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1. Start with the story – Aliens in Underpants Save the World
2. Bring it into real life by watching a real rocket launch like the video – Launch of Vega, or the more recent launch of the Artemis II mission from April this year.
3. Explain to the children that we will make our own rockets: I will use the plan, Rocket Mice, from https://www.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/learning/resources/rocket-mice – although aimed at infants I have found that many in our DEIS setting will have very limited independence in creating the mice as will need support with scissors and sticking. However they will fully engage with decorating the mouse and will enjoy launching and experimenting.
4. Discussion is so important to help the children get as much learning as possible from the experiment:
a. What is making you mouse fly?
b. And come down again?
c. Compare different size launchers/bottles – what effect does this have?
d. Which mouse travels higher or further?
e. Bring in the concept of a fair test at this point
f. Bring the topic back to everyday life – squeezy ketchup bottles
5. We can make a class presentation with short videos of children launching their mice and explaining what they’re doing and why it is happening. This can be shared with parents or other classes.
6. End with the story – The Way Back HomeThis is so engaging – it definitely encompasses the magic that you can bring into infant education which is why I love this age group so much!!!
I really think my class would enjoy these hands-on activities too. I also like that there isn’t just one right answer. So many children these days can lack resilience or fear being wrong. This encourages them to have a go without the consequence of being incorrect. It is more inclusive promotes enjoyment and engagement over being right or wrong. Afterall the process is the most important!!
I chose to respond to Online Resources and Tools as outlined in this module.
1. The Stellarium app/website is such a beautiful resource. I liked how it was linked to a science week event – as young children need the support of an adult at home to really stop and look at the stars which often come out after their bedtime. The youtube video demonstrates so easily how to locate the north star and the plough and how to navigate/use the app.
2. Milo and Marvin cartoons are super too. They provide simple and engaging activities in a child friendly way. I liked the Alka Seltzer Rocket activity which could be tied into a space theme with ease.
3. Esa.int is an amazing resource. I like how it is organized into stories, videos and images. The lessons/activities have very broad age ranges and need to be adjusted to suit a given level. For this reason I preferred ESA for kids. Paxi is a very cute character to encourage engagement with the topics and activities.The activity I have chosen is “Lots and Lots of Stars – Looking at the Stars”
I would use it in my classroom as follows:
Learning Outcomes:
• know that stars give off light
• know that you can see the stars at night (if it is not cloudy)
• know that the Sun is a star
• know that there are lots and lots of stars
• practise counting
• practise writing numbers and reading them1. Have 3 matching clear containers/jars.
Show the children 5 marbles: ask are there more stars than marbles?
Next count how many children are in the class – put the same number of marbles in the second jar – ask are there more stars than children in the class.
Next fill the 3rd container to the very top – are there more starts than marbles in the jar?
Explain there are so many stars that we could count forever and not find how many – we would need a computer to help us.
2. Make a mindmap of what the children already know about stars
a. What do they look like?
b. Where are they?
c. When do you usually see them?
d. Do they give us light?
e. What do you know about the Sun? (it is a star too!)
At this point we can clarify the common misconception that the stars ‘disappear’ in the day time and instead how that they appear to disappear because the sun’s light is so bright that we just cannot seem.
3. Make a starry sky
Use a piece of card or construction paper as a sky. Use a toothbrush and lollipop stick with paint to splatter a starry sky onto the background.
Allow the children to choose the colour of the sky and stars.
4. Discuss and Review
a. Show what you and tell us about it
b. why did you choose these colours?
Continue to reinforce the learning points – there are more stars than we can count, they provide light, they look small because they are far away but up close are like the sun. We can add any new learning into our original mind map.
5. Extension Counting stars worksheet. Draw and count the stars.I like using a book as the impetus for the lesson. Aliens Love Underpants is a favourite in our home. I really like the vocabulary/word jar to help build new language. It works from a literacy as well as a STEM perspective.
