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I also really like the idea of building the spacecrafts. I could use this idea with my infants to do as an activity with their 6th class buddies.
I would like to focus on some activities I could add in for Space Week. As I teach infants I feel that Aistear is a great place to have lots of space related activities.
Oral Language: Using posters and videos to introduce the space related vocabulary you would like them to use that week.
Role play – The children could act out being on the space station /as aliens etc
Small World Play: set up a tuff tray using astronauts, rockets etc. /draw stars, planets etc onto tray.
Playdough – Designing and creating their own rocket out of playudough
Construction: Build their own rocket/Space station etc.I would also add in some numeracy games with a space theme during ready set go maths such as space race-roll the dice and count to 10, fill the spaceships with the correct number of aliens, alien hunt etc.
We would use fictional space themed books for our story that week. We could also focus on some space themed songs/poems. I like the idea of a whole school assembly also for each class to showcase their work during Space Week. We also work with 6th closely as they act as buddies for the juniors so we could definitely collaborate on an experiment/an art activity like paper mache planets etc.
Following this module I decided I really liked the lesson ideas for What Clothes to Wear (ESERO)/Investigating Children’s Coats (Curious Minds) in my infant classroom.
I have found that a sorting activity always works very well while also providing the opportunity for a great discussion. In small groups, the children would have a variety of weather and clothes-related pictures which they would need to sort into the four seasons.
Following on from this, I really liked the What Clothes to Wear? activity. This involves the children choosing appropriate clothes for each season from the dress-up box and using teacher questioning to informally assess understanding. For example – Why do we wear fewer clothes in summer? Do you need to put your coat on to go outside in the winter? Why? Focusing on the seasons is relevant to infants but also allows for plenty of integration across the curriculum such as An Aimsir In Gaeilge,, during Aistear and also seasonal art activities.I really like the idea of acting out the special object, it would be fun and engaging as the children try to guess the object.
The activity that I would like to focus on is ESERO 19: Special Life. I feel this could be adapted for Aistear stations for the infants. I would use 3 stations with the following activities:
Oral Language – Using visuals I would invite the children to share the words that come into their head when we think of planet Earth, e.g. people, animals, objects, etc. I would explain that there are many more planets in space, but as far as we know there are no living people there. I would then ask the children to think about, if people did visit from other planets, what would they like to show them here on Earth? What makes Earth so special? I would record all of their answers on poster paper, which can then be moved with the children and displayed as a stimulus in the next area.
Role play – The children would then act out an alien visiting their planet and what they would tell them about Earth, what they would show them about Earth. Teacher can observe and partake in the role play if necessary.
Art – Invite the children to share what they think an alien would look like – discuss body parts, colours, shapes, textures etc. The children would then draw and design their own alien. I would provide the children with a range of materials to create different textures e.g. wool, fabric, plastic, etc.
I really like the planet songs you have linked, I will definitely use them when teaching about the planets. I must look into the dwarf planets song as mentioned in another reply as think it would an extra interesting area to introduce.
The activity set I would like to use is The Planets. I feel this would be a good starting basis for an infant class to learn the names of the planets in our solar system. I would start with discussing the name of the town we live in etc and discuss the planet Earth. I would introduce the names of the planets with visuals. We would then discuss the Sun and the fact that all the planets revolve around the sun. I really like the planets game as it is active and the children would love to pretend they are space rockets. I would then follow up with Planet Dance and Planet Spin. Planet Dance has the added bonus of working on language such as behind, beside, in front of etc. I like the suggestion of doing this lesson in the hall as it will allow for plenty of space for the hoops and for the movement required. I would then take it back to the classroom where I would play a video which gives a little extra information about each of the planets.
I also agree that children are coming in to school with a huge interest in Space, I have some good videos discussing Space and teaching them about the planets etc and they are mesmerised by them, I have often been asked to play the Space video during a rainy day at break times.
Hi, My name is Aoife and I am currently teaching Junior Infants. My favourite fact about space is that space is completely silent.
I enjoyed the suggestions for the lesson on gravity in Module 1 and I think that the children would really enjoy it too. In my infant classroom I would follow a plan like this for the lesson.
• Introducing the trigger, wondering, discussing, exploring
• Exploring different types of forces – pulling a chair, jumping etc.
• Exploring how objects fall
• Discussion/reflection on what happened during the experiment.We like to use a buddy system in our school with 6th class so I think we could extend the lesson by using the older children to help the younger ones design and create a parachute. They would have lots of fun working together to create the parachute and also testing their creations together outside. It would be a good way to show them how a parachute lessens the effect of gravity.
