stars (!) was such an interesting idea. I know that some elements are beyond the scope of infants, but I would still absolutely love to do it with my infants class. Even recognising numbers like 32, 28 etc. is a great stretch for more able children, and there are so many stages to the project that there are opportunities for every child to participate usefully. Space can be such an abstract concept for children, that I could see myself using this to usefully demonstrate the differences in star distances.
This could be combined nicely with an adventure in the forest (we have a grove of trees nearby) and we could talk about how the leaves and canopy look different when observing from the ground, compared to when we climb onto the branches (low and safe!). Looking at the stars would be similar if we could travel through space.
I was also thinking that I could use the “what I see” drawing activity, but I couldn’t decide whether I’d do it before the constellation creation or after. Perhaps after, since we’d have seen the stars from other directions too at that point.
In Tiger yesterday I noticed they have a lot of space themed products at the moment. There’s a little wooden craft set for the solar system, poppits in the colours of the planets, and a lot of other little ideas.
As an infant teacher, I loved how accessible all the lessons in this module were. I could easily see myself using any one of them with my group of Junior and Senior infants. I know the Paxi video was for older children, but it would really appeal to my higher achievers too. However, my favourite lesson was the Earth mosaic. It is such a collaborative way of discovery about the curvature of the earth. Children already have an awareness of the structure particularly in the west of Ireland (grass, soil, rocks, and then theoretical magma). I can very easily see my pupils designing these pages and then discovering that they lay out into a circle. It is such a good representation of how the earth may appear flat from one point of view, but when you take it as a whole, it is curved. With the right materials (card, string, staples), you could even begin to build a giant mobile, that would begin to demonstrate the spherical nature of the earth!
Objective: Children will explore the concept of gravity by observing and discussing how and why objects fall to the ground.
Materials:
-A variety of small objects (e.g., feather, paperclip, toy car, ball) (if outside, use natural object like leaves, sticks, and stones)
-A clear container filled with water
-A heavy object and a light object (e.g., a rock and a feather)
-A picture book about gravity (The Gravity Tree: The True Story of a Tree That Inspired the World)Introduction:
-Begin by asking the children if they’ve ever dropped something and watched it fall to the ground.
-Show them a ball and ask, “What do you think will happen if I let go of this ball?” Let them predict.Activity 1: Drop and Observe:
-One by one, drop different objects from the same height and let the children observe what happens.
-Ask guiding questions like:
—-“Did it fall fast or slow?”
—-“Did it go straight down or did it float?”
-After each drop, discuss their observations.Activity 2: Floating and Sinking:
-Show the children the clear container filled with water.
-Drop a heavy object and a light object into the water.
-Ask, “What do you notice? Why do you think the objects behave differently in water?”Discussion:
-Explain in simple terms that gravity is a force that pulls objects toward the ground.
-Read “The Gravity Tree: The True Story of a Tree That Inspired the World” to reinforce the concept with illustrations and stories.Closing Activity:
-Let the children each choose an object to drop and describe what they think will happen and why.
-Encourage them to share their thoughts and discoveries with the group.Wrap-Up:
-Ask, “What new thing did we learn today about why things fall down?”
-Recap the day’s activities and what they learned about gravity.(PS – for those interested, link to the book: https://annacrowleyredding.com/books/the-gravity-tree-the-true-story-of-a-tree-that-inspired-the-world/)
Ooh, I like this idea! Just enough “icky” (recylced water – in all its forms!) to engage some of the outliers!
Hi, I’m Mary and I am (and will be) teaching junior and senior infants. Some love space and know loads, others are mystified but interested.
My current favourite space fact is that Black Holes don’t look like what we thought they did when I was young, and that it took years and years of studying distant points in space (as well as millions of dollars filming Interstellar) to find a more current representation of how light bends around a black hole.
