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Prepare a school project to collect Piseógs/Traditions/Stories of the Night.
This topic would give great scope for home/school links.
I would begin the project after we have looked at poems, songs etc known to the children and after we have engaged in a lesson on light pollution and the invention of the lightbulb.
We would look at Dúchas in the classroom but then move this activity to grandparents or older people in the family.
We would prepare an interview sheet to be used for a face to face, facetime interview.
Q1 Did you have electricity growing up? Do you remember getting electricity?
Q2 What did you use electricity for when you are young? What do you use it for now
Q3Did you see and know some stare and planets in the sky when you were young? Can you see them all now ?
Q4Did you have traditions around light and dark when you were small?eg ghost stories in the dark/weather lore/moon phases
Q5.Do you remember any stories about light /dark eg Jack O Lantern, Christmas candle in the window?
Q6:Did you learn about The Celts and their Otherworld and Samhain traditions?
Q7 What else can you tell me about beliefs, stories , poems about light /dark/sun /moon that you know of?Thank you for all the lovely ideas.Starry Starry night as both music and then Van Gogh painting would be a great starting point for a creative activity .We could also look at other poems , song eg Twinkle , Twinkle and poem The Moon might also grab the attention of the pupils and make them think about light in a different way
I like your idea of a nature walk.We live quite close to a forest park and it is full of nocturnal activity.We would prepare worksheets on animals and plants that live in the park owls, deer, bats, foxes badgers and go on a scavenger hunt, feathers etc.We would walk well in to the forest where there is no night time lighs and with our whiteboards and a Think Pair and Share we would discuss the difference for the animals if they were in this part of the forest rather than nearer to the road.We could also discuss badger fatalaties and give reasons why we see them dead on roads sometimes…light dazzling etcWe could also take bark rubbings and identify trees and plants while we are in the park for a different activity.
Firstly I have learnt an awful lot from this module.I had never given thought to how nocturnal and diurnal animals are affected by light pollution.I would begin a module of work on the biodiversity of our area after we had discussed light pollution
My stimulus would be the pictures of both nocturnal and diurnal animals and would ask children to do a Think, Pair and Share on how these animals use light in their lives.
We would then record answers on a sheet.
We would then move on to the video clips explaining how frogs,bats,owls are affected by light pollution.Children would be asked to record three effects on whiteboard and share within their groups.
We would then move on to the question’ How can we as humans help reduce the problem for biodiversity in our area ?
We would then record some ideas on a worksheet which would then go home as homework activity.
Follow up would be a look at how the children along with their families could help biodiversity by reducing light pollution at home.A written piece, art, map or poem could be part of this activity which would then form a class presentation or it could also be a valuable too for a debate linking literacyI love the idea of the Star Jar experiment and with older children it still would work.I would preface it with a poem or story about light /stars /space suitable for older children, maybe one of Chris Hadfield bookssuch as The Darkest Dark would also be a link with SPHE.I then would move on to constellations and children could do mini projects on each of the major constellations while one group could focus on light pollution and use the graphs showing growth of light pollution in Ireland.We could then present this to another class level.
A unit of work like this would cover STEM, Literacy, Gaeilge, The Arts ,SPHE etc and would be a great basis for an integrated module of work.It also would allow parents to participate in their child’s learning in a meaningful way and we may find a pearent or grandparent with an interest in astronomy who might come in and chat to the class
I would begin a unit of work on Light Pollution with a KWL and I anticipate many children would not be aware of the concept at all.
I would move on and ask the question ‘What is the difference in the night sky in their home area’ ( some rural some urban)
Then I would ask for a Think Pair and Share about the night sky in Dublin
We would then move on to the taught activities from the Globe at Night Programme.
The final classroom based activity would be a return to KWL and each group of children would get two minutes to write something they have learnt on a piece of paper. Either they would read or I would read it for class.
Then this unit of work would be transferred to the home environment using the Globe at night to look at constellations .We could then input the data to Globe at night database and lead in to a maths lesson on data by creating graphs.
