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I would use an activity from the Stars activity set. First, we would discuss and describe images of stars in the night sky, including artwork like A Starry Night by Van Gogh. Have they ever tried to count the stars? Do they know how many stars are out there? Next we would look at groups of stars in constellations and chat about some more well-known zodiac constellations, using some of the ideas from the Universe in a Box resource, adapting the lessons as appropriate. Do the children see images like a scorpion and a lion? Or do they see something else? They will have the opportunity to ‘join the dots’ to recreate a constellation. In a later lesson, we will look at the Plough in greater detail, and make a 3D model of the Plough based on the Seeing Stars/Plough video. I liked this activity as it is full of integration and can be differentiated to suit the various ability levels in the class.
I love how you have incorporated not only the catchy Planets Song with its familiar tune Elaine, but also how active the lesson is by encouraging the children to act as the planets and line up in order from the sun and then to ‘orbit’ the sun. I feel this would be really meaningful and memorable to the children.
There were some excellent topics and themes covered in this module…I ended up learning a lot myself! I loved the Sun’s Energy video on UV rays as I think in Ireland we are still not fully engaged in understanding the UV index and the importance of wearing suncream and other forms of sun protection, although this attitude is changing thankfully. Using the video as a guide, along with Maeve Liston’s activity in the Sun Booklet, this is the activity I would choose.
I would start by finding out what the children already know about the sun. I would hope to develop language around star, light, heat, life, etc. We would then move on to talking about protecting ourselves in the sun and I would introduce the term ‘ultra violet light’. Similar to the video, I would use a torch and everytime I switch it on we would repeat the phrase. The children would have the opportunity to put on sun hats, sunglasses and suncream.
Next I would show them the beads and we would make our bracelets using the beads and pipe cleaners before heading outside to see what happens to them when we are out in the sun…will any of our predictions come true? A follow up activity would be to discuss what caused the beads to change colour and how sunburn is a similar reaction from UV light on our own skin.
Hi Colin, I really like the idea of incorporating play into the STEM inquiry, the children would love it! I also appreciate your different suggestions on how to allow the children to see their fingerprints better!
Hi everyone, I’m Ríona and I’ll be teaching First Class next year. I don’t have a fun space fact just yet, maybe I’ll have one as we progress through the modules! My Mind Map is simple and quite basic at the minute, I’m looking forward to seeing how much I can add to it after each module.
I’m going to try an inquiry based activity around gravity with my class in September. I love the idea of using a prompt as a picture, or alternatively I think I will cause an accidental fall of jellies onto the floor by bursting open a bag. That should engage their interest fairly quickly! I will use language prompts as suggested in the module, starting with the open ended statement: ‘I wonder …’. I will introduce the scientific language of gravity and check that they understand the idea of pushing and pulling that would have been covered in JI and SI. We will investigate both the idea of forces on an object e.g. a toy car and also the effects of gravity on the flow of blood around our body, using the one arm up, one arm down experiment, the legs up against a wall experiment and putting their head between their legs (if they feel comfortable to do so). We will examine and discuss what has happened to the flow of blood and why. Next, we will return to the jellies to drop them from a height, along with other objects, to see what way they fall, how they land, etc. My next steps will include looking at the Curious Minds Gravity Activity and moving into the strand unit floating and sinking.