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Hands-on creativity. The children will be able to identify and explore how objects move and will work scientifically: observing and measuring.
Rocket Building
I would begin the lesson by sharing the story ‘The Way Back Home’ We will discuss the story and talk about how the little boy ended up on the moon. Can you remember what he flew past on the way to the moon? Clouds, stars and planets. How did he get back to earth? What tools did he need to fix the rocket?Explain that the children will become astronauts and will be making their very own rocket. We will watch the video on how to make rocket mice. The children will then make their own rocket. During the experiment we will place a post it note on the wall to show how far into space each mouse travelled. We will discuss why some mice flew higher, was it because the bottle is a different shape? Bigger/smaller? Was more force used to squeeze the bottle? I know the children will love this engaging activity and they can even explore further by making rockets at home.
For the plenary I would show the children some video clips from NASA and ESERO Ireland showing real life rocket launches.
Hands-on classroom themed activities. What clothes to wear?
I really like the resources for this topic. I would begin the lesson by sharing the story ‘A stroll through the seasons’ . This book is beautifully illustrated and demonstrates the changes that each season brings. I would ask the children what seasons we read about and if they noticed what clothes the boy and girl wore during winter, spring, summer and autumn. Why do you think they wore this?When I taught this topic in infants I made four clothes lines. I had a ‘magic bag’ which contained baby clothes for all seasons. I chose one child to come up and pick out something from the bag, the child decided what line we should hang the item on. We would then discuss the reasons why the item of clothing was suitable for a particular season. Eg why do you think the sun hat is needed for summer? The heavy coat for winter? Why do we need warmer clothes for winter etc. During this activity I put a photograph of the seasons on the board to stimulate discussion.
I also like the activity in lesson 11 where an assortment of clothes are put in the middle of a circle of children. Three children will be asked to find beach clothes and to put them on. This will lead on to the discussion about why the clothes are suitable for summer. The next group of children will find clothes for a different season. I know the children will love this engaging lesson.
I like how you incorporate role play into your lesson. The children would love to be weather forecasters each day.
Activity Set – Stars
Lesson – Looking at Stars
Introduction – Discuss what stars are. They are giant glowing balls of gas. The closest star to the Earth is the Sun. Stars are there all the time, but we can only see them at nighttime when the sky is dark.Ask the children to close their eyes and sing Twinkle Little Star, while really thinking about the words.
Introduce the term ‘constellations’ and explain that a constellation is a group of stars in the night sky that make up a recognisable picture or pattern. It is like a game of connecting the dots. Show the children some simple constellations and ask them to guess what it is. There are some great visuals online.
Children will then create their own constellation. Each child will be given black card,a white chalk pen and a ruler. They can think of a name for their constellation.
At the end of the lesson the children can take turns to guess what each constellation is a picture of. We can then create our very own night sky by displaying the creations on the wall.
I would choose the Activity set – The Planets ; A Journey Through the Solar System. As this is suitable for the children I teach in an SET setting.
Learning Outcomes:
Know the names of the eight planets.
Know that the planets revolve around the sun and that the sun gives light.Introduction- I will read the story ‘Meet the Planets’.
The Planet song – Eight planets of the Solar System. Children sing along to The Planet Song. I would put the video on the IWB as the visuals are very good. I like the way it shows the order of the planets from the sun.
Recap on the planet names. I will point to the planets on the board and ask children to identify them.
Hold up planet photographs and children identify them. I would ask if they could tell me something about the planet, such as : this planet is very hot.We would then go outside or to the hall to play the hula-hoop game. I think the children would love this fun, interactive game, pretending they are rockets flying through space. I like the added challenge that the children cannot land on the yellow hoop as it represents the sun, and it is too hot to land there.
Hi, my name is Niamh and I am a Special Education Teacher. I have always been fascinated by Space. My favourite Space fact is that there is a possibility that it rains diamonds on Neptune. This is due to extreme weather conditions.
I have used an inquiry-based activity in my classroom on the topic of planets.
Search for the Planets. Can you identify the planets in our Solar System?
We looked at photographs and pictures of the planets and discussed each planet in detail, talking about the various colours we could see, size, patterns and rings. Each of the children drew a planet and coloured it in. We then stuck the planets onto a piece of card and placed the card under a glass dish of water. We added black paint to the water and some glitter to represent the stars. The children used a plastic cup to press down on the bottom of the dish, which would make the planets visible. There was a poster beside the dish displaying pictures and names of the planets. The pupils were then able to match the planet they ‘discovered’ to the planet on the poster. The pupils really enjoyed being astronauts and discovering planets through the night sky.
