[Michelle Carr]

Hi Mary,

I like your idea because it lets the children go outside and see light pollution for themselves. I also like it because it helps the children think of better ways to use lights and help their school or community.

Thanks,
Michelle

[Michelle Carr]

Looking at the Night Sky

I created this resource with a senior infant class of mine that I will be teaching in September.

To start off with the children we will look at the painting Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh. We will talk about the swirly sky and the bright stars.
I will ask them some questions about the painting, What colours can you see? How many stars can you count? Does our night sky look like this?

We will talk about how sometimes we can see many stars, and sometimes only a few, because of lights from houses, cars, and street lights.

I will explain to the children that light pollution happens when too much light from the ground makes it harder to see the stars.

I will then explain that the Globe at Night program asks people all over the world to count stars to help scientists learn more about light pollution.

For a follow-up activity, I will ask the children to go outside one evening with their parents or guardians to count the stars and talk about what they noticed.

Thanks,
Michelle

[Michelle Carr]

Hi Aoife,

I really like this idea! It’s simple but should be able to engage all the students in learning. Using Stellarium to explore the sky sounds like a fun way to help them connect with space. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks,
Michelle

[Michelle Carr]

Create a short teaching resource using Stellarium/WorldWide Telescope

I will begin by reading the book “Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me” by Eric Carle. It’s a nice simple story about a girl who wants to play with the Moon. The pictures are big and colourful, and the story will help the children start thinking about space in a fun way.

After the story, I will open the Worldwide Telescope website on the big screen. I will show the children where the Moon is and slowly zoom in. We will look at the bumps, holes (called craters), and shadows on the Moon. I’ll ask simple questions like, “What shapes can you see?” or “Does the Moon look smooth or rough?” Some children can come up and point at what they see. I will use easy words like “crater,” “round,” and “dark spots.”

To finish, the children will draw a picture of what they saw on the Moon. This will hopefully help them remember what they saw and use their imagination to show it in their own way.

Thanks,
Michelle

[Michelle Carr]

Hi Aisling,

I like your idea. Using ICT is a great way to bring technology into children’s learning. It helps them learn better. Some of the apps you said I have not used before, and I would like to try them in my teaching.

Thanks,

Michelle

[Michelle Carr]

Plan for Observing and Recording the Position of the Sun – Senior Infants

I am planning this lesson with my Senior Infant class in mind, who I will have this coming September.

Over the week, I’m going to help the children learn about the sun and shadows. First, we will read a simple book called What Makes a Shadow by Clyde Robert Bulla. It is a simple story that helps the children understand what a shadow is. After the story, we will try and go outside each day. We will look at where the sun is in the sky in the morning, at lunchtime, and maybe just before the children go home too.

The children will use chalk to draw around their shadows on the ground. We will do this in the same place each day so we can compare the changes. We will see if their shadows are long or short and how they change during the day. The children will also draw the sun in the sky to show where it is at each time.

At the end of the week, we will look at all their chalk drawings and pictures. We will talk together about what we saw and what we learned.

Again, all of this is very weather dependent, so it may take longer to complete the full lesson.

Thanks,
Michelle

[Michelle Carr]

Hi Lorraine,
<p style=”text-align: center;”>I really enjoy all your activities that you have included for science week. I say they would really enjoy the Alien Slime activity. Might be one to try out with my junior infant class next year if I’m brave enough ;)</p>

[Michelle Carr]

Hi

With a junior infant class in mine I will do the activity based on Alien Chemistry.

We will start off the lesson by showing the children the front cover of the book The Dinosaur That Pooped A Plant by Tom Fletcher. This will be our starting discussion point using a series of higher and lower order questions.

I will then read the book to the class, pausing and discussing as we go along. This will be done over one or two lessons. As their is a mention of “Martians” this will lead us onto to the next part of our lesson Alien Chemistry where we will conduct our experiment Dancing Raisins.

There will be lots of discussion and predictions with the teacher acting as scribe. We will then carry out the experiment. We will discuss our findings and we will conclude the lesson with thr children illustrating the experiment we carried out.

Thanks

[Michelle Carr]

Hi Deirdre, yes I agree with you that Marvin and Miol is a great resource for kids that can be used in multiple ways. I definitely will look more into ESA kids as that too seems like a very useful resource that can be use by teachers to support learning in the classroom. Thanks Michelle

[Michelle Carr]

Hi,

I think the availability of engaging and supportive online resources and tools are a fantastic resource for any teacher to have and use to support their daily teaching. With my junior infant class in mind having looked at this and previous Modules, I would definitely utilise the following resoruces in the next coming school year.

1. Marvin and Milo

These two adorable cartoon characters can capture the audience of young children. They demonstrate how much fun science and learning about science can be. Their experiments are really child friendly and can easily be carried out by younger children with the help of their teacher

2. ESO.org

This website have ample stunning images of all things space related. These images would relate to children of all ages. They are a great starting discussion point for any space related lesson or can be used to support a lesson. An art could be made even more exciting with the inclusion of some of these images.

Thanks Michelle

[Michelle Carr]

Activity: Stars

This activity is aimed for a junior/senior infant class.

I would start this activity with a star image from ESO. This would be a starting point for our lesson.

English: Discussions would be based around. What the image is, where the image is taken from, when do we see stars, what could we use to see stars far away.

Maths: We could further develop this into our maths using the idea of stars consolations. What is a star consolation? Images of famous star consolations. What patterns can they see on these star images Etc. The children could then be given a peg board and pegs to create their own star consolations.

Art: You could extend this into art where the children would use black sugar paper and paint to create an image of their own night sky.

These lessons could take place over a 2 week period to allow lots of time for discussion amd language development and to cover the theme comprehensively. Thanks Michelle

• This reply was modified 1 year, 1 month ago by Michelle Carr.

[Michelle Carr]

Hi Eleanor I really like how you integrated so many subjects into this lesson. I always agree that a good nursery rhyme or story is a great stimulus for learning a new theme. Much

[Michelle Carr]

Hi Orla, I like your idea of station teaching to teach children about the moon. There are lots of different activities there that would appeal to all different types of learners. I can imagine that the children would really love the bubble wrap to demonstrate what it may feel like to walk on the Moon. Thanks for sharing your ideas. Michelle

[Michelle Carr]

Hi, for my junior infant class I would choose the activity set , the sun and shadows activity. I would choose the sun activity initially to start with. We would start with a classroom discussion about Day and Night to assess what the children know about these two concepts. I would then show the children a picture stimulus of day and night and ask questions about how they know it was day and night. And record some of the key language used.

We would then play and day and night game using some hoola hoops and picture cards. Over one hoola hoop is a picture of the sun and over the other hoola hoop is a picture of the moon. The children would choose a picture card depicting different activities we do during those times or pictures associated with the sky at those times. The children would then put the picture in the right hoop and say why.

We would conclude the lesson by recalling what we have learned and finishing off by singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

[Michelle Carr]

Hi when I was teaching junior infants last year we used the Oxford Reading Tree book The Carboard Box as a prompt for waterproof materials. This led the children to carry out a number of experiments on a variety of materials to see which ones were waterproof or not. Before the experiment we engaged in oral discussions about the materials we would use and discussed further to see if the children believed each material would be waterproof or not. They then used a pipette filled with water and recorded the results of the experiment using a happy or sad face beside each material tested. We then discussed the results. As an extension to the activity the children had to create a waterproof jacket for teddy using cut up pieces from each of the waterproof materials they tested.

The children really enjoyed this simple experiment as it led to many discussions and they were able to connect old and new learning together.

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