Like you I have never heard of Stellarium and cant wait to get back in September to try it with my Fourth Class.I will do a lot of ground work using NASA and other sites and videos with the whole class in advance as this in truth would be a homework activity with parents.I will also work on the time controls within Stellarium once I become familiar myself.I would try to involve parents if they want to send in photos or videos through school email or Aladdin.An activity like this would be a great opportunity for parents to spend quality time with their children and may even result in a common interest which in itself would be a great outcome.
I will organise a unit of work based on phases of the moon.I will begin by using a video explaining the phases of the moon and allow children to draw them as an art activity.I will then print of a calendar for October/November which shows phases of the moon and as homework ask the children to draw as a homework activity what they see each night.Children could also take pictures and send them in via Aladdin for all of us to look at.
Gravity/Weight – Assemble an Earth Tube and one other planet tube – decorate in a suitable manner.
I will definetly use this activity with my 4th Class next year.I would start with a KWL and I would then move on to watching the videos on the solar systems and draw a solar system.I would then put children in to groups and each group would use a Pringle Box for one planet.One child could bring in the box, others rice, others do artwork , another use scales which would be the basis of a great group work activity.Then each group would present their planet to the whole class and give a brief overview.Then teacher would ask a few questions on gravity etc and ask each group to formulate a question based on their planets and gravity for whole class discussion and question time activity.We could then move on to a literacy activity in Science Journals as a form of assessment.Children love to share activities that are hands on so a further continuation could be to take their ‘planets’ to another class and give a lesson on gravity to a younger group.
I love your simple idea of blue tac and a pencis for a sundial.I usually would start a lesson like this with integration with history and how sundials were used to measure time in the past.Children love any hands on activity and I often make shadow puppets which we use on a sunny day against a white wall and they little dramas and unknowingly are making shadows longer and shorter.Definite sundial activity if weather permits in September
I think your idea on looking at trees is great.There is a lovely poem’Where is the Forest’ that could be used as a stimulus for a number of lessons as we could discuss urbanization and its effects on animal habitats.We could then use your ideas of video etc to create a mind map and look at google images of our rural area in both past and present
Climate Detectives Research Question Planner
1. Research Question
How has increased rainfall over the past five years affected the frequency of flooding problems we have seen recently in Roscommon.
2. What is the climate issue?
It has become much wetter in the region in recent years and climate change is probably playing a part in this.
3. Why is it important?
Flooding is affecting farming in the area and farmer’s lives have become much more difficult. Even our school transport system has been affected with buses not able to get through.4. Who is affected and how?
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Residents and business owners in the town experience economic losses.
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Local government and emergency services face increased pressure to respond to frequent flood events.
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Commuters and students are affected by road closures and service delays.
• Farmers are challenged getting feed to livestock and also accessing main roads etc.5. What data could you use or collect to investigate it?
• Rainfall data from Met Éireann over the past 5 years.
• Flood incident reports in the County including local newspaper reportsI totally agree with your post.Children need small incremental changes that are manageable and they can educate the adults at home eg turn off lights. walk to shop not drive, recycle where possible.The children themselves will take pride in their achievements if they have completed a task themselves rather than just being passive learners.
‘Home’ is a brilliant production and gives us the whole history of our planet Earth.I myself have learnt a lot from it and it has given me food for thought.I certainly would use clips of this with 3rd Class being cognisant of the fact that they children are young and would not like to be the cause of climate anxiety.
However the clips I would carefully select would deal with the very early part of the movie which explain how planet earth as we know it came in to being.We would then have a ready made geography lesson on the various regions as a group work activity.
I would then move on to the greenhouse effect being selective with the audios.We could then finish off with an art activity or as mentioned in a previous post a science activity on rising temperatures.SPHE and our responsibilities in life could also be addressed as part of a module of work as could be topic of advertising and needs vs wants in life.I like the idea of playing meterologists and climate reporters in the classroom.Children love to get involved in role play and drama and they could have a map of the world up on the interactive screen and a pointer as if they were on a TV programme. Flooding , storms etc have become common everywhere.This could be done with Ireland first and then move to Europe and finally the world.Geography and science would be fully integrated in an activity like this.