Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hi Matthew, I read on a previous post that you can request a free bat walk, talk or other event from Bat Conservation Ireland.
https://www.batconservationireland.org/get-involved/request-bat-walk-talk-event
Consider how many Songs / Poems /Art can you think of to connect us with the Night Sky?
Songs:
1.Night Sky, Moon and Stars https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyjzXCCbLY4
2.Sun, Moon and Stars https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcUyDAO1Fk0
3.I’m a Star, The Stars Song by StoryBots (Song/Rap): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7t3aXb3LpWg
4.A Sky Full of Stars by Coldplay – speaks of feeling lost and alone but finding hope and beauty in the vastness of the night sky. The chorus repeats the line, “Cause you’re a sky, you’re a sky full of stars.”
5.The Big Sky by Kate Bush is an atmospheric and dreamy song which speaks of the majesty and the grandeur of the night sky. The lyrics describe the vastness of the universe, and the way stars seem to shimmer and dance in the sky.
6.Midnight Sky by Miley Cyrus is an upbeat catchy song the speaks of feeling lost and alone but finding strength and resilience in the beauty off the night sky. The lyrics repeat the phrase, “I’m gonna keep on dancing in the midnight sky.”
Poems:
1.Twas the Night Before Christmas
2.The Starlit Night by Gerard Manley Hopkins
3Stars I Have Seen them Fall by A.E. Housman
4.Firework Night by Enid Blyton
5.Five Little Rockets Standing in a Row (Rhyme)
6. Won’t it be Fun on Bonfire Night By Unknown Author
Art: Looking and responding:
Van Gogh: 1. Starry Night 2. Café Terrace at Night
Kandinsky – Moonlit Night
Monet – Seascape
Bonnard – Night Landscape
Elsheimer – The Flight into Egypt
Verschuier – The Great Comet of 1680 over Rotterdam
Consider how many Songs / Poems /Art can you think of to connect us with the Night Sky?
Songs:
1.Night Sky, Moon and Stars https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyjzXCCbLY4
2.Sun, Moon and Stars https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcUyDAO1Fk0
3.I’m a Star, The Stars Song by StoryBots (Song/Rap): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7t3aXb3LpWg
4A Sky Full of Stars by Coldplay – speaks of feeling lost and alone but finding hope and beauty in the vastness of the night sky. The chorus repeats a line: “Cause you’re a sky, you’re a sky full of stars.”
5.The Big Sky by Kate Bush is an atmospheric and dreamy song which describes the majesty and the grandeur of the night sky. The lyrics describe the vastness of the universe, and the way stars seem to shimmer and dance in the sky.
6.Midnight Sky by Miley Cyrus is an upbeat catchy song the speaks of feeling lost and alone but finding strength and resilience in the beauty off the night sky. The lyrics repeat the phrase, “I’m gonna keep on dancing in the midnight sky.”
Poems:
1.Twas the Night Before Christmas
2.The Starlit Night by Gerard Manley Hopkins
3.Stars I Have Seen them Fall by A.E. Housman
4.Firework Night by Enid Blyton
5.Five Little Rockets Standing in a Row (Rhyme)
Art: Looking and responding:
Van Gogh: 1. Starry Night 2. Café Terrace at Night
Kandinsky – Moonlit Night
Monet – Seascape
Bonnard – Night Landscape
Elsheimer – The Flight into Egypt
Verschuier – The Great Comet of 1680 over Rotterdam
School Audit on Biodiversity: Animal Life; Habitats; Ecosystems.
List the animals found in and around the school grounds.
Number of animals/habitats found.
Overall health/cleanliness of each habitat/ecosystem.
Photos/Drawings of observations.Challenges to Biodiversity:
List any factors of circumstances you may think be of harm. Identify and record some of the challenges (photos/drawings).Can you think of some steps pupils and teachers can take to deal with the hazards or damage to the biodiversity of the school?
Can you think of some steps other people in the community can take to deal with these challenges?Observing the moon: We would begin by exploring interesting facts about the moon such as the moon has no light of its own, we can only see it because it reflects light from the sun. When do we see the moon? Can we see it during the day? Discuss and explore how the moon orbits the Earth and how different parts reflect sunlight at different times. What’s the difference between a solar eclipse and a lunar eclipse? Explore and discuss moon landings starting with the first, Neil Armstrong, Apollo 11, 1969.
Using the Moon Observation Log template we would record the date, time, and shape of the moon, observing which quarter the moon is in that period. We would bookmark the following website https://www.timeanddate.com/moon/phases/ to keep a regular check of the moon phases along with the use of the Stellarium app to observe the appearance of the moon.
We’re very lucky to have three dark sky reserves here in Ireland and I mostly definitely will be making a trip to one of them at some stage.
Light Pollution – Introduction: begin by explaining that artificial lighting like streetlights and house lights leak light into the night sky which means we can’t always see the stars.
Example: We could turn off the classroom lights and close the blinds, explain to the children that it won’t be truly dark as it is still daytime. Ask them to spot where does the light creep in……..under the blinds, through the windows/doors, etc. This is a bit like the night time sky, where light creeps into the sky from various sources like streetlights making it difficult to see the stars properly.
