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Activity Set: Rockets
I would begin the lesson reading the poem ‘Space Walking’ to open the discussion on rockets and Space and determine what they children know about rockets; we will mind map our knowledge on the board together as a class. I will tell them that Teddy wants to send a letter to his alien friend who lives in Space. You could integrate a literacy lesson here also and the children can help Teddy write the letter to his friend. Children will then design their own rockets harnessing the power of a balloon to make them launch. We would discuss materials that we might need and using measuring sticks the children will predict how far they think their balloon might launch. Each measurement will be marked out with chalk and we can see which child/group is the closest to their estimate. I always find this add a bit of excitement for the kids and teachers alike!!
We would finish the lesson with the sing along song ‘Space Song Rocket Ride’ (attached below)
Activity Set: Weather- What Clothes to Wear for an Infant Class.
Book: A Stroll Through the Seasons written by Kay Barnham is lovely book to explore the different types of weather we can experience in each season and to get the children thinking about what clothes would be appropriate. This is a great way to determine what language the children have already around the seasons and clothes.
Weather and Clothes sorting activity with Teddy. Each group gets a teddy bear with clothes. They spin our interactive wheel on the whiteboard and they are ‘given’ a season. They then need to decide what to dress Teddy in from a bank of clothes. A selection of baby clothes works for this so that they fit Teddy.
Fine motor- cut and stick season sort activity.
Art: Children pick a season and create a tree using a handprint and their arm and decorate their tree to show their chosen season.
Literacy- Weather report each day for the week.
Aistear- Clothes Shop to explore different types of clothes.Activity Set: Space and Aliens
I would begin the lesson with the story ‘There’s an Alien in Your Book’ by Tom Fletcher. The basis of this story is about acceptance, and inclusion so it provides a great basis for SPHE and the oral language around this discussion. Other subjects I would also cover are:
Literacy: Story Sequencing/Caption writing and a debate about why aliens could or could not live on planet Earth.
Maths: Using shapes as a morning table top activity to build spaceships.
Music: Children compose accompanying sounds using percussion instruments to a read aloud of the story.
Art: Paper plate spaceship craft to launch our aliens back to Space/ making alien masks which could be used in Dramatic Play/ Aistear for Space Travel Agent.We used Kahoot recently before in a Croke park hour and it was brilliant ! we had so much as teachers using it so I can only imagine how much fun the children would enjoy it !!
The activity set of ‘The Sun and Shadows’ is the set I have chosen to explore. I would begin the lesson by reading the story Martin Waddells book ‘Can’t You Sleep Little Bear’. This story explores how a little bear finds it hard to get to sleep because it is too dark. There is lots of scope here to explore the contrast between day and night/sun and shadows and explore why the cave is dark and to explore the oral language around the concept of sun and shadows. There are links with Aistear by making a bear cave and acting out the story to bring in drama. Also explore making shadows in the ‘cave’ with torches/’lanterns’. SPHE linkage with talking about feelings and feeling scared or worried, Music – singing ‘Going On A Bear Hunt’. Another great video resource I have used before is The YouTube read aloud ‘What Makes a Shadow’ is also a great resource to explore the idea of shadows and another great stimulus to open a lesson.
This sounds like a really lovely lesson Laura, which has lots of content to keep the children engaged
As a reply to this post, introduce yourself on the forum and share your favourite space fact. Then add a reflection (150 words min) on how you would use one inquiry-based activity in your classroom
A lesson that I did before in school was asking the children to find a new home for an alien in space. We talked about what time of home he was looking for, his family members that were also coming with him and the type of environment he would like to live in. This naturally led to research about the different planets. I find it a great lesson to open up conversations about the different planets also there is a huge amount of cross curricular scope. geography for different types of homes, art- designing and creating a home, creating planets etc. There is also scope for this lesson to lead to group work research. Assign a planet to each group and they research which planet would be best for the alien to live on, each group present their ideas and research to the class. I have always found this lesson particularly enjoyable and the kids love it!
Hi my name is Sue and I teach in a junior school in Dublin, my favourite fact about space is that shooting stars can have a range of colours !
