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Space Week
Class plan across the curriculum
Senior InfantsScience:
• Designing and launching the rocket- try ut may different rocket styles such as paper rocket, mouse rocket and identify which is more effective and discuss why they think this may be the case. Discuss what they think would happen if the rocket was bigger/ smaller.
• The children could actively engage in exploring shadows. Identify where light comes from and value in exploring shadows. Outdoor shadow activity and indoor activity where the roon is dark and the children use torches to explore shadows would be very effective for problem solving and playful learning. Create a whole class sun dial which can be observed on a daily basis
• Craters activity- Use images as a stimulus. Explore the differences with rock size, shape. Further investigation could be undertaken during play time.
• Explore life on Mars and design a Martian and a landscape. Compare Earth to Mars.History:
• Explore the Apollo 11 mission. Discuss how they may have been feeling. Take on the role of one of the astronauts and engage in thought tracking to discuss how they were feeling at different times of the mission.Art:
• Construction of a rocket using recycled materials
• Plan and create an alien n pairs using partners instruction . Do our drawings match?
• Draw and create the planets using chalk
• Plan and create a 3D Martian using clayExercise breaks/ PE:
• Hula hoop activity where children practise a fundamental movement skill while also learning the order of the planets from the sun.
• Running activity: children run around the hall/ yard like shooting stars. If they are caught, they must turn themselves into a planet. Their peers can free them if they orbit the planet 3 times.
• Play a Space version of crocodile crocodile where each child is assigned a planet and they can cross the solar system if the clues align with the properties of their given planet
Maths:
• Shapes of the planets/ rockets/ aliens
• Gathering data and number: how many rockets reached a certain distance; which type of rocket travelled the furthest. Who would like to travel to the moon survey?
• Explore halves when discussing a half moon and learn what causes a full or half moon
• Weight: will the weight of the crater determine its impact?
• Time: exploring changes in the sky during day and night using StellariumPlay:
• Plan and design a rocket using lego
• Role play: embark on the Apollo 11 mission or a new mission (Drama)
• Make planets using playdough with the use of images as a guide
• Threading- planets
• Space themed puzzlesReading:
• Decodable space themed readers
• Stories from the library. E.g. Alien’s love underpants, Man on the Moon
• Marvin and Milo cartoons
• Older classes may create a short text which will contain their new learning about Space and this could be shared with the infants during a buddy reading activity
Writing:
• The space diary of an astronaut/ Martian
• Simple space poem (rhyming)Music:
• Planets song
• Twinkle Twinkle little star
• Compose a new space song to the tune of twinkle twinkleGaeilge:
An Spás- oral language activity. What did you see in space?This is a lovely lesson. It is clearly laid out, lovely learning experiences and a balance between child and teacher led learning.
This is lovely Niamh, very practical and the children would love it. I love exploring different types of homes with the children at the start of the year as they are eager to share about their experiences and it often leads to very interesting and engaging discussion. The children always love construction and it is a great way of promoting problem solving and critical thinking. I love the idea of creating a neighbourhood using their constructions!
Activity: Weather
Animals in the cold
Senior infantsGo outside and observe the current weather for a short period without jackets or coats. Return back to the classroom if it is a cold day and discuss the current weather. Identify the current season and the months that make up this season. Identify what they could have worn si they weren’t so cold outside.
Identify the additional seasons and what type of weather is often experienced during that season in Ireland. Discuss how this changes depending on the country. The children will share places that are very cold (North and South Pole)
Listen and respond to the story of ‘Lost and Found’ by Oliver Jeffers. Discuss why the penguin may have wanted to stay with the boy and no longer live in Antarctica. Share why/ why not they would like to live in Antarctica.Questioning would be used to stimulate the discussion about dealing with the temperature.
What other animals face cold temperatures in their every day life?
How do they stay warm?
Explore the need for a thick layer of fat and a thick layer of fur/ feathers.
Do you have a thick layer of fur or feathers to keep you warm in the winter?
What could you use instead to stay warm?Exploring the need for a greasy layer to repel water would tie in nicely with a previous lesson on materials that are waterproof. The children will love practically testing this out themselves using Vaseline.
Revise what polar bears and penguins need to survive and how that differs to humans and explore other aspects of a polar bear and penguin to help protect them in the Arctic and Antarctic.
Using their knowledge of animals staying warm in cold climates, the children will be encourages to create an Arctic Owl using fabrics and fibres. They will be encourages to add the fat reserves before adding the thick layer of feathers. They will also be encouraged to give their owl feathered feet and legs so their legs and feet stay warm when walking on snow and ice. They could compare this to how we keep our legs and feet warm in the cold weather.
