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Theme: Rockets
Class Infants: I would introduce the topic to them by reading a story to them based on the theme – Aliens in Underpants save the world. We would discuss what they already know about rockets building on the childrens prior knowledge.
In groups then I would set up various stations for the children to work at.
station 1: Children can draw a plan of how they will make their rocket mice. What container they will use – what colours they will use? There will be lots of discussion here.
station 2: Construction of the mice rocket – fine motor skills will be assessed with the cutting activity. Choosing various containers and observing which container makes the rocket travel the highest
Station 3: Construction of a rocket using paper 2d shapes – this activity links in with both Maths and art. Revision of all 2d shapes – circle, square etcI will be having junior infants in September and I cannot wait to make the rocket mice! Such a fantastic idea and so simple yet loads of learning taking place. I love the idea of using various sized bottles too to see the difference in the height of the rocket mice.
I too Sinéad can’t wait to use astronomy picture of the day and I loved the resources on stellarium. Making space hands on is a real challenge I have to agree but these resources are fantastic
Activity set : The weather – infants station teaching approach
Station 1: weather report
Every day the children take it in turns of giving the weather forecast to the rest of the class. We have simple cut out cardboard box for this and a microphone and they absolutely love these simple props . I have a map of Waterford where we live and I have named the local areas on it and the children have simple cut outs of rain, cloud, wind, sun etc to stick on when they are giving the weatherStation 2: keeping a weather diary in their groups for a week or 2 week period . They take it in turns of drawing in the weather everyday
Station 3: Dress the teddy for his holiday in the sun and his holiday to the North Pole . Children have to sortnthe clothes into 2 piles – and then take it in turns of dressing teddy appropriately. The results can be photographed .
Station 4: weather in other countries and
How people adapt . Build an igloo , build a beach house , what must people wear to protect themselves from the cold weather and hot weather ? This could be an oral language lesson followed on by a painting lesson of their findings .Station 5: children could also be given an iPad in a small group and play one of the many games suggested on this module by Esero and curious minds . This could be done in pairs or individually.
Stars activity -module 3
I will be teaching Junior infants in September so I am planning on having a lot of playful learning activities and working in groups and stations .
Station 1: I will give the children pictures of various constellations -to start with the plough and Orion’s Belt.
We will make these constellations on geoboards with elastic bands and also create our own constellations .Station 2: every child gets a sheet of black paper and – sheet of sticker stars.
Looking at a picture of the plough on the whiteboard they must plot the stickers in the correct shape and then connect the stars together by painting with a cotton bud.Station 3: we have nexus threading boards in school for fine motor development. Children must plot a constellation on their nexus threading board .
Station 4: drawing – I loved the idea on this module from space net where you give the children a picture of the plough and say I’m not a bucket I am a………..
Station 5: drawing stars using 2 triangles. Counting points on star , what shapes are in the star ? Lots of scope for mathematical language-bigger, smaller, corners , triangles , etc
Great book Tracy. I have used this book before where I got the Children to design an alien using playdoh first and then we introduced clay. There was so much learning in particular with oral language development .
great ideas which I will build on next year . Thanks for sharingI love all these ideas Anthony. I am an avid user of station teaching . These are all great ideas. I especially like the cut and stick and sequencing activity because in general I feel kids fine motor skills are very poor in general now .
I am always trying to include fine motor activities into my stations on a daily basis .The activity I would choose is the moon. I am a junior infant teacher so all my teaching is done through playful activities during station teaching . Some of these stations are teacher led and some of them are child led.
Stations I would use are :
Station 1: having a bowl of flour and dropping various size balls into the flour to see the idea of a crater . I loved this idea from this module and can’t wait to try it . Children learn by doing and this will give them a clear picture in their head of what a crater is.Station 2: Role play- dress up as astronauts and pretend to be walking on the moon. The children used polydrons this year to make space helmets and they worked really well. Children came up with really good ideas of using Tin foil and bubble wrap to create the moon.
Station 3: playdoh- using playdoh to make the planets and also they can create their own planet or alien living on the planet. If I was just focusing on the moon I would get them to make the various stages of the moon using playdoh.
Station 4: Painting- paint Neil Armstrong landing in the moon – flag, ship etc….
Station 5: Making the moon using felt, fabric , various types of materials etc
What can we use for craters etc … what do you think it looks like ? Lots of incidental conversations happen in these stations and that’s where so much learning takes place .My name is Niamh Doherty and I will be teaching Junior Infants in September. This is my second year with them so I am looking forward to it.
My fun fact about space is There are more stars in the universe than grains of sand on all the beaches on Earth. This always fascinates my class – no matter what class I haveMy lesson on inquiry based learning:
We have a class teddy called Jacko. Jacko goes home with one child every weekend on an adventure and what he gets up to his recorded in a scrapbook – usually with photographs and drawings. The child then returns on Monday and present what Jacko got up to. Throughout the year we use Jacko as a stimulus for a lot of our lessons.
For a lesson on waterproof materials I would suggest we need to make an umbrella for Jacko for his weekend trips because he lives in Ireland after all!!
1. I would present the class with a problem – its raining and Jacko has no umbrella we need to make him one.
2. Using our water table the children would then investigate what materials were waterproof or not and also what materials they would suggest that would be a good idea. Here there would be lots of discussion and critical thinking and investigative learning and lots of predicting.
3. I would give the children lots of materials such as kitchen paper, cardboard, tinfoil, newspaper, plastic, and and other materials that the children could come up with!
4. All of the materials would be tested and we would discuss the term water proof and try and list objects/materials that were waterproof. Using construction straws we would make an umbrella and put the plastic onto it to create an umbrella for teddy. Teddy could be photographed then with his new umbrella.I totally agree with this from a parents point of view and a teachers point of view. My own children love coming home with an experiment to do for homework and when we had Science week in school my Junior infants couldn’t wait every day for the experiments – they loved predicting what was going to happen and then waiting to see were they right or not. Children love inquiry based learning and experiments lend themselves to playful learning naturally. Children learn so much from play and are the experts in play.!
