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Great opportunity for integrating maths and you could definitely differentiate in your classroom to suit all needs.
Loving all your integration here Audrey. I forgot about that story ‘The Super Smelly Alien’! A great resource!
I think the ESERO lesson ‘what clothes to wear’ can be integrated through so many lessons during a school week. Weather is always an interesting topic and because we live in Ireland, our children have experienced all sorts of changing weather. I always like to set up a little washing line in my classroom of the different types of clothes we wear for each changing season. This can also be taught through Irish with the topic of éadaí being popular with children. I particularly liked the section of this activity called ‘Rain, wind and storm story.’ There is another great music lesson using body percussion which I love teaching where the kids make a rainstorm using their hands and feet and bodies which could follow on from this story. There’s so much you can integrate from one simple theme. I think I would use the Curious Minds – Investigating children’s coats as a follow up lesson after the ESERO one is understood.
Aliens in Underpants – What a classic! A great resource to use and I think the concepts of aliens is always a fun one to spark their interest in extra terrestrials! I also like Frances’ idea of showing them the ET trailer.
Science Experiment: “Twinkling Stars and Bright Lights”
Students will learn that stars give off light, just like a light bulb or a torch, and will explore how stars twinkle in the night sky.
Materials:
Torch (one for each group), a large piece of black sugar paper, a pin or toothpick to poke holes,Sellotape, a box that can be used to create darknessHave the students help you poke small holes in the paper with a pin or toothpick. These holes will represent stars. Use a large box to cover the “starry sky” so that the torch can shine through the holes, mimicking stars.
Begin by explaining to the students that stars are like giant light bulbs in the sky, but much, much bigger and farther away. Ask if they’ve ever seen stars at night and what they think makes them twinkle. Use the resource from Esero ‘Lots and lots of stars’ and show them the picture ‘discussion sheet’ on lesson 13. Watch the GAIA and 1 billion stars animation video and discuss.
Give each group of students a torch. Have them turn on the torch and shine it at the sugar paper, projecting the “stars” on the inside of the dark box. Let them see how the light shines through the holes like stars in the night sky. Ask students to gently shake or wiggle the torch while it’s turned on. This simulates the twinkling effect they see in the night sky, helping them understand that stars give off light, and the atmosphere makes them appear to twinkle.
Bring the students back together and ask them to share what they observed. Did the “stars” look different when the torch was moved? Explain that real stars don’t move or twinkle themselves, but the light we see from them sometimes appears to twinkle because of the Earth’s atmosphere.
Ask the students what they learned about stars. Reinforce the idea that stars are faraway objects that give off their own light, which we can see even though they are very far away.
Integrate with art: Follow up lesson could be the ‘Lots and lots of stars’ art activity where they ‘make a starry sky’ using a toothbrush, paint, and paper.
The planet gallery is such a great idea! I was always so interested in Space as a child and I think the opportunity to integrate their learning and creativity by coming up with their own special planet would be so interesting to watch unfold!
I enjoyed this module and have saved many of the resources included to use when I return to school to teach Senior Infants.
I particularly liked the activity on the ‘Spherical Earth’. I always find it so interesting teaching this concept to children as it is something that may not have come across before or been aware of. I would start the lesson by using an inflatable globe and throw it around the classroom. When a child catches it we call out the country that their thumb lands on. More often than not the globe is upside down so we discuss questions like ‘Are all the people in that country living upside down?’ This creates a lot of discussion and laughter especially when we land on Ireland!
Then, using another ball and a torch, I would simulate the sun and rotate the ball slowly to show how the light only shines on one side at a time, creating day and night. This helps reinforce the idea that the Earth is round and constantly rotating. We would chat about different time zones and I would show them clocks around the world and relate it back to the sun and the world rotating.
I enjoyed learning about the ‘Spherical Earth’ activity where each child draws a different landscape and then connect the mosaics. I think this would further reinforce that the different orientations depends on which side of the ‘circle’ or ‘sphere’ that you are standing on.
I always love to read the story ‘How We Found the Earth is Round’ by Joseph Becker. There is a lovely animated version of it too which brings to life the discovery that the world is not flat and also introduces the concept of gravity which you could expand on then in your next lesson on this topic.
Hi Frances,
I love that Olympics space video! I don’t think there’s a child in Ireland who hasn’t watched or heard about the Olympics this summer so I will definitely be sharing this with my Senior Infants when we head back in September.
Thanks for sharing!
Hello, my name is Susie and I am teaching Senior Infants this year. A fact about space that I love is that the word ‘month’ itself is related to the moon. It originally measured how long it took for the moon to complete a cycle around the earth, so ‘moon’ and ‘month’ come from the same root. Kids love learning this!
Introducing young children to the wonders of Outer Space can be an exciting and rewarding experience, especially through inquiry-based learning. At five or six years old, students are naturally curious, eager to ask questions, and full of imagination. Using an inquiry-based approach with this age group allows me to harness their innate curiosity and guide them through a process of exploration and discovery. Reflecting on how I would implement an inquiry-based activity on the theme of Outer Space for Senior Infants, I envision a fun, engaging, and age-appropriate journey that makes learning an adventure. I would introduce the theme of Outer Space through a picture book, story or short animated video to spark their interest with lots of opportunity for questions. I would design the inquiry process to be interactive and exploratory. We would set up different “stations” around the classroom, each focused on a different aspect of Outer Space – rocket building station, planet exploration station, starry sky station etc. I would encourage collaborative learning and reflection after exploring and creating an environment where curiosity is encouraged.
