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Cross – curricular lessons for Junior Infants carried out over a fortnight as well as Space themed Aistear stations. I would first tell the children what our new topic is (Space) and then carry out a KWL chart with them – see what the children know already about Space and what they would like to find out. Throughout the fortnight I would recreate a display board
Literacy: Teach ‘Twinkl, Twinkl little star’.
Read the book ‘The Darkest Night’ by Astronaut Chris Hadfield and also the book ‘Busy people: Astronaut’ by Lucy M. George to give the children a sense of what it is like to be an astronaut in space and also what they how they had to train to get there. Discuss orally the books – what their favourite part was, what new information they learned from them, if they would like to train to become an astronaut, etc.
Another book that can be used is ‘The Smeds and The Smoos’ by Julia Donaldson. Have a discussion with the children about what an Alien might look like.
Maths: Counting backwards from 11 (or whatever number the children are comfortable with) to blast off.
Patterns ~ Cutting and sticking patterns to a rocket ship.
History: watch videos of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walking on the moon in 1969.Geography: Identify and discuss the sun, the moon and stars. Discuss the differences between day and night.
Science: Explore how shadows are formed and bring the children outside so they can draw/trace around shadows with chalk.
Drama: Pretend to be an astronaut in Space with no gravity. How they would walk on the moon, how does it feel; to be wearing their spacesuit, to breath, to talk, to eat, etc.
Art: Colour in an astronaut outline – take a photo of each child, print and glue into the helmet so each child will be an astronaut.Aistear:
Role-play: Space travel Agent – the children will be able to pretend to buy tickets for going to different planets in space.
Art and crafts: Design and make an Alien on paper and then 3D. The children will be using a variety of resources – play dough, marla, clay, wire, tinfoil, pipe cleaners, goggly eyes, felt, paper, fabric, wool and anything else they would like to use.
Make slime and use different colours (paint or food dye) and add googly eyes/beads, etc.
Play dough: Laminated mats to make stars, asteroids, saturn’s rings, craters on the moon, satellite, flames for a rocket, alien, planets (available from twinkl).
Sand/water: Using miniature space items – aliens, rockets, astronauts, plants, stars. Moon. Astroids, etc.
Contruction: make a rocket ship using lego.Hands-on classroom themed activities for Junior/Senior Infants based on the theme weather – The Arctic and the animals that live there. Prior to the following activities we will have carried out several lessons on the Arctic region; what animals live there, their habitats and the weather conditions. In the classroom there will be a display board with laminated pictures and information on our topic. The activities will be carried out during Aistear as stations or morning carousel table top activities.
Play dough station – laminated mats for the children to make Arctic animals, teeth for a walrus, icebergs, snowballs, snowflakes, a den for the polar bears, polar bear footprints, etc., These mats are available from twinkl.
Small world station – small trays (Dealz/Mr Price…they are so handy as it gives the children their own space and there is no arguing) filled with article snow as well as small white beads with a laminated snow scene along the side. The children will have miniature animals that are found in the Arctic. The animals are available on amazon.
Construction station – wooden blocks for the children to make an Arctic scene ~ dens for the polar bears and other animals, the ocean with icebergs. The children will have small Arctic animals.
Role – Play station: the children can pretend to be explorers with staffs and torches. Set up an area in the classroom to look like the Arctic – white felt for the snow, blue piece of material for the water, tinfoil painted white for snowballs, boxes wrapped in white paper for icebergs, and teddies that are from the Arctic region.
It is always good to see what other teachers are doing for the theme of Space and the photos are great inspiration.
Activity Set – Space and Aliens ~ create an Alien. This activity will be carried out in pairs.
I will start the lesson by reading the book ‘The Smeds and The Smoos’ by Julia Donaldson to the children. We will then discuss orally what they think an Alien looks like – how many arms, legs, eyes, and head do they have, do they have a nose and what does it look like, what colour/s are they, do they have spots, spikes, strips, fur, skin, do they wear clothes, etc.
The children will return to their tables and discuss with their partners what they would like their Alien to look like. They will also discuss about how they are going to make their Alien in 3D form as this might help then with their design. They will be using a variety of resources – playdough, marla, clay, wire, tinfoil, pipe cleaners, goggly eyes, felt, paper, fabric, wool and anything else they would like to use. They will then sketch and design their aliens on paper.
Once the children are all happy with how their Aliens look on paper they will then start to create their Alien in 3D form.I love this idea. The children really love learning about Space, Astronauts and how they walk on the moon.
The activity set that I have chosen is The Sun and Shadows. I have actually carried out this activity with my Junior Infant class this year and they all loved it.
