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I really loved thinking of songs, stories and art to connect with the Night Sky. Songs, stories and art are a massive way of introducing topics in our special school. Our students really engage with them.
Nursery Rhymes and Preschool songs-Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Five Little OWls, We’re going on a bat hunt, zoom, zoom, we’re going to the moon, starlight, starbright
Pop Songs- A Sky Full of Stars: Coldplay, Mr Blue Sky:ELO, Counting Star:One Republic, Starman:Bowie, When you Wish Upon a star: Disney, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds-The Beatles.
Stories I would and have used-Papa, Please Get the Moon by Eric Carle, How to Catch a Star by Oliver Jefferies, The Darkest Dark by Chris Hadfield, Zoo in the Sky by Christina Balit (Nat Geo) and a lovely sensory book-Crinkle, Crinkle Little Star.
I love the idea of incorporating Lego into designs. It could be extended using stop motion if students wanted to make a video about their designs. I think the students would really love using Lego to design their dark sky place. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Siobhan, I love the idea of a rota for summer for families to water and tend to your garden. This is such a simple idea and we have struggled to maintain our garden over the summer. Thanks for sharing!
I really enjoyed this module. In particular, I enjoyed looking at the resources from Heritage Schools Ireland, the gardening for biodiversity worksheet and the website about irish wildflowers. I really enjoyed the videos about the bioblitz and the nature safari. I could really see this working in my special school setting.
Biodiversity is a hard concept for some students to grasp as a word but not the essence of biodiversity. We have a beautiful sensory garden in our school and I feel it would be the perfect setting for my students to learn more about biodiversity. Before embarking on the nature safari worksheet, I would pre teach some vocabulary around biodiversity especially lamh symbols and vocab on their AAC devices. Language such as wildflower, bee, spider, ladybird etc. During the safari I would ask the students to work in pairs and take photos of their discoveries. I would explain that biodiversity is how many different animals, insects, plants and wildlife all live together.
I would then do a practical activity that is sensory at the same time. We would plant some Irish wildflower seed bombs to encourage butterflies and bees. By planting them, we would be able to visit regularly and increase our knowledge around biodiversity and study the effects of light pollution on our garden creatures. We could discuss how some animals, such as moths, bats, and hedgehogs, are active at night and need darkness to feed, move safely, and find their way. We could compare areas of our school grounds that are brightly lit with areas that are darker and consider which places might be better for wildlife.
Through these regular visits, students would begin to understand how creating spaces with native wildflowers and reducing unnecessary artificial light can help protect local biodiversity especially our school garden. I think my students would really enjoy this approach as it is at their level and appeals to their love of the outdoors and practical skills.
I really enjoyed this module but at first I struggled to think about how I would apply it to my context of a special school. Rather than focusing on the science of light pollution in depth, I think the focus on day and night and how too much light changes the environment around us.
I would start with darkening the room and showing the students a picture of my hometown in Roscommon with a lack of light pollution and the school environs in Dublin which has loads of light pollution. I would use the images for open questioning and discussion. I would ensure the students had the target language available to them through their AAC devices, lamh signs and visuals.
After this discussion, I would then do a practical activity. Show simple photographs of places familiar to my students- the school yard, walking routes to our local cafe, St. Anne’s and houses with xmas lights at night and at day. I would ask the students to pick which area has the least light pollution, which places are bright, which are dark, which do you think is better for animals-light or dark. I would explain how the dark is better for our animals and their homes.
We would finish off with a simple activity with the students creating a dark friendly street using a velcro strips to remove street lights, closing curtains etc. This is something that my students love to do. I think it would be the best way to explore light pollution in my context and how to start a unit of work on it.
Hi Monica, I love the integration of Maths and graphs. I think students would really enjoy the crossover and it would motivate their learning. Plus, it builds into integration across STEM. I have started using KWL using sandbox on Padlet and I find students really love it.
I think involving parents is a great idea. As mentioned it is something different to do for homework and as a parent myself I would find it interesting to use Stellarium in my own locality. Thanks for sharing.
I decided to think of a lesson based on the Stellarium. I work in a Special school, and my class level is between 6–8-year-olds with moderate additional needs. My students love our multi-sensory room where we can create a night sky so I think this would be a good starting stimulus. I would then ask my students about the night sky-what have you seen, do you know any words for these objects in the sky etc. I would use pictures as visuals and lamh signs for the sun, moon and stars.
I would then open stellarium on the projector. We would start by finding today’s sky. I ask the students what they can see using the previous symbols and photos. I would then turn time forward to darkness-I would ask what they observe. Can you see any bright stars? I would then use the time controls to watch the night sky move and discuss.
I would then bring the students back together for a sensory activity using a sensory tray which my students absolutely love. They can use glitter for stars or glow in the dark stickers if they choose a night sky.
I would finish then with some songs themed around the moon, stars and the sun. As my students absolutely love music. i would play songs and ask them to tell me the word that matches the song-Mr. Sun for the sun, Twinkle Twinkle-star and Zoom, Zoom we’re going to the moon. I think this would be a great way of incorporating stellarium while making it accessible to my students.
I agree. That is a great way to involve parents and at home. It would extend the activity for my students. We could use our Seesaw app and get students to share it online. We could then compare our findings. Thanks for sharing!
I found the ‘Unravelling STEM: Beyond the acronym of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics’ really interesting. After reading the article and reflecting on my own practice, I think often I view STEM subjects separately often as separate entities that I have to tick off the timetable. Going forward I need to incorporate inquiry, creative and a spirit of inquisitiveness in STEM learning and throughout the school day and in STEM. Taking this forward, I chose to plan an activity to observe and record the positions of the sun when rising and setting and at different times of the day.
I teach in a special school, so this appealed to me most as it is an activity that can be done across classes and additional needs. I would start with the song mentioned in the first module as my students respond well to songs plus they grab attention straight away. I would then present my students with a picture of the moon and the sun and ask them to find the sun. I would share our learning intention-Today we are going to see where the sun is in our sky. We would then do 3 observations outside that link in with our schedule for the day-Our morning walk, before lunch and our garden time at the end of the day. At each visit, students will be asked to
point to where the Sun is (without looking directly at it), look at the shadow of a chosen peer and then I will ask them to place a sun sticker on a picture of our yard and sky-low, high or low. Then I ask them to circle the time of the day.My students love stickers and it would be highly motivating. The next day we would use the worksheets for a class discussion on what we discovered. I think this would really fit the activity and my students.