STE for Junior Infants

Notice that everything is made of a material, name common materials and sort by them, feel their properties (hard or soft, bendy or stiff, see-through or not), and explore how we can change a material by squashing, bending and wetting, with the teacher showing ice melting safely.

Notice that energy makes things go and that toys go in different ways, feel how pushes and pulls move things, explore float and sink at the water tray, and have fun finding what magnets pull, sorting magnetic from not, and spotting magnets at work.

Notice the everyday helpers (technologies) that help us do jobs, sort screen from no-screen, then have fun with first computational thinking: putting steps in order, spotting a repeat, spotting a wrong step (a bug), and driving a floor robot. All unplugged or using a physical floor robot, with no ScratchJr this year.

Notice the helping things engineers make, then have a go at making simple things, a tall tower, a little boat and a bed for a teddy, and show them, talking about the little problem each one solves. Every make is a single make-and-show lesson.