We started the lesson by discussing shadows – we carried out a KWL chart – I wrote down what they knew about shadows and what they would like to find out about them. We watched/listened to a song on YouTube ‘My Shadow’ by Hey Kids and ‘Shadow’ by The Dr. Binocs Show. I asked the children to become detectives and see if they could spot any shadows in the classroom. After they found some shadows in the classroom we went outside with chalk. The children worked in twos or threes and took turns in drawing/tracing each other’s shadows as well as other items on the yard – trees, flowers, buildings, etc. When we came back into the classroom we discussed the activity – what they liked about it and if they found anything interesting about it. A lot of them noticed that as the sun moved the direction of the shadows changed. As a follow on from this lesson the children went around the classroom in groups with a torch to experiment with making shadows and also making them big and small.Hi, my name is Niamh and I work in a DEIS Junior school. I am carrying on my class to Senior Infants.
An inquiry-based lesson that I carried out with the children is what is the best way to melt ice.
The topic we were learning about topic was winter. We were learning about polar bears and the Artic region. We read the story ‘Big Bear Little Bear’ by David Bedford. We discussed how snow is made and different ways we can melt it. We discussed what items we could use to melt it (hairdryer, radiator, water, child friendly knife – plastic)and then predicted how long it would take. We carried out this experiment during our Aistear. The children carried out the experiment in small groups. We put small animals in small see through containers with water and I put them in the freezer overnight. Each group used a different way to melt the ice while I timed it. They were very excited when they saw the ice melting and the closer they got to the toys the more excited they got. Once all the ice was melted and the toys were free we all discussed what was the best and quickest way to melt the ice.Floating and sinking is a lesson the children enjoy doing every year. We also do this towards the end of the year where the weather is nicer and the children can carry out the activity outside so it is easier to clean up if there is a spillage.
Question: What impact do trees have on our climate and why we need them?
As my class are Senior Infants and too young to carry out the actual project we will start by reading the book the ‘Lorax’ by Dr. Seuss – it teaches children to treat our planet with kindness and to speak up when people are mistreating it. It is also a film that the children are familiar with. After we watch the film we will carry out a KWL chart and a mind map to ascertain their prior knowledge of what trees can do for us.
Watch videos ~ ‘Climate heroes – the importance of trees’, ‘What if everyone in the world planted trees’ and more.
Question the children as they will be able to extend their answers this way.
I feel these are the best methods to engage the children in this project as they are too young to carry out other methods.Data collection – going on field trips to Marley Park and Bushy Park ~ observing the trees and how many buds they grow in Spring and then return again before the summer holidays to see how many leaves there are. They can also use measuring tapes to measure the truck of the trees and then measure again to see if they got bigger. The children can also observe trees that have been cut down – they can look at the rings as you can tell a lot about the conditions during the years by looking at them.
The children can do earth observations by observing, measuring ~ taking pictures and using a measuring tape. The children can make a collage of their findings by using photographs and also drawing pictures of their findings.
Once the children have carried out their research and concluded their findings we will share their results by holding an assembly with the rest of our stream where my class can present them with their project and tell them about their findings and get the other children involved so they too can help us make a difference.
Áine, I’m sure the children will really enjoy carrying out this project and will be delighted with their findings.
Aisling, I also found these activities very interesting and fun. I loved the different facts about the ISS which will make it very relatable for the children.
3. I decided to carry out question 3 which was to download the Teacher Guide & Pupil Activities for the ESA Resource ‘ Nose High Up in The Sky’ (slide 19) carry out the pupil activities myself and post my thoughts on the resource and if I would use it in class.
Slide 19 – Teach with Space ‘From the ground and from the sky’After carrying out all these activities I found all three very interesting, engaging and fun to complete. I would definitely use these resources and activities with my class. The activities are suitable for all ages and abilities but the activity sheets will have to be differentiated to suit individual needs in each class. It makes Space more accessible for children – they will have a better understanding of what it is like to look down on earth from Space.
Activity 1 – The Earth seen from the ISS
This activity will appeal to the children of all ages. They will know the size of the ISS as it is the size of a football pitch which they all know the size of and they will be able to imagine it floating around space. Being able to see the photos from five different astronauts was fun and interesting and the children will love looking at them.Activity 2 – Match the photos & Activity 3 – Higher up are interlinked
The children will love carrying out this activity as they will be able to pretend to be astronauts looking out the window and they can match the photos to what they are – mountains, lakes, rivers, etc – this activity is very hands – on and accessible for all.