The activity set I have chosen is The Sun and Shadows. I have picked this because the sun is the source of all life on Earth. It is also so visible and part of daily life and therefore the children should have a deeper understanding of it. I would use the activity set over the course of a month to explore a different lesson each week. This time will ensure learning is consolidated and retained.
Infants Level
Week 1 / Activity 1 – The Day and Night Sky,
Learning Objectives
By the end of the module, the children will:
• Describe the sky during the day.
• Describe the sky at night.
• What is the difference between day and night?
• Clarify that we cannot see the stars by daytime due to the brightness of the light from the Sun but they are still there.Week 2 / Activity 2 – The Sun in the Sky
Learning Objectives
By the end of the module, the children will:
• Understant why is it darker on a cloudy day
• That the Sun gives us light and heat.
• If we had no sun we would have no life on earthWeek 3 / Activity 3 – Shadows in the School Yard
Learning Objectives
By the end of the module, the children will:
• Understand that shadows are the absence of lightWeek 4 / Activity 4 – Comparing shapes of the Earth, Moon and Sun
Week 4 / Activity 5 – Making Models of the Sun, Moon and Earth using Marla
Learning Objectives
By the end of the module, the children will:
• Understand that all 3 are spherical
• Understand that the sun is bigger than Earth and Earth is bigger than the moon.
• Be able to describe the Sun Moon and Earth by referring to size, shape and coloursSome nice books and videos suggested included:
The Sun Is My Favorite Star by Frank Asch
Sesame Street – My Furry Little Shadow
What Makes a Shadow? by Clyde Robert BullaI really like your lesson plan – it is so clear and concise with no fluff or nonsense – just clear objectives laid out making it so easy to evaluate when learning has taken place. I also enjoy bringing art into other areas of the curriculum as it makes it accessible to all ability levels.
An inquiry based activity I would use in my classroom would be the Mighty Materials investigation which was explored in this module. I would use this activity as follows to help children explore the topic and ideas using science and numeracy skills in an integrated way:
ENGAGE – prompt/wondering/exploring
• I would begin by engaging the children by dramatically spilling some water. My ‘clumsiness’ will draw their attention.
• I will ask for their by wondering – what am I going to do? How will I clean up the mess?
• I will create a mind map from the children’s suggestions of what to use to soak up the water. We could use a tally to count how many children agree with the individual suggestions
• I will have some pre-selected materials for the children to examine. Enough for each group of children to share so that every child can have a hands-on opportunity to explore them.INVESTIGATE – starter question/predicting/conducting investigation
• My starter question for the children is: Which material will do the best job at soaking up the water? What do we mean by best? Absorbent/strong etc
• I will introduce vocabulary – absorb / most absorbent / least absorbent
• Children make predictions from previous knowledge and their exploration of the materials.
• Conduct the investigation by using the materials and observing the results. The concept of fair testing will also be introduced at this stage.
• The results are recorded and displayed visually using a pictogram.TAKING THE NEXT STEP- applying learning/making connections/ thoughtful actions
We apply this learning through understanding and using the observations recorded – the best way to soak up the spill. Further exploration could include comparing brands of kitchen roll for thickness and effectiveness. We have a place in the classroom beside the sink for the Blue Roll of paper in case of further spills. We can further apply this learning through a challenge – making a rain coat for teddy. This involves understanding why particular materials were chosen for our rain coats because they are bad at absorbing water – they are water resistant.Hi Sarah, Michelle
I love working with infants too… their enthusiasm is wonderful. I love that Space is a topic that both boys and girls find so engaging! Looking forward to gaining some interactive and exciting activities.
Hi, My name is Amanda Sweeney. Next year I will be working in SET as part of a cluster.
My favourite space fact is that space is a vacuum and sound cannot travel in a vacuum so space is completely silent. Therefore all the explosions and gunfire noises in Star Wars other space movies are all impossible in real life.
