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Home is such a powerful film and I think it would cater for the senior end of the school. Its stunning footage shows the beauty and fragility of our planet over 50 countries, the damage us humans are causing, and what we can do to help protect it. Its definitely a documentary that leaves a lasting impact. I think it would really get the children thinking about how we all have a role in protecting and looking after the tiny part of the world we live in.
Gretta Thunberg’s piece would definitely be of interest to older classes. I think they all know of her and the fact she speaks from the heart and is so passionate about helping our planet. It would ignite some ideas for them to maybe in groups write up a report on her facts or to hold a class debate on climate change. I feel her honesty around being neurodivergent would teach the classes empathy and understanding to how others learn and see the world.
After watching the movie, Home with older classes I would end with a class discussion. Children could talk about how they can help and how governments in Ireland and everywhere could make things better. This would be a good starting point for project based activities in their groups.
The Paxi video is an engaging, child-friendly resource that would be an excellent stimulus for discussion on greenhouse gases. Its clear explanations and visuals would grab childrens attention and get conversations flowing.
The Teal tool is another fantastic, visual, and user-friendly way to spark curiosity about climate change. By presenting real data in an accessible format, it helps children grasp the global impact of climate change in a relatable way.
Using the school iPads, the class could share and compare the temperature data they’ve collected in Module 1 with local climate norms, looking for patterns. This would help pupils connect their learning to real-life scenarios in the wider community and explore what different groups are doing to help the climate.
The only improvement to the Teal tool would be adding simple, child-friendly explanations for its scenarios.
I think the weather station activities would work really well with my 3rd Class. Lots of useful resources and ideas and the class would love being involved in the set up and collection of data. Firstly, linking Weather to birthdays –
I love the idea of asking the children about the weather on their birthdays. The children will enjoy this activity because it connects to their own lives. We will start by talking about the weather on their birthdays. This will get them interested and ready to take part. Next, they will work with their groups to compare the weather. This will help them see how Irish weather can change a lot and will lead to learning the difference between short-term weather and long-term climate. For example maybe they have birthdays in the same month or season as their peers and the weather was different across the week, month or season for them.
We will then talk about weather and climate in other countries. The children can share how special occasions are celebrated in these places maybe when they are on holidays or visiting family and how the weather might affect them. Using maps, we will find the countries and place them in one of the five main climate zones. We would have children from many parts of the world and this could awaken more curiosity among the class if they were willing to share.
Another activity my class would enjoy is collecting and comparing temperatures In this activity, children will work in pairs or small groups to record the temperature each day for a set time. I would make large thermometers available in a specific place outside our classroom door and a record chart for each group to record daily temperatures at the same time each day. It might be nice for the group to predict the temperature before they check each day and talk about the weather on that day, After collecting the temperatures, they will look at the results to seeing any patterns emerging in the daily temperature. We could link it up with maths at the end of the recording process over a week or a month and use data to interpret our results.
The Teach with Space resources will be very useful when teaching Third Class this year.Poem: Nursery rhyme – Star light, star bright,
First star I see tonight; I wish I may, I wish I might Have the wish I wish tonight. This connects younger children to the idea of making a wish on the first star they see in the sky at night.Art: Northern Lights oil pastels. Aurora Borealis – I did this art activity with my First Class the last two years and they loved exploring the direction of the colours in their art work and the vibrant colours using the pastels. We watched online videos of the lights first and this year many of the children got to see them in Ireland when they were visible here.
Songs: Sky Full of Stars – Coldplay. We watched Sing 2 and the children loved this song so we learnt it as a class. It’s an uplifting song and Chris Martin got his inspiration for this song looking up at a clear sky full of stars in Sydney which made him feel joyful and happy. The children could respond to this song through dance or drawing in art.
Having completed the green flag for biodiversity, many children did not know what biodiversity was when conducting the survey around the school. Making a school bug hotel would be a great way to get all classes involved, allowing the local bugs and animals a safe place to roam while the children become investigators. The hotel could make a great home not only for bees and bugs but also animals such as hedgehogs etc who live in the area. The hotel site can be monitored and visited and any changed recorded and shared. The older classes could carry out surveys on what animals and species live in the area around the school and their homes. Classes could go to a nearby park or on school grounds to conduct their survey. They could record their findings on a map.
It’s important to consider the needs of our night-time bugs and animals. Being mindful of things such as closing curtains and blinds when you turn the lights on inside can help bugs to continue their night-time activities. Unlike pollution from rubbish and chemicals, once a light is turned off the pollution is gone. We could also ensure that the school area is light pollution friendly, ensuring no internal lights are left on and there is minimal or motion lights outside.This could be an at home activity for children to do if they wish and we could look at carrying out this project from Sept to November. Autumn evenings are a great time to look at some of the new constellations and celestial objects becoming visible in the Northern Hemisphere after dusk. If the children have access to a pair of binoculars, or telescope ideally that would be great. As already mentioned in previous module about light pollution, if they can travel away from city light pollution, the views will improve in darker skies.
Creating curiosity in the Children – Create a map for Autumn that shows which planets are visible in the evening sky. I found the following websites vert beneficial with a separate map for each month of the year available to download.
