[Michelle Mannix]

Hi Catherine,

Thank you for sharing your own experience with Junior Infants, having wellies in school will definitely make outdoor learning more accessible. I had wellies in the cloakroom for my own infants and it was great for outdoor learning without the fear of getting wet. Children love the opportunity to explore the outdoors and it sounds like your school has lots of outdoor areas within the garden for exploring. Through exploring your own local area you could look for nocturnal animals in your area to allow for meaningful connections for the children.

[Michelle Mannix]

Hi Grainne,

Thanks for sharing your plan to observe planets. I like how you have included lots of work in the classroom prior to observing including making a model of the solar system. Having some knowledge of the planets will engage the pupils for the observation task. You also have great ideas of resources to support your pupils during the observation.

[Michelle Mannix]

Hi Emma,

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the data sets in this module. I am delighted that you have found this resource so worthwhile and have a plan to use it in your own class in September. Having used real life data with my own class I have seen how engaging it is and how they much prefer to work with real life data. The pupils can also make connections between the data and their own lives, like exploring the garda station as you have mentioned.

Thank you for your comments on this resource, I hope you enjoy the course.

[Michelle Mannix]

Hi Frances,

Welcome to the course. What fascinating work monitoring and conserving the bat population, you will have loads of images and resources to share with your class next year. Bringing your own experience into the class will add to the engagement of the children also.

The ESERO resource Day & Night in the World can be easily adapted to suit the range of needs in your class and as you have mentioned there is also lots of opportunities to integrate with maths, science and vocabulary work. This will also suit the individual needs in your class and allow for universal design for learning. I am glad you like this resource and I hope you enjoy the course.

[Michelle Mannix]

Hi Clodagh,

What a contrast for you between Donegal and Dublin. Sharing images or your own experience with your pupils would be really engaging for them and also would lead nicely into your idea for a project. The display would be a great example of their learning and would also add to the children’s understanding of light pollution across the world and will tie in with global citizenship as you have mentioned.

[Michelle Mannix]

Hi Caroline,

Welcome to the course and thank you for sharing your thoughts on a sundial lesson within your own classroom context. I like your stimulus of a broken clock to encourage critical thinking initially. You have great ideas for the children in your class using the school yard, the classroom and also the added benefit of the woodwork teacher making a sundial also. Having one in the school yard would be beneficial for the school community.

I hope you enjoy the course.

[Michelle Mannix]

Hi Niamh,

Welcome to the course and thank you for sharing your ideas on a lesson to understand the seasons. I like how you would introduce the topic specific vocabulary within the lesson and the children could then apply this vocabulary when carrying out the investigation themselves.

The activity also allows for discussion among the class on the seasons and the rotation of the Earth around the sun. I hope you enjoy the course.

[Michelle Mannix]

Hi Conor,

Welcome to the course and thank you for sharing your ideas on observing the moon with your class. It is important to teach the phases of the moon first and also using relevant vocabulary with the class. When the class are observing the moon themselves it will give them an opportunity to use the vocabulary in a meaningful context.

I like your idea of getting the children to draw their observations and encourage them to note detail on shape and brightness. The chart in the classroom would also add to their understanding of the phases of the moon.

[Michelle Mannix]

Hi Linda,

Welcome to the course, thanks for sharing your thoughts on the Paxi video.

This video would be a good visual stimulus as you have said and would allow for discussion on the greenhouse gas effect. Having a positive outlook allows for children to look at changes they can make so as not to create an anxiety around it. As you have said every little step will help.

I hope you enjoy the course and the many resources that can be used in the classroom.

[Michelle Mannix]

Hi Alan,

Welcome to the course and thank you for sharing your thoughts on this module.

I am glad that you have enjoyed the supporting videos in the course. There are many great videos and resources across the course that can be used in the classroom.

The weather and climate resource allows for lots of discussion and to get a clear understanding of the difference between weather and climate. Having a weather station would make connections between the classroom and real life and also gives the opportunity to record real life data that could be used in maths.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 6 months ago by Michelle Mannix.

[Michelle Mannix]

Hi David,

I really like your idea regarding the piseógs of the night. The Dúchas Schools Collection is be a great starting point to source stories from your own local area. While they might not be specifically about the night, it might be a great introduction to stories and folklore. And I agree, the handwriting is just beautiful in this collection.

It is also an ideal link to History to explore stories from the lives of others, pupils could ask older relatives and I also like how you could use this project to explore folklore from other cultures also..

[Michelle Mannix]

Hi Fiona,

I really like your idea of taking photos at night without a flash and comparing the rural and urban photos in the classroom. It is a great example of using the world around us while also making connections with the concept of light pollution. It also encourages the pupils to look at their own local area and the sources of light and what changes could be made.

[Michelle Mannix]

Hi Victoria,

Thank you for sharing your ideas on using this resource in the classroom. The photos in this resource allow for lots of discussion and critical thinking. It is also an ideal opportunity to integrate with Geography.

I like your idea to take photographs around the school from a different perspective and encourage the children to become active in their own learning.

I hope you have enjoyed the course.

[Michelle Mannix]

Hi Marian,

Welcome to the course and thank you for sharing your thoughts on Liston’s paper. It sounds like you have a very good approach to project learning in your class which would incorporate STEM based activities too.

The weather station activity would be great in every classroom, allowing the children to build their own instruments so that they could record real life data and also learning about meteorological concepts as you have mentioned. I hope you enjoy the course.

[Michelle Mannix]

Hi Caitriona,

Welcome to the course and thank you for sharing your thoughts on the Teal tool and the map work in it. I agree that there would need to be some work on topic specific vocabulary initially and then the pupils could use this vocab in a meaningful context while using the tool.

There are many resources across this module and you can easily adapt them or change them to suit the many learners in your classroom. You could also use some resources to provide a challenge for others.

[Author]

Posts