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Hi Margaret, I have actually never heard of John Tynall. He sounds like a great local scientist to base a learning experience or series of lessons on. I’m surprised I never heard about him/that we never learned about him in school as he seems to have been a great contributor to the scientific world. I will definitely be going down a rabbit hole and looking him up. I would love to teach him/ research him if I had an older class in my school.
If it would be possible I would take my class to North Bull Island dunes and the visitor centre, or I would show them pictures or videos taken in the dunes. I would involve my junior infants in an integrated art and writing lesson based on the wildlife they observe. Before the visit, we would discuss what we might see, such as birds, shells, sand dunes, marram grass and insects. During the visit, the children would be encouraged to look carefully and talk about what they notice.
Back in our classroom, I would encourage my children to create a mixed – media picture of their favourite part of North Bull Island using paint, collage materials, etc. They could add drawings of birds, flwers or marram grass. Once dried and completed the children can talk/share their art work with their classmates.
To develop their writing skills they could write one simple sentence “I saw a blue flower”, “I saw a crab in the sand” . I would cut and laminate their sentences and the children can stick them under their artwork.
the Grand Canal would be a lovely focus for this task, especially for the older children. There are so many man-made aspects. The canal itself, the locks and many bridges that cross over it. They why were canals created, what was their purpose and how did people travel on them. The bardge is another engineering wonder that a class could study.
This topic would link in really well with history, geography and English lessons. There is so much scope as to what you could focus on and it would all be based on a local and well known landmark in Athy.
<span style=”font-family: ‘Comic Sans MS’;”>A local well known structure near our school is The Wooden Bridge in Clontarf, North Dublin. It is beautifully designed and only made for one-way traffic done on a stop-go system out to Dollymount beach or Bull Island. For a Junior Infant Make and Do or STEM project I would use this local wooden bridge in Clontarf as inspiration. I would show children photographs of the bridge, look it up on Google Maps and discuss its purpose and allow the children to discuss a time when they crossed or saw the wooden bridge. This would lead into a discussion as to why bridges are important. What materials we can use to create a bridge and how they help people cross over bodies of water, uneven ground or by-pass cities. </span>
<span style=”font-family: ‘Comic Sans MS’;”>We would go on an outdoor walk around the school and look for places where a bridge might be needed such as over a large puddle, a flowerbed or I would create an imaginary river. </span>
<span style=”font-family: ‘Comic Sans MS’;”>Working in small groups the children could create and design a bridge using natural materials such as twigs, branches, leaves, rocks, etc. I may even include recycled materials such as cardboard tubes, plastic tubes, straws, etc. The focus would be exploring and trial and error. </span>
<span style=”font-family: ‘Comic Sans MS’;”>To conclude we could test the bridge with mini figures, farm animals or whatever resources are handy. We would discuss what worked well and what didn’t work. </span>
Emma, its a lovely idea to include the pupil’s families by encouraging them to plant flowers at home. Margaret like you I am in charge of the schools gardens. I like the no mow initiative.
A few years ago i had a beekeeper come in. He keeps bees locally. The children were fascinated and talked about it for months after. He brought in a sleeve of the hive with the queen marked. the children could see the eggs being laide and the honey comb.
He gave them each a jar of honey and some wild flower seeds to take home and plant. He told us that eating local honey can tame hay fever.
I was also lucky enough to get a beautiful bees wax candle.
<span style=”font-family: ‘Comic Sans MS’;”>Next year I have Junior Infants. Bees and butterflies are already topics I incorporate into my lesson plans for this age group. I have just registered our school for the All – Ireland Pollinator plan. Part of my AP post is outdoor spaces to this fits in nicely. </span>
<span style=”font-family: ‘Comic Sans MS’;”>I would love to involve my Junior Infant class by doing simple, hands-on activities to help pollinators but to introduce the topic I would first read them lots of stories about bees and butterflies and other insects. We would look at pictures and make lots of crafts during art class, we will sing songs</span>
<span style=”font-family: ‘Comic Sans MS’;”>In spring we will plant colourful, pollinator friendly wild flowers in a designated space just off the side of our yard. We will also leave a designated patch grass un-mowed during the spring/summer season for wildlife to enjoy. WE will water the plants during the year and then create an insect hotel. We might even leave a tray with stones and water in it so that the bees can drink water. </span>
<span style=”font-family: ‘Comic Sans MS’;”>During the school year we may go on “pollinator walks” counting and drawing all the insects we can see. We could also incorporate this into our maths data lesson. </span>
I really like the idea of I-SPY being incorporated into your lesson’s closure. A classroom map is also a great place to start, before introducing the school map or the map of the locality.
Next year I will be teaching Junior Infants. I decided to create a plan that I might use in the upcoming school year.