We could carry out a survey of the school and note down the sources of light – overhead lights, outside lights, security lights, lamps, computers. Discuss how sensor lights work by sensing movement in the room. Ask pupils to note the light sources on the way to and from school. Can they spot streetlights, security lights, shop or building lights, car headlights?
Impact on Animals: Can the children think of some nocturnal animals, like foxes, hedgehogs, badgers, moths, bats? Why do they prefer the night time? Where do they get their food from? What might happen if there is too much light at night time? Some these nocturnal animals might sleep too much or too little. Some of them may have their babies at the wrong time of the year.
Explore and discuss animals that migrate at night. Often, they use the moon and stars to navigate. For example, newly hatched baby sea turtles are attracted to the ocean via natural lighting cues. If there are too many artificial lights in the area where they hatch, they crawl inland and die.
Useful stories include The Darkest Dark; The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark; Can’t You Sleep Little Bear.
Constructing a sundial: I would choose our school garden to construct a sundial. The ground is level, and it receives sunlight for most of the day. We would begin by picking a spot on the ground where the children’s body casts a shadow, mark this as the central spot, so that the children will know to stand in this same spot each time. From this position, place a ruler on the ground, in the same direction in which the shadow is created from the children’s body. Use chalk to draw a straight line, from the centre spot, going outwards along the line of their shadow. Make a note of the time at the end of the line. On the next hour, stand on the centre spot again and use the ruler and chalk to draw a second line, making a note of the new time. Repeat these steps every hour until the end of the school day or the children have recorded a shadow for at least 4 times. The sundial will show how far the sun has travelled during each hour.
Questions: How far is the shadow moving each hour?
What direction is the shadow moving in? Would this be the same in every country in the world?
Where do you think your shadow will be in 8 hours’ time?
Why does the shadow move? What is causing it to change position?
Will your shadow return to its original position? Can you explain why?
Class Plan to Incorporate Space Week:
English: Role-play: Use relevant strategies to build vocabulary. Create a passport to go to space and while doing so make a list of things you might take to space. Use a checklist for the inside of the rocket.
Poems/Writing poetry: Look at words that you might use to describe space and what you might see in space. Get the children to write poems about space using an acrostic poem or a shape poem. eg. a rocket shape.
Diary entries: Look at features of diary entries and get the children to think about how they might feel going to space. Think about what they might do in space and get them to write a fictional diary entry.
Postcards: Write a postcard, from your point of view or the point of view of an alien, back home about time in space.
Descriptive writing: Think about what it might be like to go into space. What would you see? Hear? Smell? You could also describe an alien that you encountered. Use of word mats/word walls will inspire the children in their writing.
Fictional books: Exposure to lots of space themed story books – library, class readers, storyline online, YouTube. Stories include – Whatever Next! Aliens love Underpants and We Are Off to Look for Aliens.
Maths:
5 4 3 2 1 Lift Off – Forwards and Backwards counting
Rocket Cubes – Balance the cubes in a tall tower, like a rocket. Count each cube as you add it. How tall can you make your rocket before it falls?
Alien Theme – Practice number bonds to 10 or 20.
Space Race – roll the dice, add the numbers, first to 10/20/30 wins the game.
Space Scavenger Hunt – Can you find all the planets?
Use pictures of planets, regular and irregular shapes and get the children to fold or cut them in half and quarters – can they all be split into quarters and halves?
Counting in twos and tens; Count in multiples of twos, fives, and tens. Use aliens with different numbers of eyes and arms to practise this way of counting.
Outer Space Themed board games – snakes and ladders, bingo, memory.
Science: Light sources: Identify different light sources including the sun and investigate shadows. Shadows can be investigated using torches on a dull day in the school playground.
Planets: Look at the different planets in the solar system and through the questions, get the children to identify the different planets. Create a simple fact file about a planet of their choice.
Rockets: Describe the simple physical properties of a variety of everyday materials. Design and build a rocket. Competition for the best rocket – display in hall. Science experiment – rocket blast off in yard under teacher supervision.
P.E – Do some moonwalking or walking around pretending you are a spaceman with no gravity holding you down.
Art: Create a rocket using finger painting. Create planets using crumpets as sponges. Create large planets for a display using balloons and papier Mache. Display in hall. Invite others to see space week exhibition in hall.
STEM has an extraordinarily strong role to play in schools. STEM underpins every part of our lives, its everywhere in the world around us. With STEM in mind, the emphasis should be based on skills such as questioning and problem solving which can lead to better creativity and greater innovations. It builds resilience and boosts confidence, and it enables children to embrace their mistakes as part of the learning process. It also encourages many other factors such as experimentation, tech-use and teamwork.
One website I have used quite often is http://www.sciencebuddies.org/stem-activities. It has loads of fun, hands on STEM activities, challenges and demonstrations for kids. Most materials are easy to find and most activities take no time at all. Some of the experiments include build a balloon car, build a paper rocket, elephant toothpaste, walking water, build a sandcastle that can support a brick, can you catch a bubble, turn milk into plastic, make a miniature water cycle model and many more.
