Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Maeve I love your idea of a ‘Book of Traditions’ to create and keep in your school library. The kids would be so proud of their own work.
Consider how many Songs / Poems /Art can you think of to connect us with the Night Sky?
Instantly when I read this question Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night came to mind. It’s a lovely one to explore along with the song Vincent by Don McClean.
David Bowie’s Space Odditiy is another song that would link nicely-talking about what it would be like to be in the night sky and look below.
For infant classes something as simple as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star would be appropriate and looking at photos of the night sky.
‘Bright Star’ a poem by John Keats has great imagery of all things in the night sky.
Coldplay’s song Yellow begins with lyrics about looking at the stars and how they shine.
Frank Sinatra’s ‘Fly me to the Moon’ is has a catchy tune and playful lyrics to explore.
The poem ‘Stars’ by Sara Teasdale has nice simple language appropriate for all class levels.
In terms of art I think it would be nice for children to explore pieces of art around the school that may have been created by other children or even visit a local art gallery or library that have pieces by local artists on display regularly.
That’s a great idea to invite a local Heritage in schools expert to come speak to the children. Their local knowledge would be such an asset and would inspire the kids.
How you would engage your learners to explore biodiversity in your local area and
the possible impacts of light pollution on local biodiversity.I think I would focus on helping the children in my class explore the biodiversity of our school grounds. We are very to lucky to have a garden as well as some grassy areas, hedgerows and a small wooded area. We could start by exploring these areas on foot and creating a map to use. My infant class would love a bug hunt in our wooded area to investigate the types of insects we have. We could take a look at a presentation in class to learn the names and appearance of some insects then explore using a guide page and some magnifying glasses. We could compare what types of insects we found and where we found them. Further lessons could explore how we could create more habitats for insects such as creating bug hotel or even letting some areas grow wild. In terms of light pollution, we could conduct an experiment to see how some insects react when placed under different types of light (e.g torch light, lamp etc). This would help the children understand the effects of light pollution on our schools biodiversity.
I really like the way you plan to make your teaching resources sensory friendly. It would make these lessons inclusive for all. They are adaptable too for younger classes. Thanks
Detail how light pollution is impacting your local area and how you would engage your learners to explore this.
I have found this module and the impact of light pollution very interesting. In my local area, close to where I live, there have been a number of houses built in the last year, with lots of new lights and street lights. I have always been able to see bats in my back garden during the summer time at dusk. This year though they haven’t been as visible, maybe to do with the light pollution from the additional street lighting. I would like to make my learners more aware of light pollution by asking them to go outside at dusk/dark and see how dark it is when they look up at the night sky. They could make a list of all the sources of light in and around their houses and discuss. We could look at examples of lighting that doesn’t cause light pollution and suggest changes we could make at home. It would be interesting to see if we could set up a wildlife camera in our school garden to track any fauna and to see what light sources are around our school.Create a short teaching resource using Stellarium/ WorldWide Telescope
I would use the WorldWide Telescope to introduce children to the position of the planets in our sky using the planet parade tool. Having introduced the planets to the children, learning names and facts about each of the planets we would move on to trying to locate them in our sky. I would give the children ipads and let them work in small groups. They would need to add their location and explore what planets they can see at the current time of the day. They would then pick a time as a group for later in the evening that they will each go outside and observe their night sky. The children will use the planet parade tool set the time as planned and explore on WorldWide telescope the planets that are in view. They could make a diagram in their copy books to help them at home that evening with the planet names and locations and even snap some photos of them exploring the night sky to share with their class the following day.I love the idea of a cross-curricular project for your sundial. It would give he children some many opportunities to engage meaningfully with the project and also with their wider community.
Plan how your students could “observe and record the positions of the sun when rising and setting and at different times of the day”
I will have an infant class next year and I think that they would love simple active learning activities to record the different positions of the sun at different times of the day. We could work in pairs going outside to our yard each morning, around noon and before home time to observe where the sun is. Each pair could then fill in a chart in their SESE copy daily to document this either through a drawing or some writing. It could be reflected on and shared with the class at the end of the week noting differences and similarities in results. We could also observe our shadows at playtime and maybe even trace them and compare lengths at different times of the day. Lots of chat and discussion around day and night and eliciting any prior knowledge the kids have about the sun would also aid to this. Pixar also have a lovely short animated video about the differences between day and night which I have used in class previously and is a great discussion tool.