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Hi Fiona,
What a great location for your school to be able to access or visit Dunsink Observatory and if possible collaborate with them for a dark sky event. I’m sure the children in your school along with the school community would appreciate such an event and it would also raise awareness about light pollution.
Hi Simon,
Welcome to the course and thanks for sharing your thoughts on module one. I too have many different STEM boxes in my classroom along with tasks for the children to complete. Revisiting these I will have to check whether they address all aspects of STEM.
I have a digital weather station that I got in Lidl and my own class have compared the inside temperature with the outside temperature. We also recorded the temperature at a specific time each day over the course of a month. We created our own data that they could then plot in maths. It gave the class such responsibility over their own learning. I hope that your class enjoy using your weather station also.
Hi Caroline,
Thanks for sharing your own thoughts, while covering this course I was also up early and I actually began to take notice of the street lights in the area around me. Having grown up in the countryside I didn’t appreciate the dark night sky until I moved to an urban area.
It would be interesting to cover this with your pupils given that they are from different areas and to see what their experiences are, you also have the Dark Sky Reserve in Kerry that might be of interest to your pupils. You have developed a good plan to explore light pollution with your class and make connections to their own lives.
Hi Triona,
Welcome to the course and thank you for sharing your own thoughts on this module. We often teach about the weather in the class, but creating a weather station and recording the weather over a period of time will give the children responsibility over their learning and allow them to make meaningful connections between learning about the weather in SESE to analysing the data from the weather station in maths.
I hope you enjoy the course and get many resource and ideas for your own class for the next school year.
Hi Grainne,
Welcome to the course and thank you for sharing your thoughts on this module. I like how you would use the video to identify the language and vocabulary your class have on this topic and to assess prior knowledge. I agree that at times there can be uncertainty and anxiety among children regarding climate change and the resources in this module provide for positive outlook and encourage children to make small changes and how this can help overall.
I am glad that you liked the resources in this module, there are many great resources across this module that you can use with your own class next school year.
Hi Christine,
Welcome to the course and thank you for sharing your thoughts on the Paxi video. I agree that this resource is very pupil friendly and also ensures a positive outlook on changes the pupils themselves can make to play their part. Often there can be a level of anxiety among pupils about climate change. The temperature predictor can also support pupils in making changes or suggesting changes in their homes and local area.
Hi Michelle,
Welcome to the course and I am glad you have enjoyed module one. There are many great resources across this course that you can use with your own class next year. Having used some myself with my own class, I agree that they are very clear and easy to follow.
I also think it is important to explicitly teach the difference between weather and climate as people can often be mistaken as you have mentioned. Using real life examples such as the children’s birthday can help their understanding.
I hope you enjoy the course and get many resources for your own class.
Hi Una,
Thanks for sharing this comprehensive list of poems, songs and art. It is a great starting point to integrate the theme of the night sky across the curricular areas. I also like your idea of getting suggestions from home to add to the list for school. I also hadn’t thought of the propaganda from the Space Race which would also integrate with History for the senior classes.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
