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I really like the Astronomy picture of the day – I certainly hope to look at this as much as I can next year.
I hope to use Stellarium with my second class next year in order to help them to identify planets and basic constellations and to understand the movements of the night sky. I will begin ny asking my class if they have ever looked at the night sky and ask them what they have noticed/seen – and explain to them that we are going to use a program called Stellarium to help them to understand the night sky. I will instruct them in how to use controls and toolbar to search for well known constellations and we sill examine the difference between how stars and planets look and move in the sky. we will ‘time-travel’ by changing the date and time to help them to understand that the night sky changes over time. After using tellurium we will use stickers and charts so that the children can create their own constellations. I am looking forward to getting started with this!
I think that a lesson about designing an alien being would not only engage students creativity but also allow them to think about life beyond the Earth and the geography and science of different planets and moons. After discussing the possibility of life in space and how that might look we can discuss the variety of life on earth and how animals are adapted to live in a variety of environments eg deserts and the poles. Working in groups the children will research the landscape and atmosphere of various planets and moons and design an alien which could survive in that environment. Their alien might be adapted to live in very hot/cold temperatures, low-gravity, high-pressure, toxic, dusty environments etc. After sketching their alien they could create it using clay and paint, give it a name and introduce it to their classmates. The activity could be extended into a writing class where the children write a story or poem incorporating their alien.
my class love playing chase the shadows in pe class, trying to catch another Childs shadow or evading having their own shadow caught. we have also created dramas in class using shadow puppets that the children have created. they really are excited by working with shadows.
I really like the simplicity of the activity introduced here explaining how day and night occur. After asking groups to discuss how they believe or what they know about how day and night occur I would use the flashlight activity introduced here to explain in a simple what is happening. I would give each child a small ball and ask them to draw a person or house on their ball they would be able to try the activity themselves and to explore when their figure is experiencing day or night. I would finish by asking each child to draw a picture of their neighbourhood at night or during the day, showing us where the sun or moon is in the sky.
I think a great activity to support this in art class would be asking a group to create their own model to explain how day and night happens to younger children and asking them to visit our infant classes to show what they have learned and use their model to teach.
I am currently teaching 2nd class in Galway – an interesting fact about space is that the coldest place in the universe can measure -252 degrees celsius.
Inquiry-based activities are an exciting way to engage the children’s curiosity and to better understand our universe. After introducing them to the solar system using a NASA video I would split the class into groups to explore information about one of the planets to fill in a space explorers logbook of facts. Using these facts they can prepare a presentation for the class using a 3D model that they create, a poster or report by an astronaut who has visited this planet. One child from each group would then come together with a child from each other group as a representative to discuss the similarities and differences between their planets. I find that children love to learn and share interesting facts about space and other planets!
