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I love the idea of interviewing the caretaker! The students would love that and I’m sure the caretaker would be happy to take part.
I would begin this topic by reading to my class ‘How to Catch a Star’ to engage the class. I will also put on ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ for the children. After this I will show various images of the sun, moon, a torch, street lights, lights from a house, etc. We will sort these images into natural lights and people made lights. We will then do the Star Jar experiment, where you have a clear plastic container with star sticker inside it. The children will count the stars in the container and then shine a torch into the container and count the stars again. I will question them – was it easier or harder to see the stars?, what happened when we shone the torch? On the interactive whiteboard I will show various images of different scenes at night time, e.g. street lights, curtain closed, stars in the sky, a house with outdoor lighting, a lamp switched off. We will become light pollution helpers and sort out these images into helping to make the sky brighter or helping the night sky.
I was unaware of this website but I am excited to use it going forward. We would explore the Solar System with Worldwide Telescope with my class. I would introduce the topic by showing them images of different planets and putting questions to them, for example, which planet is the largest, which planet do you think is the hottest/coldest, which planet would you like to visit, etc. We will take a look at the different planets using the Worldwide Telescope and discuss any observations. The students can record any facts or observations they notice about each planet we see. In pairs the students will choose a planet to investigate. As a whole class we can compare and classify the information we have gathered to create class chart and sort the planets into groups. As an extra activity the students can design a poster with their chosen planet and all the information they have gathered today.
I think the older classes would find this resource particularly useful and I’m sure would be able to do more with it than me!
Sounds like a lovely and engaging lesson for the students. I like the way you have incorporated the new school into it too. This will add another element of excitement for them.
I would begin this topic I would show the class pictures of Earth and Mars and ask questions such as, “Would we weigh the same on another planet?”, “Why can’t we float off Earth?”, etc. This would spark the children to share their own ideas and make predictions before we completed our investigation. In our groups I would get the children to create their Earth tube and they choose another planet. They can investigate their chosen planet more and decorate their tube according to their findings. We can discuss and compare their two planets on how gravity differs between them. We would look at ‘ESERO 68: How much do you weigh on other celestial objects?’ and discuss our findings. Each group can present their plants and their findings how gravity affects weight on their chosen planet.
This is how I would plan a week of work for Senior Infants for Space Week.
Monday – Literacy & Oral Language
Introduce space through a story like Whatever Next! by Jill Murphy. Discuss characters, setting, and sequence. Children share what they’d bring to space.Tuesday –(Science & Geography)
Learn about the solar system. Use videos and songs to name planets. Create a simple space fact wall of work. Discuss day/night and Earth’s movement.Wednesday – Visual Arts & Drama
Craft paper-plate UFOs or create planets with sponge painting. Engage in imaginative role-play: “A Day on the Moon” using props.Thursday – Maths & Numeracy
Count planets, make rocket number lines, sort space shapes (stars, moons, circles). Use positional language with toy rockets (above, beside, under).Friday – Music & PE
Sing space songs (e.g., “Zoom Zoom Zoom”), and create rhythms with shakers. Outdoor rocket races or “Moonwalk” movement games focus on gross motor skills.This plan offers a fun, cross-curricular approach that sparks curiosity and supports key learning outcomes.
There are sone fantastic activites in this module and on this forum to help young children learn about space. Every year we make rockets using toilet rolls and paper and The children can decorate them with stars etc. There are so many fun art activities to stimulate interest in space. Using playdough to make the planets is another fantastic way to show the children the difference in sizes between the planets. They can learn the names while they play. You can use create a moon sand tray, where they can feel what the moon might be like. It’s great for kids to act out being astronauts too using the video of the moonwalk as a stimulus. You can use bike helmets to encourage the children to imagine what the first steps on the moon were like. All these activities make learning about space fun and engaging. There are huge possibilities for integration with other curricular areas as well as a huge amount of fantastic books to foster interest in the topic.
This a great idea and teaching in a school where we have alot of children from different countries will be a fantastic way to discuss weather in different countries and climate.
The body brothers on RTE junior was a fantastic and fun way for children to learn about the human body. I also love the cartoon characters Marvin and Milo.
This is how I would plan a lesson around space and aliens in my Senior Infant classroom. I would use a story book about aliens probably “Aliens love Underpants” by Claire Freedman seeing the rave reviews it is getting on this forum. The first thing I would get children to do is to work with me to create a mind man using all the things and words we know about space. We would discuss what we think an alien would look like and how we would feel if we met one. We might then do a fun movement break where we would do a moonwalk or the floor is lava style activity. We would then complete an art activity where children could design their own aliens. To tie in with maths I would encourage children to use some of the 2D shapes we have been learning about when making their aliens. I would ask the children to come up to the top of the room when these were finished so they could talk about their alien and ask the other children to say what they liked about each one. As an extension activity we would do a small piece of writing the following day about our alien using a write about the picture format. I think children are fascinated by space and aliens so there is plenty you could do and lots of opportunities to integrate with other curricular areas.
