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Activity set: using online resources and tools
Trigger – How to catch a star by Oliver Jeffers and the rhyme “Twinkle, twinkle little star”
Discussion about when they can see stars, where they can see stars, do they know the name of any stars. Introduce the word ‘constellation’ – this is a group of stars. Use the photo of the day from The Astronomy picture of the day to prompt questions and discussion.
Using Stellarium or Stellarium- web.org, we could look at the stars above where we live. I think it would be best used by the teacher on the IW board. For infants I would show them The Plough and then how to find the North Star (Polaris) from The Plough.
Small group activities:
Use i-pads to explore the app/ webpage further
Draw The Plough and The North Star on black paper – they could add other constellations too.
Using pegboards – creative their own constellations and name them.
I love the idea of using pegboards as a way of making the constellations. Chalk or chalk pastels would also be very effective on black sugar paper.
Activity set: Rockets
Trigger – initial discussion on rockets, posing question, what they know about rockets, what do we sue rockets for, where would they go?
Storybook – Aliens in Underpants save the world; The way back home and How to catch a star by Oliver Jeffers
Video – Sci show How do Rockets fly? I use these particular set of videos for lots of science triggers/ activities – they are short, kid friendly pitched at the right level and very informative.
Activity – make some rockets. I think a variety of rockets would be great.
Mouse Rocket – Initially I would start with the mouse rocket. These are hew to me and look like so much fun. I think the idea of testing with lots of different sized bottles and then comparing the height/ distance of rocket launch would be brilliant.
Coin rocket and balloon rockets again allow for so much prediction and discussion.
Finally using a Alka Seltzer Rocket – thus showing a different form of energy for rocket propulsion.
In all the rocket activities ( or any science activity) I think using language like prediction (hypothesis) testing and results are important.
Yes, similarly I have used Junk Art for Rockets. I usually use it as a station during Aistear. I find it works better as a small groups activity rather than whole class. The children will often bring in material at home to add onto their rocket as the week goes on. They are acting as engineers finding materials that work for their rocket. Junk art is messy but so brilliant – allowing for creativity, thinking and problem solving all in one!
Thanks, that looks great. Making the marble run and using ramps indeed allows children to easily test and retest the structure they have built. It was a great hands on activity which led to lots of discussion between the children.
Activity Set – Stars
Trigger – read ‘How to catch a star’ by Oliver Jeffers.
Discussion – This can lead to discussion about starts – what they know about stars, and anything they would like to know about stars. Let them look at pictures of stars and of the constellations – without names . What do they see? – what shapes can they see? What would they call this constellation? Show children a variety of constellations and name them.
Song – Constellation song – BBC
Make a constellation activity – The Plough
Using a print out of The Plough constellation, black paper, string/ straws and pieces of tin foil. (as per ‘Seeing Stars’ activity on the Curious Minds website)
Allow children to work in pairs on this, allowing for group/ collaborative work. To differentiate this activity allow some children to work with and measure the string, others to use some pre-cut straws. This enables the lessons to be adapted for all childnre in the class.
I love the constellation song! No better way to reinforce with Infant Classes! Thanks for sharing Paula!
A great story to use as a starting point. The experiment with the balloon and bicarbonate of soda is a great alternative to using it for volcanos! Experiments like these are brilliant as the children can hypothesis what will happen. It really gets them talking and they can come up with the most wonderful ideas and guesses!
Module 2 assignment
The Activity set I would choose is The Planets. (Senior Infants)
Trigger activity -A good starting point would be sitting in a circle – passing a picture around of all the planets. What do they know about the planets, can they name any? Do they know any planet facts? They might know the smallest planet, the largest planet, the hottest planet etc.
Song – I have used The Planets Song from StoryBots and also this The Solar System Song, beloved of any class I have taught. It gives little facts about each planets too.
The Solar System Song – Kids TV123
Playful active planet game – placing hoola hoops around the hall. The only yellow one is the sun. Others are the planets. Children run/walk around the hall. Teacher can call out random words but when teacher names a planet, jump in a hoop, but not the sun! At the end of the game, can the children remember any of the names of the planets the teacher called out.
Playful Solar System activity – To understand the size of the planets and their distance from the sun. This is a model made on the floor or desks in the classroom.
Place a large Beachball on the floor – Yellow if possible – This is the sun.
Now, measure the distances below and with a tape measure and lay out the solar system!
Mercury ….peppercorn….4cm (from the sun/ beachball)
Venus…pea…. 8cm
Earth …pea…..8cm
Mars….pea…..11cm
Jupiter…..Orange ….61cm
Saturn……Tomato….98cm
Uranus…..Walnut…..198cm
Neptune….Walnut……310cm
I did this with a senior infant class a few years ago, to great success. The size of Jupiter, the distance that Neptune is away from the sun etc. astonished the children. The distances serve as representation, I don’t claim the are in exact proportions!!! It was a fun, hands on activity.
Brilliant Aistear activities! Have also used playdough as station – where they make all the planets. I used pictures of the planets so they could see the range in size of each planet.
Brilliant Aistear activities! Have also used playdough as station – wher ethey make all the planets. I used pictures of the planets so they could see the range in size of each planet.
Jill Murphy’s “Whatever Next” is a great book as a starting point for space and the moon. I have used this in the past too. Other books are the Oliver Jeffer’s books – “The way back home” and “How to catch a star” both fabulously illustrated. Love the idea of Junk Art – it allows such artistic expression as well as allowing them to use lots of descriptive language when telling about what they have mad- in this case a rocket.
This is great with Junior Infants as it is so relatable and simple, yet they are using scientific language and methods. As well as melting ice, I have also used chocolate and then discussed how ice and chocolate melt by applying heat but then can return to a solid shape after too. I have toasted bread to show how some materials can change – by adding heat ( as with the chocolate/ water) but some can’t return to their original state – ie. bread once it is toasted it can’t return to bread. Again, a relatable material for young children.
Hello everyone, my name is Michelle, I teach in a junior school and Science is one of the areas I love to teach. My favourite science fact is one a pupil added to our ‘Space Fact Wall’ when using Space as a theme last year – The Sunset on Mars appears blue!
This was a successful enquiry based activity in my classroom this year, it was Art as well as Science and Engineering. We made a class ‘Marble Run’.
First using some sets of toy Marble Runs to see how they actually worked. Then looking at videos of large wall mounted Marble Runs. After that discussing what materials would be best to use – we thought toilet/ kitchen rolls, and designing what their particular section would look like. Finally making their section of the marble run- as it was also art, these sections were highly decorative! They loved the making part and thinking about the shape / angles for their sections. I pinned all the various sections onto the wall. We had lots of testing, the marble fell off many times. Again discussion as to what would make it better/ how we could make a corner – egg cartons were decided and some plastic bottle sections. This was ongoing for about a week before we got the marble to run from the top to the bottom into a paper cup
