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Hi Aine,
Such an excellent idea. My class loved buying all the stationery as well as the clothes! Really brilliantly relevant as they may think about who is actually making the things they are buying.
Children in my 1st class group this year loved weather warnings. I guess they were always hoping for an extra day off! So, the research question I have chosen is: Why does a Status Red wind warning close schools?
Research:
Discuss weather warnings and the reasons for them.
Watch news and weather reports on weather warnings.
Track the weather warnings for our area.
Learn about how scientists use tools like barometers, satellites, and anemometers to measure wind.
Discuss how do recent major storms compare to historical weather events in Ireland? (Research on Kiddle etc. on iPads)
Discuss why is it safer to stay inside our house during a Status Red wind warning.
Figure out who makes the big decision to close the schools.
Design/ Group work:
Design wind barriers to protect their school. Connect this back to nature and climate change. Trees and hedges are the earth’s natural wind shields. Planning for a class / whole school planting.
Wind experiments:
A) Blowing small objects throw straws e.g. small boat on water, small vehicles or a tree make from PlayDoh to see how they move in the “wind”.
B) Blowing small objects off the tables e.g. leaves, paper (replicas of objects you would find outside) and to see how they move in the “wind”.
C) Tornado in a bottle.
D) Measure the wind (using bubbles, ribbons and documenting on a chart).
Cross curricular:
1. Link with PE – Yellow, Orange or Red wind. Think of how they would move in these weather warnings.
2. Link with Art- draw 3 images based on the 3 statuses and compare how their pictures differ.
3. Link with Drama – A Windy Day mime or drama in small groups.
4. Link with Literacy – A Windy Day Recount.
Haha! Now you have an activity to keep them entertained. I absolutely agree, most classes would be absolutely obsessed. Excellent resource to introduce from September.
I used the app Satellite tracker and choose these five. Absolutely wild that there are so many!
1. BEESAT – Berlin Experimental and Educational Satellite.
2. CAMSATXW-3 (CAS-9) – Chinese Amateur Radio satellite.
3. ALTAIR – Earth observation satellites.
4. 239ALFEROV (RS61S) – Russian 3U CubeSat nanosatellite.
5. ISS – The International Space Station.
Hi Niamh,
I love the idea of incorporating drama. I feel it works so well with His/ Geog/ Science. I can imagine how much fun they would have but also really show them how their actions do impact the environment.
The HOME video contains absolutely beautiful imagery and incredible aerial views. I teach 1st class and I feel that it would be very challenging to show that age group. The language would be very difficult and it likely would also cause a great deal of upset. It is definitely more suitable for the older age groups. I can see how it would provide ample opportunities for talk and discussion. Perhaps breaking it up and watching it in sections over a period of time or using screenshots of the imagery without the sound would make it more suitable for the younger children. I would be inclined to focus on the beauty and positive side of the video with the younger classes and gradually introduce climate change.
I also enjoyed the TED Talk by Greta Thunberg. Greta is a great way to introduce the children to environmental activism. She would make for a good project for the children and this would encourage group work and plenty of talk and discussion.
Hi Irene,
I love the idea of planting and caring for trees and flowers. These hands on activities are just gorgeous in the infant classes. It is lovely to watch the children having something that they feel responsible for so they rush in, in the morning to check on it. My school has a school garden and the children learned to work collaboratively which, looking at it now, aligned well with the authentic STEM learning experiences.
Activity 3 is lovely. I enjoyed how it is clearly laid out, and how it could be adapted to the class in front of you. The Paxi video is an excellent resource. Age appropriate language and a clear explanation of which can be a challenging concept for children to understand. Most children would, after viewing the video being able to explain how greenhouse gases cause global warming.
Thinking of the class I had this year, I could imagine how they would have incorporated drama into the lesson. Like others have mentioned the children could work in groups exploring the temperature changes in various countries using Teal. They could report their finding back like a news report or a National Geographic video style reporting. Perhaps their presentations could be recorded and reviewed later as per of an oral language or critical thinking activity. They could engage the whole school in a poster designing competition to raise awareness school wide.
I absolutely agree. Sometimes it can be tricky to pair things back effectively for the infant classes, however it is important to remember that simple is powerful. I also love the focus on oral language and discussion. Often the emphasis can be on the written element, how classwork is recorded but there is such importance in giving adequate time to thought and discussion.
Liston’s (2018) Unravelling STEM: Beyond the Acronym of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths states that STEM activities and lessons use the Engineering Design Process (EDP) as a systematic, orderly, open-ended way of approaching problems and designing solutions for those problems.
This paper reminded me of Leonardo da Vinci’s revolutionary drawings and designs in science and engineering, which were later invented. Bringing this thought process to my classroom, I can see how giving the children opportunities to be creative and placing emphasis on working collaboratively would allow them to be innovative critical thinkers and to be more able to make good decisions. To become a modern Leonardo da Vinci would allow them to embody authentic STEM learning experiences and create magic in the classroom.
I love the idea of the birthday weather lesson. I feel that the children with the same birthday month would enjoy pairing up and comparing weather. Perhaps we could then group them into seasonal birthdays and compare the weather seasonally.