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Lorraine,
thank you for sharing your relevant and detailed account of Houses / Where do you Live?
It is imperative for students to begin with what they themselves are familiar. In identifying different kinds of houses, it gives a focus on different types of houses, suited to different environments and different climates. I love the planning, designing and making of 3D models of the different pigs’ houses and then their own houses.
By sharing their own house styles, this can lead to comparisons and discussions. An “Architect’s Walk” of the local area would enhance learning in this area too, and also embed new vocabulary learned. There is a nice overlap with other lessons on weather and climate, on materials, and of course on art and on make & design activities.
Aaron,
I can see a 2nd class really getting a lot from this activity sequence.
Some of the suggestions appear from Twinkl, such as https://laxey.sch.im/site/uploads/pages/114/_media/20201118_b7ecd8e8/Solar_System_Code_Breaker.pdf
Information on Mae Jemison might include Mae Jemison by Mary Nhin (https://youtu.be/tuMVjqvIuTI?si=ryx11ucXE21RxkXY) or Mae Among the Stars by Roda Ahmed (https://youtu.be/tuMVjqvIuTI?si=ryx11ucXE21RxkXY)
The NASA Rocket Educator’s Guide has a short history of rocket design at https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/rockets-guide-20-history.pdf?emrc=231d29
Rachel,
you have captured the essential elements of inquiry learning in your summary of the lesson activity. SESE Science skills use the language of guess
Predicting
• guess and suggest what will happen next in structured situations
What will happen to the ruler if we place it in water?
I think it will float/I think it will sinkbut for children to improve their science thinking they need to use their understanding to make a prediction based on their understanding. This often means that the children will need to play with a bowl of water and a range of items to get a sense of what is happening before they pose a starter question and predict in relation to it.
The child who has noticed that it isn’t just the mass of the object that matters, but its density (phrased as ‘heavy for its size’) is showing a deep understanding of a complex idea, and an idea that can be tested.
Shulagh,
thank you for the poem suggestion for the prompt, this is sure to get the children started! https://poetry4kids.com/poems/im-building-a-rocket/
and the author states:
You are welcome to use the poems from my books and website in your classroom activities. You may photocopy them, enlarge them, illustrate them, or do just about anything you like with them
The verse that has
But what do you mean
when you ask how we’ll land?offers a whole “take the next step” for the Rocket Mice, since these do tend to fly off in random directions. Children could measure how far from the launch did the mouse land and consider ways to make it land closer.
Chloe,
thank you for sharing such a varied and interested week of activities for an infants class. I appreciate that you have included video links, this will allow other teachers to easily find and bookmark the same resources.
A teacher in a previous year recommended symbaloo for storing links.
Aideen,
what a super plan for Space Week, something for everyone with plenty of stories and references.
https://youtu.be/vez_K8GhgqE?si=-QxPc2pRX-7bUCio
https://youtu.be/t_WfJ8wEFq0?si=PqLss4IkK5aiMEzq
Do you have a link or author for the Astronaut’s Handbook?
Is this the tour of the ISS that you would take?
https://www.nasa.gov/international-space-station/suni-iss-tour/
or would you prefer this one from ESA? https://esamultimedia.esa.int/multimedia/virtual-tour-iss/
I recently saw that Neptune (as described in your first story book) is not actually as blue.
See this article: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2410954-neptune-isnt-as-blue-as-we-thought-it-was/
Maria,
You have integrated Geography and Science in a seamless way with this activity on houses and homes, with plenty of opportunity to include families. Nice work, may we include it our our end of summer summary?
Thanks for sharing the song suggestion
Colette,
offering the children the opportunity to experience shadows and then to model this in the classroom with the little bears means you should not be too much at the mercy of the weather.
Carrying this out in spring or early summer adds one slight twist, given that the time of midday in Ireland once we are on daylight savings is 1.30 pm. If you have an infants class they might be going home at that time, so will have to carry out the final observation after school time.
Shadows in the winter (Sun willing) are interesting to observe since they are so long, with the Sun low in the sky even at midday.
Nicola,
in this course when we are referring to inquiry based learning we are specifically referencing the Curious Minds ESERO Framework for Inquiry that was developed in Ireland. Research can be an inquiry process, but the children should use their scientific understanding to make a testable starter question and then verify it with their research.
So, for solar system facts, a group might share that they know the order of the planets from the Sun and might suggest that the planet closest to the Sun will be the hottest, because…. (their own understanding). They could then research that to see if they are right. They will find that the hottest planet is actually the second planet from the Sun, because of a different reason (its atmosphere) and so they will have to modify their thinking in light of their investigation.
This could then lead to a next step where they model Venus’ atmosphere in some way, possibly by making a model greenhouse from a box and cling film and comparing the temperature inside the box vs outside the box, see this from ESERO: https://esero.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/47_The-ice-is-melting.pdf
Or see this activity for slightly older children from ESERO: https://esero.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/67_The-Greenhouse-effect.pdf
Finola,
you have described an activity with all the features of the Framework of Inquiry. The children were engaged by a scenario from the real world (even if you might have accidently left teddy outside), and from this they are interested and want to wonder and explore the idea of ‘waterproofness.’
Did the children have to explain why they thought one material might be water proof compared to another? This gets to the heart of inquiry, where testable predictions can be made and then tested.
For a child who thinks that being waterproof means that the water does not escape (I’m thinking of nappies here), they may find that an absorbent material can soak up a certain amount of liquid and will then be saturated and unable to take in more, and this is not the same as repelling all liquids which a true waterproof material will do.
Bridget,
there is a picture sequencing activity in the ISS Education Kit that might be of use in prompting the steps for a rocket launch. You can find it at https://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/primedukit/en/PrimEduKit_ch2_en.pdf
on page 54.
The full link to the whole kit is at https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration/Education/Primary_level_ISS_Education_Kit_-_download
Bríd,
if you have astronomy picture of the day available on ipad you could ask the children to find the link that goes to a picture of an animal (one link each day does!)
Today’s APOD had a link to this image!
https://i.chzbgr.com/full/9047697920/hF7BB9AC7/
With Stellarium Web you will need internet access, but if you download the full Stellarium package, then you do not.
Emma,
Space buggies are a perfect example of a design and make that links to the child’s own understanding.
I would strongly suggest including a wheel of some sort, which will allow the children to access the Making skill of “• understand that these materials can be linked in simple ways to allow movement make a wheel and axle using a pencil and thread spools;” from SESE Science, Infants / Skills.
When we have made these with teachers at in-person CPD events, or with children during workshops a range of possibilities open up, with both fixed axle (and rotating wheels) and fixed wheel with rotating axles. Have a supply of straws and skewers and a range of round objects and wheels will happen.
Shulagh,
this will require some careful manipulation to stop a dripping hand getting the interior object wet. You might want to tie a string around the wrapped toy and dunk it in the water, think of your ‘biscuit dunking’ technique. (which could make a fun take the next step, see this now closed competition: https://community.stem.org.uk/blogs/tim-bradbury1/2024/01/17/student-competition)
Would you have the toy coated with something that would show clearly if it got wet? Depending on the toy, a coating of custard powder might be effective, since it changes to a bright orange once wet.
Sarah,
What I like about both of these types of rockets is how they can promote inquiry learning. Children can watch them launch as the prompt, wonder and explore how they work and then investigate a factor of their choosing that arises from their own questions.
Both types of rockets are reliable, and have enough variables that can be changed to keep a 2nd class cohort going for the week!
If you want to include some Irish in this, use the Curious Minds Irish language version of the balloon rocket activity which is also in the downloads for this module.