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already know. After we have discussed their prior knowledge and what they would like to learn about I will then show them the Paxi video on Greenhouse gases. This is an age appropriate video that the children will be able to follow and understand easily. It will give them a good introduction into greenhouse gases. The worksheet for this lesson will have to be simplified as it is too advanced for my class as I will have Junior Infants this September. I would include simple pictures and a matching activity as well as space for the children to draw their answers.
I would show the children the tool for predicting future temperatures on the board and then I would download it onto iPads, split the class into groups and then give them an iPad, one for each group, so they will be able to use it for themselves.
Hi Triona, I love your idea of dividing your class into ‘news teams’ with a different task to complete.
Robert, I love your idea of incorporating Google maps into the lesson. My children really love when we use it in a lesson.
In my classroom this year (Senior Infants) the children work in small groups with concrete materials so they can carry out their practical tasks by thinking critically and learning through investigation.
Activity 1: Is it weather or climate?
This activity was enjoyable and will be relatable to all children. I feel that relating the weather to the children’s birthdays will help the children understand the difference between weather and climate. I also feel the videos that are provided are age appropriate and particularly useful when explaining the difference between weather and climate for all children.
Activity 2: Weather Detectives
This activity can also be differentiated so that even children as young as Junior Infants will be able to carry it out. The children can help develop a weather station to mount the thermometer so that it will be able to be used by other classes in the school and there will be no fear that the heat from the children’s hands will change the temperature, the results will be constant and reliable. This will help the children become critical thinkers as they will have to decide on the best area for the weather station. They will become hands on learners as they will have to design and make the actual station.
Cross – curricular lessons 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 books ‘The Darkest Night’ by Astronaut Chris Hadfield and ‘Busy people: Astronaut’ by Lucy M. George and also the book ‘How it works: Rocket’ by Amelia Hepworth to give the children a sense of what it is like to be an astronaut in space, how they had to train to get there and how the rocket works. 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 10 (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 – playdough, marla, clay, wire, tinfoil, pipe cleaners, goggly eyes, felt, paper, fabric, wool, cardboard 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 or magnetic tiles.
Hands – on classroom activities with the following theme
Where do you live?
Activity set: Weather ~ Animals in the cold
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 themed play 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/temu) filled with article snow or fake snow made with bicarbonate of soda & hair conditioner with a laminated snow scene along the side. The children will have miniature animals that are found in the Arctic. These 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 and an igloo made from a pop up tent and a white sheet. 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.
Activity Set – Space and Aliens ~ create an Alien. This activity will be carried out in pairs.
I will start the lesson by discussing 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. Then I will read the book ‘The Smeds and The Smoos’ by Julia Donaldson to the children to give them some more ideas. I feel carrying out the oral discussion first will give me a better understanding of what the children think aliens look like.
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, cardboard 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.
Watching that episode of Peppa Pig is a great way to start the lesson. All the children will love it and be very engaged for the rest of the lesson.
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.
