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Fair Testing:
Use a variety of materials to make paper aeroplanes.
Use card, newspaper, tinfoil orA4 white paper and fold into an aeroplane shape. The teacher can model how to fold the paper into an aeroplane shape.
Each child makes their own aeroplane using a material of their choosing.
In pairs the children test how far their aeroplane flies and use a metre stick to measure the distance.
In a whole class discussion, we give feedback on how far each aeroplane flew and record the distance each type to aeroplane flew.
By looking at this data the children will be able to see which material works best.
As an extension to this lesson, the pupils will create paper aeroplanes of different sizes and fly them from both a standing and sitting position.
Thank you Sinead for such a variety of well explained ideas for younger pupils for Space Week. I ‘ll be taking many of the ideas on board, particularly ‘the passport to travel to space’ and ‘write a postcard home from space’.
Stem School Self Evaluation:
As posts of responsibilities are now being restored, our school is lucky enough to now have a STEM co-ordinator. Our STEM policy is a work in progress but after this course it’ll be a great opportunity to share with my colleagues how we can improve access to free online resources such as Stellarium or Marvin and Milo. Like a lot of schools we have limited science equipment and is an issue for us to be noted in our self evaluation report.
We don’t engage with Space Week in October. So that is something we could in-corporate in our Improvement Plan.
As a school we often showcase our work in Irish or Literacy. So perhaps as a school we could showcase our practical work in science.
My school is based near the border and we definitely do take advantage of The Armagh Planetarium and W5 in Belfast when we plan educational tours for our pupils. That is to be noted and celebrated in our self evaluation report.
Using Aistear more to develop aspects of the STEM curriculum is something we could take on board also.These ideas are great Saoirse. Thanks so much for sharing. Virtual star gazing using Stellarium. org is a practical way for pupils to experience the night sky , so to speak, with guidance during school hours . Recreating constellations with pegboards is simple but effective.
Theme-Space and aliens
Introduction- show The Ben and Holly cartoon of the alien coming in a space rocket to get the Wise Old Elf to fix their planet.
Development- discuss what the characters saw on the journey in space to the alien’s home planet. Focus the pupils’ attention on all the stars the characters saw.
A range of subjects can now be explored such as maths (2d shape star and its’ properties)
Art-use tin foil to collage a template of a star. Cut out all the pupils’ stars and make a display of Ben and Holly’s journey.
Geography- Look inside Space book by Usborne
The possibilities are infinite (just like space!!!)
Many thanks Eleanor for sharing your ideas. It was so well thought out and explained. I am in SET at present and some of my students who are on an autistic spectrum often enjoy (and indeed excel )in SESE and Science topics around the theme of space etc.
It’s so helpful how I can expand the theme to include maths, English and art.
I would choose The Moon activity set and focus on the different shapes of the moon on the lunar cycle.
Introduction- show the pupils an old ad for jaffa cakes which showed someone eating a jaffa cake referring to each bit as full moon or half moon. Discuss why the lady in the ad is referring to eating a jaffa cake in terms of the moon.
Development of the lesson- watch the video from this course Paxi and our Moon from you tube as he explains the 1 month lunar cycle.
Conclusion -each child gets a jaffa cake. As a whole class we eat our jaffa cakes in sync while recapping on the information given by Paxi.
Thank you so much for sharing this idea Mary. I’ve drawn around children’s shadows in the past but never used other objects as well to create shadows. I’ll definitely be using this in the future.
Thanks for asking the question about hand drawn mind maps.
I too need to try and upload a mind map.
Thanks Susanne.
Hi Everyone,
My name is Susanne and I’ve taught a range of ages over my 28 year career. I’m currently working in SET and my pupils very much enjoy exploring the world around them. Hence my choice of summer course. I welcome new ideas from fellow colleagues.
I’m fascinated with space and attribute my interest to Captain James T. Kirk and Mr. Spok if I’ m completely honest (that’s Star Trek to those of ye youngsters !!!!)
My interesting space fact is that on Mercury a day is twice as long as a year apparently.
I teach in a rural town in County Monaghan and a lot of our pupils come from a farming background.
So when I’m introducing forces I tend to use tractors instead of toy cars and talk about the farmer’s work with a tractor.
And for Junior classes I could use Tractor Ted videos capture the pupils’ interest.
Many thanks to Susan Molloy for sharing her lesson plan on finding homes for aliens and all the interesting ways it can be integrated into other subject areas. I’ll definitely be trying this out.
Hi Everyone,
My name is Susanne and I’ve taught a range of ages over my 28 year career. I’m currently working in SET and my pupils very much enjoy exploring the world around them. Hence my choice of summer course. I welcome new ideas from fellow colleagues.
I’m fascinated with space and attribute my interest to Captain James T. Kirk and Mr. Spok if I’ m completely honest (that’s Star Trek to those of ye youngsters !!!!)
My interesting space fact is that on Mercury a day is twice as long as a year apparently.
I teach in a rural town in County Monaghan and a lot of our pupils come from a farming background.
So when I’m introducing forces I tend to use tractors instead of toy cars and talk about the farmer’s work with a tractor.
And for Junior classes I could use Tractor Ted videos capture the pupils’ interest.
