The Cold Planet

The class teacher requested a writing session about aliens, since it is the topic of the week, that includes the phoneme ch-.  She also expressed the wish to include scientific concepts, such as different light sources and reflection of light.

I started by showing the children a video - The Cold Planet, which is about aliens, with reflection of light being one of the main concepts discussed. 

The torch (ch- phoneme) is the main light source in the video.  Other light sources, such as the sun, the neon tube, the lamp, the candle, the bulb, and so on, were presented to the students.  Other objects were presented together with these light sources, selected on purpose because they contain the phoneme ch-.  Some of these words were chin, child, cherry and lunch.  Flashcards were presented next to the objects, which we read together in class.  The phoneme ch- was pointed out. 

The children were given a workbook on which they had to draw the light sources, and write a sentence to describe each one by following a model. 

Once the sentence writing activity was ready, the children were asked to throw a beam of light on to Neila the Alien, which was stuck up on the board, but without pointing their torches directly at her.  The children had been asked to bring a mirror and a torch with them from home for this activity.  The children were asked to draw how they think they should carry out the task before trying it out (inquiry based science).  However the children found this task difficult to do.  They kept pointing their torches at their mirror, in the direction of Neila, thus blocking out the light.  I had to guide them a little, and instructed them to turn, and give their backs to Neila.  Once they had grasped the concept, the children corrected their drawings on the handout and carried out the task correctly.