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Michael I never knew about the neolithic stone and I climbed Croagh Patrick last year – I was definitely aware that the climb was something that had been done by many thousands of people before me over many hundred of years – a beautiful way to connect all the subjects – fair play!
I have driven through your neck of the woods and it is a lovely part of the country – the idea of a map showing the brighter and darker areas of Valleymount is easy and very doable!
Mairead – that’s a really simple yet effective idea – a star count – I might rob this and do it on the same night each week over the course of a month – Thanks for sharing it!
This is so funny- we used to play this game but from some reason we called it ‘Carrots’ thank you for reminding me of it! its definitely a good one to use.
How to Explore biodiversity in our local area with a focus on how light pollution could have a possible impact on it
My school is based in Balbriggan so we are a coastal town with a farming and textile history but a town which has experienced signifiant growth in the last decade. We are a town with plenty of new build estates surrounding the school but thankfully we still have many green areas and the fabulous Ardgaillan castle and gardens are right on our doorstep.
As i have 5th class and it is only a 2km walk I would base this lesson in the grounds of Ardgillan castle as we have easy access to it via public pathways.
I would ask the children to work in groups and given them 5 minutes to list as many different living things around them in the grounds
I would then go through the definition of what Biodiversity means in its most simple terms – a variety of living things in a place.
As the grounds have book grass, hedgerow, flowerbeds, pavement, playground and woodland areas I would ask the groups to tell me which area they feel would have the most bio diversity and why?
Which area would have the least?The area closest to the castle has a huge amount of artificial lighting as the castle is often used for gigs and shows and historical talks.
I would ask the class to compare the area around the woodlands and the area around the castle.
once we were back in the class room I would ask the class to imagine what happens in the grounds of Ardgillan castle and night?
Where do they think creatures are most content?What about when there is a concert at the castle?
What changes would need to be made to make the castle safe for people?
Why would extra lighting be needed?
How would this effect the bio diversity of the area in a negative way?
How could we ensure that the local habitat is kept safe during times of hight human traffic?
What plan would you make?That’s a very simple idea of mowing the school grass at different times – never thought of it – our grass is very much pristine and short and could maybe do with a bit of variation
Which phase of the moon is best for observing in the morning in schools
I willWhich phase of the moon is best for observing in the morning in schools
I will be teaching 5th class this year so I believe this will be a suitable plan for them.
I would begin this lesson by showing the class pictures of the moon in its different phases – for fun I would also include the ad for Jaffa cakes – full moon half moon, total eclipse! I would then ask the class to put pictures of the phases of the moon in order and label them.
I believe that the best phase would be Waning / last quarter Moon as the moon is above the horizon during the morning and is half illuminated – The next Last/ 3rd Quarter will be September 4th – which is probably a bit too soon so the 3rd of Oct or Nov 1st may be better options
I would bring the children outside to the yard as soon as possible in the morning. I would ask them to take note of the following:
Date
Time
Weather – is visibility good or bad?
Can i see the moon
How high is the moon?
What shape is the moon
Roughly what % of the moon can I seeI would repeat this the day before and the day after also.
be teaching 5th class this year so I believe this will be a suitable plan for them.
I would begin this lesson by showing the class pictures of the moon in its different phases – for fun I would also include the ad for Jaffa cakes – full moon half moon, total eclipse! I would then ask the class to put pictures of the phases of the moon in order and label them.
I believe that the best phase would be Waning / last quarter Moon as the moon is above the horizon during the morning and is half illuminated – The next Last/ 3rd Quarter will be September 4th – which is probably a bit too soon so the 3rd of Oct or Nov 1st may be better options
I would bring the children outside to the yard as soon as possible in the morning. I would ask them to take note of the following:
Date
Time
Weather – is visibility good or bad?
Can i see the moon
How high is the moon?
What shape is the moon
Roughly what % of the moon can I seeI would repeat this the day before and the day after also.
Fair play Eileen this is a very clearly laid out plan – i didn’t know where to begin with it but you’ve done a great job. I’ll definitely be borrowing this idea
Oh my Goodness – there’s a flash back right there! That book was a favourite in our house for many years!!! we knew it by heart – it’s a really gorgeous book with such beautiful illustrations. It could be a great resource.
Never even thought of a diorama! that’s a great suggestion! I haven’t done one of those in ages so I may well use this idea this year!