Timeanddate.com’s Interactive Night Sky Map.https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/download-view.cfm?Doc_ID=335 –
https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/docs/SolSysStarMaps2.pdf
https://www.skymaps.com/downloads.html.
They gave really useful tips on how to use the maps. To locate stars in the sky, hold the map above your head and orient it so that one of the four direction labels matches the direction you’re facing. The map will then represent what you see in the sky. It would be a great idea to send this home as a mini home project for all the family to get involved.
Back in the classroom when some observations have been made we could discuss the findings from the children who completed the activity. We could then engage in looking at the different constellations and planets. An extension activity would be to make the autumn constellations as an art activity.
Observing Plan:
18th September: Small partial lunar eclipse of the Harvest Moon (am)
21st October: This is a great opportunity to spot Jupiter during the day. Look for the Moon in the southwest morning sky (before 10 a.m. local time). To the lower right you may see Jupiter shining through the blue sky. There might be an opportunity to view this in school.
November: Venus – Improving evening planet, setting nearly three hours after the Sun at the end of November.
This could be an at home activity for children to do if they wish and we could look at carrying out this project from Sept to November. Autumn evenings are a great time to look at some of the new constellations and celestial objects becoming visible in the Northern Hemisphere after dusk. If the children have access to a pair of binoculars, or telescope ideally that would be great. As already mentioned in previous module about light pollution, if they can travel away from city light pollution, the views will improve in darker skies.
Creating curiosity in the Children – Create a map for Autumn that shows which planets are visible in the evening sky. I found the following websites vert beneficial with a separate map for each month of the year available to download.
Timeanddate.com’s Interactive Night Sky Map.
https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/download-view.cfm?Doc_ID=335 –
https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/docs/SolSysStarMaps2.pdf
https://www.skymaps.com/downloads.html.
They gave really useful tips on how to use the maps. To locate stars in the sky, hold the map above your head and orient it so that one of the four direction labels matches the direction you’re facing. The map will then represent what you see in the sky. It would be a great idea to send this home as a mini home project for all the family to get involved.
Back in the classroom when some observations have been made we could discuss the findings from the children who completed the activity. We could then engage in looking at the different constellations and planets. An extension activity would be to make the autumn constellations as an art activity.
Observing Plan:
18th September: Small partial lunar eclipse of the Harvest Moon (am)
21st October: This is a great opportunity to spot Jupiter during the day. Look for the Moon in the southwest morning sky (before 10 a.m. local time). To the lower right you may see Jupiter shining through the blue sky. There might be an opportunity to view this in school.
November: Venus – Improving evening planet, setting nearly three hours after the Sun at the end of November.
Module 2
This could be an at home activity for children to do if they wish and we could look at carrying out this project from Sept to November. If children have access to a pair of binoculars, or telescope ideally that would be great. As already mentioned in previous module about light pollution, if they can travel away from city lights, the views will improve in darker skies.Creating curiosity in the children – Create a map for Autumn that shows which planets are visible in the evening sky. I found the following websites very beneficial with a separate map for each month of the year available to download.
Interactive Night Sky Map.
https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/download-view.cfm?Doc_ID=335 –
https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/docs/SolSysStarMaps2.pdf
https://www.skymaps.com/downloads.html.
They gave really useful tips on how to use the maps.
Back in the classroom when some observations have been made, we could discuss the findings from the children who completed the activity. We could then engage in looking at the different constellations and planets. An extension activity would be to make the autumn constellations as an art activity.
Observing Plan:
18th September: small partial lunar eclipse of the harvest moon in the morning time.
21st October: This is a great opportunity to spot Jupiter during the day. Look for the Moon in the southwest morning sky (before 10 a.m. local time). To the lower right you may see Jupiter shining through the blue sky. There might be an opportunity to view this in school.
November: Venus – an improving evening planet, setting nearly three hours after the sun at the end of November.
Some really lovely ideas to engage with and very user friendly with the link to website for moon phases.
In this lesson the children will observe and record the position of the Sun across a school day. I would allow them to ask questions and describe changes they observe in the sky. They could chat about the daily activities that occur at sunrise, noon and sunset.
We could go outside on a sunny day. The children will stand in a place where they can use chalk to mark out their shadows. I would ask the children to work in pairs to draw a shadow around each other. We would do this at three different times throughout the day – morning, lunchtime and before home time. This could be then recorded on a simple worksheet showing the different positions of their shadows throughout the day. On Twinkl there is a ‘Sun Moving Across the Sky Colouring Sheet’ which features an illustrative outline of a horizon with different positions of the sun moving across the sky – rising in the east and setting in the West – thus explaining the earth’s rotation.
Questions to think about during the activity:
• What does your shadow look like?
• Is it the exact shape of your partner? Why?
• When can you see your shadow best?
• Do you always have a shadow?
• How does your shadow change over the day?
As a finisher to the lesson I would allow them to play in the yard making shadows with their bodies or finding shadows made by other objects. They could look at their shapes, sizes, colour and the position of the Sun in relation to the objects and it’s shadow.