PR-6170RUK Science A STEM Approach - Primary 1

Earth and the Environment
DAILY AND SEASONAL CHANGES
Lesson 6
Lesson Plan
Introduction:
1. Ask the pupils; In which month were they born? What season is their birthday? (It may be prudent to
have a list of birthday months for the pupils in your class). As children give their answers, write their
names on an enlarged version of page 132. Explain to them that this is a very simple calendar that
shows the four seasons of the year.
2. Give each pupil a copy of page 133 and ask them to draw a picture of themselves celebrating their
birthday in the correct season. Ask them to leave enough space for other drawings to be added to
the calendar.
Development:
3. Show the online video Learn about Festivals . Show it once to
allow pupils to understand the theme behind the video. Play it again and stop the video after each
‘festival’. Using a think-pair-share, pupils describe their experiences of the festival, what happens at
the festival and the religion from which the festival comes from. Depending upon the community
that your schools serves, answers will be very different and there may be some festivals that will
need to be explored further with the pupils. (This can be achieved through whole class web
searches on an interactive whiteboard).
Ask the pupils whether they know which festivals occur in which seasons. Some are quite easy,
such as Christmas in the winter. Some other festivals may need exploring further using whole
class web searches on an interactive whiteboard. Add the names of the festivals to the enlarged
calendar in the correct season.
4. Ask the pupils to select some festivals that they have enjoyed and ask them to draw a picture that
symbolises that festival in the correct season of the calendar. (Note some festivals, such as Eid
change each year and so the exact season may need checking).
Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day) may be another celebration that pupils are aware of and may
have experienced.
5. Ask pupils about other festivals that they celebrate that are not religious; for example, Halloween.
6. Consolidate learning from previous lessons by asking the children to include some other drawings
on their calendar that are particular to the seasons. These could include:
• Weather – sunshine in the summer, snow in the winter
• What you wear
• Where you go
• What you do
• Plants flowering in the spring and leaves dropping off trees in the autumn
Differentiation
• Less able pupils may work with adult support, prompting and discussing with pupils the
different celebrations throughout their year. Adults may help pupils to decide which season to
place them in and prompt them with some ideas from Stage 5.
• More able pupils may add more detail and other celebrations and events from their life and
their family.
Viewing sample
Reflection:
7. Bring pupils together and invite them to share their calendars with the rest of the class and talk
through some of the main events, celebrations and festivals that occur in their year.
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Science:
A STEM APPROACH
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