This summer we went to the Netherlands and spent a day in Amsterdam and included a trip to The Van Gogh Museum – my two girls were only dying to see ‘Starry night’ – It wasn’t there – its in New York! We were gutted!!!!! Had to content ourselves with sunflowers instead! So i was delighted to see it included in this Module!
Some songs with the theme of Night Sky are as follows:
Moon River – from Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Fly me to the Moon – Frank Sinatra
Starlight by Taylor Swift
All the Stars by Ed Sheehan
A sky full of stars by Cold Play
NightSwimming by R.E.M
Vincent by Don McLeanSome poems with the theme of the Night Sky are as follows:
Silver by Walter de la Mare
The Moon by Emily Dickinson
Night by William Blake
Bright Star by John Keats
The Starlight Night by Gerard Manley HopkinsI love to read the Walter de la Mere poem out to a class and then ask them to suggest a name for it – as a nice little art idea I would then ask them to create a picture based upon the poem.
I have also used Moon River as a Tin whistle tune – its a fine one as its nice and slow so very suitable for beginners.How light pollution is impacting my local area and how I would engage learners in relation to this topic.
I have always lived in a very rural area in North Fingal – and while in the past we may have had a truly dark sky that is not the case any more.
According to Fingal county council ( where I once worked many moons ago!) current development plan Dublin had artificial light emissions almost 7 times higher than any other irish county!
While there has been a huge increase in housing on our road it has remained rural – the main lighting issues come from farmyards which now all have sensor lights due to attempted break ins and animal poaching, from commercial premises linked to farming and believe it or not our brand new GAA club house which has flood lights that you could land a jumbo jet with!
We did have a farmer that was refused planning permission for a farm building expansion recently due to a certain colony of bats which were native to the area – i was very impressed by this – the farmer was not!In order to engage learners onthis topic – I would do a little walk to our local estate and and initially ask them to estimate his many lights there are? I would then get them to count street lamps and also addition lighting on the housing in the estate. i would ask them to categorise this into different headings: street lights, sensor lighting, lighting on front or side of houses.
Once back in the classroom I would ask them to consider which forms of lighting are vital and which are not.I would then show them the website of our brand new GAA club house which is on the edge of the town and many of them are members of.
I would ask them to look at the type of lighting used and why?
As this is edging on to farming land I would ask them to tell me which animals may be found living wild in this area?
I would ask them to tell me the impact of this lighting on the local wildlife such as bats, squirrels, hedgehogs, badgers.Having discussed this impact I would then look for suggestions as to how we as a club could limit the impact that our lighting has on the local wildlife.
This is actually a really clever idea! Especially if you were working with a younger class – What Time is it Mr Wolfe would go down a treat with them and the senior children are always happy to play once they’re ‘in charge’
Having read the paper ‘Unravelling STEM- beyond the acronym’ – I did have a moment of self reflection. My post in school is Maths and now I really don’t feel that I do enough to combine Maths with other subjects. I run Maths week every year and i have never thought of putting in a task that combines other aspects of STEM – I really should address this in the coming year – creating a sundial may feature this year! I noticed as I read through the posts that other teachers are including time with laptops for research purposes – this is something I really need to do more of. I tend to use my allotted time for specific ‘google’ skills or English and History work. The new Maths curriculum has us finding more than one way to an answer and allowing the students to come up with this themselves or in group work – I feel this is a skill I could also use to improve my teaching of STEM.
Planning objective – How to observe and record the position of the sun when rising and setting at different times of the day.
Level; 5th classI would combine this lesson with the strand unit of Time – over the years I have found that children have difficulty telling the time using analogue clock.
Introduction – I would mind map all the information that the class know about the sun
leading questions such as Where is the sun in the mornings? How did you know it’s night time? Where is the sun in the night time?
How would we know the time without a watch…or a phone….Discuss the points of a compass in relation to the sun – Rising in the East and Setting in the West. – look at a selection of pictures of sundials and how they could be used. I would emphasis the importance of the shadow.
Equipment; metre stick, chalk, measuring tape, clock.
after establishing the 4 main directions, I would show the class hope to observe and record the direction and length of the shadow of the sun from the metre stick.
A simple recording would be used:
Time – Length – Direction – mark the end of the shadow with chalk. I would even take a few photos which would maybe make this clearer at the end of the day.Extension
Having shown the children how to do this throughout the day – I would the set each group a task the following day by sending them out at different stages the following day to see which group could get the most accurate time.I believe this could also be conducted in Winter and again in Summer to show seasonal differences. I would also link with a younger class to show them how to conduct the same experiment.