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The activity set that I have chosen is The Sun and Shadows. I have actually carried out this activity with my Senior Infant class this year and previously my Junior Infants 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. I had placed some animals on tables near the windows so they would be able to find some. 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.
An inquiry-based lesson that I carried out with the children is ‘what is the best way to melt ice?’.
Our topic is winter and 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 (when it is cold enough water freezes and turns into snowflakes. It then falls to the ground as snow) and we used a KWL chart and discussed different ways we could melt it. We discussed what items we could use to melt it (hairdryer, radiator, water (warm/cold), child friendly knife – plastic) and then the children predicted how long it would take. We carried out this experiment during our Winter themed Aistear play time. 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.
Hi, my name is Niamh and I will be teaching Junior Infants this year. My children are always fascinated about what food astronauts can eat in Space.
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.
