I would like to introduce a lesson on stars by playing some musical pieces that have stars in their titles or in the lyrics and ask the children what is the theme that links these pieces of music together. What do you see in your minds eye when you hear these pieces of music?
I would then write the word star on the board and elicit from the children all they know about stars, when they see them, their shape, colour. I would ask them what they would like to know about stars. We would discuss the sun.
I love the many clips available that explain the constellations and think the children would be fascinated with this. I would show some images of constellations and the names and ask the children would they like the names or would they call the something different based on what they see?
I would present the children stations for producing their own constellations in art work – 1 station would have black sugar paper, white chalk and star stickers. Another would have peg boards and pictures of constellations to copy. Another would have match sticks to create star shapes in various colours. Another could have playdough, straws and stick on glow in the dark stars.
To finish/at some stage in the week or day of the lesson we would read the story by Oliver Jeffers “How to Catch a Star” and discuss this.