I love how you split this into three lessons so as to make it more achievable. I especially liked the idea of creating homes for the aliens and how each home differs and make comparisons with their own home. I would definitely include this in my lesson as the children would love it and it would embrace their individual creativity.
Space and Aliens
Senior Infants
This lesson would follow on from lessons about Apollo 11 mission and the astronauts on that mission.
Listen and respond to the story ‘Man on the Moon’. This will stimulate an interesting discussion about taking care of our planet and how Bob takes care of the Moon. Share how they take care of planet Earth and identify what Bob did to take care of the Moon.
The children will be encouraged to share who is seen on the moon at night (aliens) and how Bob did not notice them. I would ask the children to describe the appearance of the aliens in the story and compare that to the image they may have had in their minds previously.
Recall prior knowledge of 2D shapes before moving onto a whole class activity where the children would describe their alien to me and I would draw it on the whiteboard. The children will be encourages to identify the shape of each part of the alien and the amount of each body part. We will look and identify the number of each body parts, identify if there are more eyes or hands etc and identify the shape of each body part. Repeat this activity in pairs where they take turns to give instructions and draw the alien.
The children will then be encouraged to design their own alien and add some sentences to describe their unique aliens. They will subsequently present their writing and drawing to their peers and discuss the similarities and differences between their aliens or between themselves and their alien.
A further lesson may include creating a 3D alien based on the 2D drawing.A lovely, engaging activity that is sure to stimulate the interest of the children. There are so many opportunities to explore shadows regardless of the weather and there is no doubt that it will stimulate great discussions and investigations. I love how active the children are in their learning in this lesson.
Activity: The Planets
A stimulus will be used to begin the lesson to stimulate the children’s interest. There will be a teddy bear sitting on top of a planet with a thought bubble which reads ‘I don’t know where I am!’.
Engage in a conversation about where they are now, what town, county and country they live in. Ask them if they have visited another country. Pose questions ‘What planet are all these planets on’
Explain that we will learn about planets today and share prior knowledge of planets
Listen and learn the song about the planets with a slight adaptation to acknowledge that Pluto is a dwarf planet. The song and its familiar tune will be very helpful for the infant classes.
Brainstorm what we could use to represent the planets. Engage in active planet game where the children explore the order of the planets using hula hoops. They could practise various fundamental movement skills while listening carefully to the planet chosen and jumping into this planet. This could also be done in stations where one group complete the jumping into planet activity while another group throw a beanbag into the correct planet. Discuss what nothing or no one can land in the sun. It is too hot!
Practise positioning and prepositioning by locating themselves besides, to the left of a planet etc.
Discuss how the sun never moves, but rather the planets move around it. Practise dancing/ orbiting the sun to the music of the ‘Planets song’.
Share learning and work as a whole class to organise the planets into their order using images of the planets.This would transfer really well into an Art lesson on the planets such as a simple activity of using chalk and black paper where the children demonstrate their understanding of the planet order and represent this in art form.
That is a lovely and engaging lesson for children. The children love the opportunity to play with water and it incorporates many different aspects such as predicting, turn taking and active, playful learning. There are so many opportunities for extension and discussion.
Inquiry-based activity: exploring waterproof materials
Prompt: Present a picture with a spillage at lunch time and a statement ‘Oops, my water bottle spilled on my jumper!’
Think- pair-share: I wonder what happens if a spill water on this plastic bag, piece of cotton wool, tin foil, bubble wrap, tissue etc.
Explore the names of different materials
Explore the meaning of waterproof and why some things are waterproofStarter question: What would happen if my water bottle spilled over these materials
Work in pairs to make and document predictions of materials that are/ are not waterproof
Conducting investigation: Every child will have a spoon or a dropper. They will also have a container of material and a series of materials each. Share predictions with one another and proceed to investigate. Compare findings with classmates as they investigate. Pose questions to each group such as ‘What happened when you placed water on the bubble wrap? What does this tell us about bubble wrap’.
Interpret data as a whole class using Maths chat language ‘ We noticed, I agree/ disagree because…. Ask the class if there were any surprising findings. Discuss the need for understanding the meaning of waterproof and why we need to know what materials are waterproof.
Next steps: This would lead nicely into a further investigation about floating and sinking and also they might discuss why we in Ireland would need more waterproof clothing than other countries in the world. This could extend further into play time as they explore additional materials.