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My class loved running a shop last year. I love your Space Travel Agent ! I’m going to try that with my girls. Thank you
Using the idea of a Rocket in an infant classroom.
I would use the story book “Daddy on the moon” (my own four kids always loved this story !)as an introduction to our topic of Space / moon trip. Ask the children how they went to the moon in the story (Daddy on the moon) and also any other ideas of how they think we could travel to the moon. The children will then make their own Rocket ships. We would discuss how they might do this and what materials they would need. I would have previously asked the children to bring in plastic bottles etc I would also remind the children that they need to fly to the moon and also come back again!explaining that what goes up must come down. Each child will be given the opportunity to design and decorate their own Rocket using the materials we had gathered. They would then attach string to the top of their bottle. Many questions would be asked to encourage the children to make predictions. Squeezing the bottle etc Then they would be encouraged to try it out for themselves in their own space around the classroom.
Weather and what to wear
I would start with the poem / rhyme “Whatever the weather”
After discussing the types of weather we have learnt and observed we would also recall the Seasons.
I would ask questions leading the children to discuss suitable clothes for each weather type. I would use a bag of clothes / umbrella / wellies etc and I would encourage the children to sort the clothes according to the weather they would wear them in. I would give the children blank washing lines on a sheet (4 of them and label them Summer, Spring etc) I would then get the children to record their findings and draw the suitable clothes for each season.
My class last year loved bringing in their favourite teddy so I would encourage them to dress their teddy (using their own clothes) and to bring it in the school. They would then do “Show and tell” or the class could also guess what weather the other child’s bear is dressed for.
Another idea would be to give the children a blank outline of a person and ask them to draw in their clothes according to the weather or they could also use different materials to dress their person.
There are many ideas to consolidate their learning and make a super fortnight of activities.
On the theme of Space and Aliens. There are lots of different activities which could be integrated into the theme. I would use the story Adams Amazing Space Adventures as a stimulus for the lesson. I would also incorporate lessons on rhyming through out the topic. From the story and revision of what we know about each planet I would allow the children to pick a planet and design an alien from that planet. We would discuss what the alien would need to survive on their own planet by going through what we know about their planet.I would encourage the children to pick what materials they would need and provide the children with lots of scraps of materials such as paint, moulding clay, play doh, tin foil, Googly eyes, Pom poms, cotton wool etc and I would ask them to create their own aliens.Each child would be encouraged to present their alien and name them and tell the class about their alien and why they chose the particular planet and the materials they used. I could also extend this with older children to write a sentence or two about their alien and draw the alien as an extension activity for Literacy. The children could also use their aliens in groups to create small dramas about a day in the life of their alien.
The sun and shadows
I would begin this lesson by showing the children photos of a cloudy and a sunny day. I would try to include examples of shadows in the sunny day photo. After discussing these photos and their differences and similarities I would encourage the children to discuss what we already know about the sun and shadows. (KWL chart) I would lead with the following questions
Why is it darker on a cloudy day?
What does the sun give us ?
Is the sun important to us?
Would it matter if we had no sun in the sky?
I would then read the story “My Shadow” by Robert Louis Stevenson.
We would then go outside and in pairs the children would draw their shadows on the yard. I would also encourage them to find other shadows and draw them too. We would discuss these and question what we can see. As mentioned in my previous comments I have taught infants for many years and the only way I can comfortably get through the Curriculum is through integration and Topic based fortnightly plans!
During the week using this topic I would integrate throughout the curriculum for example Ow sound in Literacy, Art – Drawing shadows – projector and draw around what we see and then cut it out on black sugar paper and frame on to white card, Maths / SESE- Time – day/ night – Seasons
During the week I would also carry out activities such as darkening the classroom and give the children torches to explore. We would also read many storybook to consolidate their learnings.
I love this idea of a Planet Exploration Station. I am going to do this with my class next year. Thank you for sharing your idea.
Hi my name is Orla and I will be teaching Senior Infants. My favourite Space fact is …There are more stars in the universe than grains of sand on all the beaches on Earth. That’s at least a billion trillion!
This is how I have used an inquiry-based activity in my classroom. We have made Colourful Flowers to learn how water travels through plants.The children learn what happens to plants when they are given water. They are able to see processes like transpiration and cohesion as the water moves from the glasses up to the stem of the flowers and upwards towards the flowers. I introduce the topic with the children through picture books. Examples of these books are
1.Usborne book – How do flowers grow?
2.Step into Science – Plants by Peter Riley
I encourage the children to predict what will happen and in groups they record their findings through simple pictures to show the results of the experiment.You need 3 or 4 white flowers, food colouring in different colour, 4 glasses and water. I give a glass of water to each group. I pour food colouring into the glasses, so that each glass contains a different colour. We cut the flowers so they fit into the glasses. Then we gently place the flowers into the glasses. We then watch as the flowers begin to change colour! During this I ask the children to make predictions and also also many questions to encourage them to talk about what they are seeing and what they think is happening. The children then record what they have observed using simple pictures or sometimes I draw out flowers for them to colour in and show our results. I have also discussed how the children could make a multi-coloured flower. The children always enjoy this inquiry and they get very excited seeing the flowers change colour!
