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Space Week activities for First/Second Class.
Science Activities:
Fuzzing and Foaming experiments.Art activities:
Starry, Starry Night picture based on Van Gogh’s art but using constellation patterns learned in class.
Handprints to make aliens.
Rocket making.
Planet making.Writing activies:
Write a postcard from Space.
Write a weather forecast.
Write own poem or story with a space theme.Whole school activities through school radio:
Table quiz based on Space/Moon/Planets.
Music such as Reach for the Stars, What a wonderful worlfMaths:
Present rainfall/temperature findings on charts and graphs.P.E.
Astronaut dressing up race with helmets and wellies.Drama and Dance based on sunlight travelling to Earth, storms, lightning flashes etc.
Cinema: Watch a movie with the theme of space (Wall-E, Space
Chimps, Fly me to the Moon, Space Buddies). Short films from the
Literacy Shed: https://www.literacyshed.com/the-sci—fi-shed.I would generate interest and elicit prior knowledge of weather by observing current weather outdoors, wondering if we will get outside to play today. Then I will take the children outside to observe the weather using all their senses. We might observe through guiding questions that the grass feels wet today, the flag is blowing strongly, how the sky looks, how things smell, the type of outerwear adults are wearing etc.
Reflect on observations in the classroom. Make a display of the weather words used. Gradually through discussion, categorise students’ descriptions of weather according to weather factors such as temperature, precipitation, wind, and cloud cover.
Children should be directed towards knowing that they can use their senses to detect thevweather. “How do I know what the weather is?” e.g. I feel the sun warning my skin.
Finally children take turns to record the weather daily on a classroom chart, having explained to the class how they observed it.
Activity set: Space and Aliens.
To begin learning about stars and constellations.
I would introduce the story Aliens Love Underpants. We would discuss whether all aliens were the same.
Children close their eyes and imagine they are looking at the night sky. They describe what they see – moon, etc. Where were they when they saw a very starry night. They use as many words as they can to describe the stars. Just as aliens were not all the same in the story, children will learn that the stars can make patterns and that these are called constellations.Children will look at images of simple constellations and describe the pattern they form. They can replicate these patterns physically in a PE lesson or paint them in an art lesson against a starry sky, having also looked at Van Gogh’s representation. Children in groups could also invent and name their own constellations and each group would have a specific number of stars to arrange.
I would use the Planets activity set for a lesson for second class.
First, I would question the pupils to see what they know. They would fill out a “What I Know About the Planets” worksheet initially. Then they can talk to a partner and tell them one fact about a planet.
We will then listen to the Family of the Sun song about the planets.I will then present the information on the Solar System using posters, colourful images and videos. I will use the traditional mnemonic to help children remember the order.
Then pupils will play a game, “Order the Planets.” Choose one student to be the Sun; one student to be the Moon; nine students to be each of the planets; the rest of the students can be stars, asteroids, comets, etc. The “planet students” will line up in the correct order. The “sun student” will be in the center. Then, show the orbit of Earth around the Sun. The “Moon student” will walk around the “Earth student: to show how the Moon orbits the Earth. The “planet Earth student” walk around the “Sun student”. The other “planet students” can also walk around in a circle to show the orbit of their own planet.Then children can play a bingo game where they match a planet to its most renowned attribute.
Children will work in groups, to represent each planet and fill out a sheet..”What I learned about.. ”
They will then share with the class some things they wrote down.Hi Sinéad,
I love how you have incorporated so many wonderful ideas and resources into your plan. There is so much there and children would love all the games and art, never mind the moonwalking!
Mary
I agree. We all know children would be immediately engaged by aliens and immediate engagement is a great start to any lesson. Milo and Marvin will be very useful in the classroom.
Mary
Hi Eleanor,
That lesson or theme really sounds lovely. There are so many ways for children to learn seamlessly with so much integration. I imagine condensation really enjoyed it as well as learning so much
Mary Murphy
Hi,
I think that is an excellent idea for young children and they would really enjoy it. Children always love shadows and they would be learning in a very imaginative way.
Mary Murphy
Hi everyone,
My name is Mary Murphy.
The number of stars in the Milky Way is probably higher than the number of humans that have ever been born, is a pretty mind- boggling thought about space, for me.
I’ve been in learning support for many years so I haven’t had a chance to try out science lessons yet. I will be moving to a junior class next year and hope to try this lesson.
Force and Mass
Students can consider of force and mass and discuss how those two factors work together to create acceleration when I try to move a piece of furniture to get their attention on the issue.
The object of the lesson is to help pupils understand the acceleration of an object depends on how much force is exerted, as well as the mass of the object. Pupils wil discover that you must exert more force on an object with a lot of mass than you would on an object with less mass.
Then I would facilitate pupils in experimenting with this by providing objects they can compare as they exert force. e.g. a balloon and a basketball, a book and pencil case, toy car and lorry and other objects to hand. I would encourage them to exert as close to the same force as possible on each object when moving them.
We would then discuss how many real-life examples your learners can find of force and mass in action e.g. in the playground see saw going up and down, swings going back and over.
Children would record their observations and share them with the class to promote further discussion.
Hi Michelle and all.
That’s very interesting. You were lucky to see him. I imagine it was so interesting. He is so informative and enthusiastic. It’s fantastic to be able to have so much knowledge and passyabout a subject.
Mary Murphy
