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I would use the story ‘Aliens in Underpants Save the World’ as a starting point for our class investigation on how to make a rocket.
I would read the story to my class and then explain that we are now going to make a rocket to visit the aliens in space so we can thank them for saving the world. We want to give them more underpants as a gift.
We would then look at Marvin and Milo’s Balloon Rocket story. I would cover the last image and ask the children to make a prediction on what they think might happen when they unclip the peg…….
Starter question might be: Does the amount of air in the balloon effect how far the balloon travels?
Does the size/shape of the balloon effect how the rocket travels?
Children would then work in groups to create their very own balloon rocket and carry out their own investigation using the starter questions listed above. I would give all the materials listed in Marvin and Milo’s story but make sure there were balloons of different shapes and sizes.
Taking the next step: We would discuss what else flies through the air and put a plan together to make paper airplanes.Hi Sinead,
I like your rocket cubes idea. Another approach to this might be to get children to make rockets using cubes as number sentences. For example you could have various different number sentences on a sheet 3 + 2 = , 5+6= etc. Children have to use 2 different colour cubes to represent each subset and pile them on top of each other to make a rocket and figure out the total. 3 + 2 = 5 might look like 3 red cubes and 2 blue cubes on top to make a total of 5.
Activity: Online Resources & tools
There are so many great resources here that I would like to use in my classroom.
Space Scoop: What really stood out for me here were the lovely images on this site. These would be a great discussion starter for units of work on the solar system or stars.
Marvin & Milo: What a great way to introduce comic strips as a style of writing in literacy. I think the children would love these characters. They could be the classroom scientists, ‘What would Marvin & Milo do?’.
Stellarium: This is a fantastic resource and so many ideas came to mind when exploring this software. It’s a great tool to help teach infants the concept of day and night and discuss the differences between day/night as you can view the same image at sunrise/sunset. You could do some lovely art lessons using this resource. Explore the constellations and draw various different constellations. Create a silhouette of the image you are exploring.These are lovely ideas Laura. For exploring waterproof materials in the classroom I gave a spray bottle with water to the children to test if their coats were waterproof or not. It’s such a simple activity and they loved it!
Activity Set: Space and Aliens
There are lots of opportunities here for imaginative play and creativity among the children.
I would begin with the story ‘Aliens Love Underpants’. There are lots of different images of aliens in this book. I would encourage the children to create their very own alien and to draw an image of it. I would then ask them to think about what planet their alien comes from? What food they eat? How do they communicate? We could explore the planets here in more detail and after this study we would then decide which planet would best suit their alien. create clay models of our aliens and using circle time or the ‘Artist’s Chair’ we would interview the alien to find out more about them, this could also be done in pairs.
Teacher in Role as an alien and children think of questions to ask the alien.Hi Eleanor,
I love how you included the story ‘How to Catch a Star’. I used this as a stimulus for an Art lesson before too. We used polystyrene and etched a star into it using a toothpick. We then used it for a printing lesson. The kids loved it!
I would base my lesson on ‘The Planets’.
There are so many opportunities here for cross curricular links in areas such as Music, Art and P.E.
I would begin with a KWL chart to see what children know about The Solar System/The Planets.
Song: ‘The Plants Song’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQrlgH97v94
Learn about and gather information about the planets in groups, assign each group a planet and ask each group to make a fact file on their planet. Provide the class with books about the planets and use ICT to gather information too, Epic app is great. You can assign various books about the planets (or any topic) to each individual child on the app and they can further research their assigned planet and add to their fact file.
I also like the idea of circle time using an inflatable planet to share knowledge of the planets with each other and feedback what we have learnt.
Art lesson: Make the planets using paper mache.
P.E: The Planet game using hula hoops in the hall ‘Journey Through the Solar System: Lesson 1’. This is a great way for children to know and recognise the planets names and grasp a better understanding of the planets revolving around the sun.
I would base my lesson on ‘The Planets’.
There are so many opportunities here for cross curricular links in areas such as Music, Art and P.E.I would begin with a KWL chart to see what children know about The Solar System/The Planets.
Song: ‘The Plants Song’
Learn about and gather information about the planets in groups, assign each group a planet and ask each group to make a fact file on their planet. Provide the class with books about the planets and use ICT to gather information too, Epic app is great. You can assign various books about the planets (or any topic) to each individual child on the app and they can further research their assigned planet and add to their fact file.
I also like the idea of circle time using an inflatable planet to share knowledge of the planets with each other and feedback what we have learnt.Art lesson: Make the planets using paper mache.
P.E: The Planet game using hula hoops in the hall ‘Journey Through the Solar System: Lesson 1’. This is a great way for children to know and recognise the planets names and grasp a better understanding of the planets revolving around the sun.
I would base my lesson on ‘The Planets’.
There are so many opportunities here for cross curricular links in areas such as Music, Art and P.E.I would begin with a KWL chart to see what children know about The Solar System/The Planets.
Song: ‘The Plants Song’
Learn about and gather information about the planets in groups, assign each group a planet and ask each group to make a fact file on their planet. Provide the class with books about the planets and use ICT to gather information too, Epic app is great. You can assign various books about the planets (or any topic) to each individual child on the app and they can further research their assigned planet and add to their fact file.
I also like the idea of circle time using an inflatable planet to share knowledge of the planets with each other and feedback what we have learnt.Art lesson: Make the planets using paper mache.
P.E: The Planet game using hula hoops in the hall ‘Journey Through the Solar System: Lesson 1’. This is a great way for children to know and recognise the planets names and grasp a better understanding of the planets revolving around the sun.
Hi Claire,
I love the idea of using stations as a great way to explore all aspects of the moon. The teacher is facilitating so many learning opportunities in this lesson and it provides great variety for all children. I particularly love the moon walk station.
Hi, my name is Sarah and my favourite space fact is ‘There are more stars in the universe than grains of sand on all the beaches on Earth’.
Inquiry-based activity in the classroom.
Experiment taken from Discover Primary Science
Rocket Launch
Students will explore how a rocket launches through exploring forces such as push and pull.
Materials:
Large balloons (long shaped), Balloon pump, String 3-4 m long, Drinking straw, Clothes-peg, Sellotape,Two chairsIntroduction: Show a video of a rocket launching
Ask, “What do you see?, ‘How is the rocket launching?, ‘How does it stay in one direction?’Engagement: Show a video of a rocket launching
Discuss the terms push and pull
Exploration: Provide the materials
Blow up a long shaped balloon and let it go. Notice what happens.(The balloon will travel off in random fashion as the air rushes out the back of it.) Now control the path of the balloon by connecting it to a piece of string. (The balloon will whiz along the string).
Explanation: Gather students and have them share their models.
Discuss how the air coming out of the back of the balloon pushes the balloon forward. This is Investigating and experimenting how rockets work – the hot burning gases rushing out the back of the rockets push them forwards.Elaboration: What will happen if we use different shape balloons?
Evaluation: Ask students to draw their models and discuss if the balloon went further with more or less air in it.
Conclusion:
Reinforce the key pointsHi Michelle,
I agree, children love a good problem to solve. This will really engage them. I love that the new Maths curriculum seems to be taking a similar approach to learning. Problem solving and discussing different ways to solve problems instead of just always trying to find the ‘right’ answer at the end. It’s more about the process and sharing ideas. Teaching problem solving skills like the inquiry based activities here in this lesson.