I would first introduce google maps to my class by looking at their homes, our school and our locality so that the children understand that google maps and other maps represent real places. I would begin by displaying an aerial view of the school on the interactive whiteboard and I would ask the children if they recognise any familiar features of the school and/or its grounds. We would identify the school building, our courtyards, the car park, the junior yard and senior yard, the autism classes, the picnic area and the local playground. Together we would discuss why we need maps and if we were to draw a map of our school’s area what symbols we would use.
I would then take my class on a walk around the area of the school. We would point out and discuss the landmarks. Back in the classroom I would split the children into pairs and ask them to create a simple map of or school adding symbols for the tree, the benches, carpark and playground, etc.
To ensure lesson accessibility I would include visual aids, model each step and provide suggestions for the symbols. We would look at google maps again to see if there was anything we missed and that we could add to our maps to improve them.
I totally agree with you but not just in special schools. I think we have become very dependent on books for mainstream classes also. I don’t see how having a book for science in a junior school in particular is of any benefit to the children compared to what we could offer them through hands-on fun investigative experiments.
Using the cutting edge I-Lofar telescope on the grounds of Birr Castle as inspiration, I would introduce an inquiry based lesson for a second or third class by using the prompt of the handing prism in the window as demonstrated in the lesson idea in module 1 and ask the question “How can we detect things we cannot see?” We would first have a class discussion on the prism and what is happening, where the rainbow comes from. We could do this weith a glass of water also. I would then show the pupils images of the I-Lofar telescope and explain how it uses radio waves to explore space.
As a class we would investigate sound waves by putting rice on a speaker and watching it dance as we change the beat and volume. We would continue to investigate sound and light through other hands-on activities such as making string telephones, using tuning forks and investigate light by experimenting with torches, mirrors, transparent, translucent and opaque materials, Throughout the lesson I would encourage the children to make predictions, observe, and record their findings – discussing further ideas with their peers.
To ensure lesson accessibility, I would include visual aids, practical demonstrations and encourage scientific vocabulary. I would also give them options as to how they would like to present their findings. For any worksheets I create for the lessons I would differentiate them for the different levels of ability in my class. I would include sentences starters and word-banks for the children who need additional support, whilst giving the more-able students a more challenging work sheet to ensure that they too are learning.
The Shannon Dophin Center is a place I have never heard off. I will have to look up some resources from there to do with. my class next year.
Sustainability is highly evident in my area by the coast in Dublin. Almost every school has a green flag showing off its efforts in being “green” over the years. There are great cycle routes all around my area heading out from Howth to Malahide to Clontarf. Cycle lanes have been put in around my school as well as the colourful pencils to encourage cycling, walking and scooting to school instead of taking the car.Cycling and walking are prioritised through projects like the Clontarf to City Centre Active Travel Scheme and Sutton-to-Clontarf coastal path, reducing car dependency and cutting emissions. DART and frequent bus services offer reliable public transport links to Dublin, further encouraging sustainable commuting. St Anne’s Park provides an enormous green space for biodiversity, sports, and community events. Bull Island is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve which protects rare habitats and species while offering low-impact recreation like walking and birdwatching. There is currently a ban on walking dogs in certain areas especially in the dunes and by the seal sanctuary at the end of the island.
My local area participates in Super Valu tidy towns, there are many bottle banks and recycling banks around. The local libraries plant wild flowers, local shops use paper or compostable bags.
There is a sustainable market in my locality, a natural bakery and numerous farmers markets.In our school we could teach the children about the local UNESCO reserve on our door step and encourage the school as a whole to walk to school as most children live in the locality.
Laura, great point about the decision making open to children in schools that provide a hot food menu. It is important to teach the children about nutrition so that they can make more informed decisions.
We are an island nation yet i find the numbers of children in my classroom from year to year who “don’t like fish ” astonishing. Convenient highly processed food tastes nicer to them and is often advertised as being healthy when in-fact it is not a healthy option. Making children more aware of nutrition and ingredients, sustainability of food would be highly beneficial. This should be introduced from as early as the infant classes.
Teaching children about the food pyramid makes them aware of what their body needs. This could be done in both SPHE and science based lessons.
Teaching the children that omega 3 fatty acids is brain food is a topic that the children would love to explore and learn about. A rich source of which is found in fish such as salmon.
Teaching of the past and how we were hunter-gatherers and ate from the land and sea would be interesting also as the children might learn the importance of these foods for our ancestors in a history lesson.Colette, I like how you discuss the children in Ireland not living near the coastlines. We find in Dublin we need better resources to make some of our children more aware of farming in Ireland as some of the children are not exposed to this way of life. There would be children living in the midlands not aware of the importance of our coastline and how it contributes to our country.