Lesson Plan: Learning About Stars
1st/2nd Class
Objectives
WALT: We Are Learning To understand what stars are, recognise their importance in the night sky, and create our own constellations.
Introduction:
Starry Night Song:
I will play the song “Starry Night” and ask the children to listen .
We will discuss the beauty and mystery of stars in the night sky.
Basic Facts About Stars:
I will explain that stars are huge balls of gas far away in space.
I will mention that stars come out at night and twinkle in the sky.
I will introduce constellations as patterns of stars that form pictures in the sky.
Creating Constellations
I will give each student a piece of dark construction paper.
They will cut paper straws into smaller pieces to represent stars.
Using blue tack, students will create their own constellations on the paper.
Each student will then present their constellation to the class and explain what they have created.
Night Sky Exploration
Looking at Night Sky Pictures:
I will tape pictures of the night sky under the desks beforehand as suggested by Frances MacCarthy in the Module 3 forum . She suggests using a set of the 3 night sky pictures, with 3 constellations to find from Project Astro – Constellation Detective.
Students will lie on the ground and look up at the pictures under their desks.
I will encourage them to identify any constellations they might recognise and will give them constellations to find.
Conclusion
Story Time:
I will gather the students and read the story “How to Catch a Star” by Oliver Jeffers:
Discussion:
I will ask the students what they liked about the story.
I will encourage them to think about how dreams can come true in unexpected ways, just like the boy’s dream in the story.
I will encourage students to look at the stars with their families
I will remind them to try and spot constellations they learned about
Integration: Art
Art Appreciation:
I will show the painting “Starry Night” by Vincent van Gogh.
Students will observe the painting and describe what they see.
We will discuss how van Gogh depicted the night sky and stars.
Creative Art Activity:
Students will create their own “Starry Night” inspired artwork using dark construction paper and chalk or pastels.
They will draw swirling night skies and bright stars, similar to van Gogh’s style.
