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Hi Antonia, I like the idea of doing the balloon rockets with 1st class. The younger classes always love the ideas of balloon so this in itself would get them even more engaged.
I would look at rockets with my junior and senior infant class.
I would start with reading the book Aliens in underpants save the world. I would then ask the students some questions about the book. ‘Why do you think the aliens came to earth?, Where do you think they came from?, What is a planet? and How do you think we could get there?’
I want to elicit from the students that the aliens came from space or a different planet and also elicit that we would need a rocket to get the space or a different planet.
We would then watch a video of rockets launching and see what the best way to make our own rockets that we could launch would be. We would get some paper cups and elastics and design one paper cup to be the rocket and one as the launcher. The elastic is placed around the launcher and the rocket is pushed down and then launched.
The children could look at launching with different pressures, trying to launch without the elastic etc and record their results.
We would display our rockets and launchers on our space table during space week.
The children could then pick a planet they would like to launch tp and do a blast off and imagine themselves there before we finish up.I like your approach Sarah and I love how you are involving the parents by gathering evidence from them.
Activity set: Hands-on classroom themed activities
In my classroom I would explore the children’s understanding of ‘where they live and the weather they experience.’ We would begin by exploring a simple map and locating Ireland. We would discuss the weather types in Ireland and how it can affect lots of things.
We would then turn ourselves into weather detectives and explore the weather each day throughout the week by going to the yard. We would predict the weather before going out.
We would display our findings on a classroom weather chart using pictures and symbols. We would then look at patterns in the temperature and amount of rain we saw.
To take a further step towards a STEM-focused SSE I would encourage the class to ask their own questions about weather and investigate them through observation, experimentation and data collection.
We could make some rain gauges to bring outside with us each day. The class could test beforehand which materials are waterproof and best to use by doing the teddy on a rainy day experiment.I love this lesson idea Michelle. I went for the Space and Aliens activity set too but we had two very different ideas. I love the idea of creating an alien to survive on a planet.
Activity set: Space and aliens
I would begin my lesson by reading the book ‘Aiens love underpants’ to my junior and senior infants class. This book is funny and will definitely engage the class.
I will then tell the students that we have had an alien spaceship land in our classroom and we need to become deactivates to see which planet these aliens came from.
I will have hidden clues around the room to help them and I would start by reading out the first clue. The clues would be them looking for colours, numbers, shapes and the last one would eventually tell us which planet they came from.
The children can then design what they think the Aliens who landed from the spaceship look like. They can name them and tell the class all about them.
We would then do a blast off with our eyes closed and imagine themselves and their aliens landing in their favourite planet.
Lovely lesson Jenny, I also used The Sun and Shadows as my activity set. I love the idea of a shadow investigation display.
Activity Set: The Sun and Shadows
Learning outcome: Children discover that the Sun makes shadows and that shadows can change depending on where the Sun is.
I would bring the children outside and ask the ‘What they think a shadow is?’, ‘Can they see their own shadow?’ and ‘How do they think their shadow got there?’ I would then let them experiment with making their own shadows — waving, jumping, making funny shapes etc.
We would then look at tracing shadows. The children could pick their favourite toy from the room to bring outside. I would put a few of the toys on the ground and have the children trace around their toy’s shadows with chalk. I would then ask them ‘Is the shadow bigger or smaller than the toy?’, ‘Which way is the shadow pointing?’ and ‘What happens if we move the teddy?’
We would leave the objects in the same place and come back 1–2 hours later. We would trace the new shadows in a different colour. The children would then be able to see that the shadow has moved/changed length.
This would lead us to a discuss once we return back inside and we can see why has this happened. Why did they shadows move or change in length.Hi Patrick, This is such a fun activity to do. I have done this in the past and the children absolutely love/loved it.
Hi, my name is Carol. I am teaching in a Junior unit for students with emotional and behavioural disorders this will be my 6th year in the unit.
My favourite space fact is that the earth could fit in the sun 1 million times.
My inquiry based activity would be done during space week. We always hold a rocket building competition during this week.
Engage: To engage the class we would look at some pictures and videos of rockets. We would discuss what features they see and what they think are the important features. We would then record what they have noted as important.
Investigate: We would take out our make and do art box (box filled with everything they could need when doing independent art) and have a checklist made from what we think is important. They would have a look through the materials and see what they could use.
The children would gather materials and make their rockets. They could work in pairs or individually.
We would then launch our rockets and see how they perform.
Conclusion: The children would look at whether adjustments need to be made to their rockets or whether they are happy with them just the way they are. Once any adjustments are made, they can launch them again before displaying them for space week.Hi Katie,
My research question was also based on litter. I think it is very important for children to be aware of the impact litter can have on our environment.
Research question:
What is the impact of plastic waste on the health of our local stream, and how can our school community reduce litter entering the water system.
I would make this a hands on activity and a pupil lead investigation. We have a water stream about a 3 minute walk from our school. We would begin by visiting the stream. Record the types of litter found in the stream and categorise them eg. Plastic, glass, metal. We would return on a few occasions to track if anything increases or decreases litter levels eg. rainfall. We would look at how long it takes these materials found to break down. Finally we would then look at what action we could take to reduce the litter entering the water system eg posters, no litter week, plastic free lunches, bins with educational labels. I would allow the students to decide the best way forward with the investigation.
Hi Siobhan,
I also downloaded satellite tracker by starwalk and found it very interesting to view all the satellites around the world and that passed over Ireland
Option 1:
Satellite 1: International Space Station (ISS)
Purpose: A habitable space station conducting scientific research in microgravity across various disciplines, including biology, physics, and astronomy.Satellite 2: Hubble Space Telescope
Purpose: A space-based observatory capturing high-resolution images of celestial objects, contributing significantly to our understanding of the universe.Satellite 3: Starlink Satellites (SpaceX)
Purpose: Part of SpaceX’s initiative to provide global broadband internet coverage through a constellation of low Earth orbit satellites.Satellite 4: Aqua (NASA)
Purpose: An Earth-observing satellite collecting data on the Earth’s water cycle, including evaporation, precipitation, and water vapor.Satellite 5: NOAA-19 (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
Purpose: A polar-orbiting satellite providing meteorological data, including temperature, humidity, and cloud cover, aiding in weather forecasting.
