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Songs, art, poems connected to the Night Sky
The sky at night seemes to be a strong source of inpsiration for artists, and provides a sense of hope, curiosity & reassurance. We look to it for ‘the answers’ sometimes. We consider our dreams, remember loved ones, reflect on our existence and take it a prompt for reflection & deeper thinking.
Some examples I can think of:Music:
Imelda May: Meet you at the Moon
Ella Fitzgerald: Dream a little dream of me
Ryan Adams: When the stars turn blue
Pink Floyd’s album Dark side of the Moon exploring themes of human existence
David Bowie’s alter ego Ziggy Stardust who a was sent to Earth to save it from disaster
Kate Bush: The Big Sky
Elton John: Rocketman
Nick Drake: Northern Sky
Emperor: The magic of the Night Sky
Niall Young: Harvest moon
Myles Smyth: StargazingPoems:
Rocket-Jack Prelutsky….a good one for planet exploration
Star Songs- Liz Brownlee
The Moon- Robert Louis Stevenson
Moon, O Moon in the Empty SKy, Leroy F. Jackson
Night, William BlakeArt:
The Starry Night- Vincent Van Gogh
Starry Night over the Rhone- Vincent Van Gogh
Moonlit Shipwreck at Sea- Thomas Moran
The Meteor of 1860- Frederic Eden ChurchThere are ample opportunities to link the theme of the night sky across te curriculum and link with historical events such as Mount Vesuvius erupting on a moonlit night, or how the monks on Skellig Michael looked to the skies for the answers, and believed that the Gods showed themselves in the form of storms, lightning, thunder etc. Children would have a great time exploring the themes that come up and would link them to the magical and mysterious.
Exploring Biodiversity in the school environment
Firstly breaking down the word Biodiversity into ‘bio’ referring to living things and ‘diversity’referring to a variety of things and then exploring what could be living in our school environment in categories of animals, birds, insects, flowers, trees.
What is visible when we look around without too much inspection (trees, plants, flowers) and what may only be visible when we search more (insects, smaller plants/flowers) or what remains hidden (nocturnal animals, whats beneath the soil, or hidden in hedgerows)
What would we need to explore further? magnifying glass, nets, webcams, camera etc)
introduce identifier cards/scavenger hunts and identify waht children may already have seen in the area.Currently there is a lot of building works happening around our school with new houses being built. We could discuss the impact this might have on the biodiversity in our area in relation to habitat disturbance. This would be an ideal time to introduce the idea of light pollution and how the addition of the light from these houses and street lighting may impact the biodiversity.
In Springtime,I would include a scavenger hunt card specific to the hedgerows which showcase a variety if plants such as ivy, whitethorn, blackthorn, wild pea, wood sorrel, elderflower, primrose, herb robert, speedwell and others. Children can tick them off on their card as they find them. They could spend time sketching their favourite flowers in their notebooks, or pick some flowers/petals to press in a flowerpress and later stick in their notebooks. One side of the hedgerow is in direct sunlight and faces away from the road and the other side faces onto the road with regular traffic..can the children notice any difference in the variety of growth on either side and further discuss the impact of increased light/sunshine, or the impact of traffic.
We would also identify what species of trees growing in the area and ideally have labels made for each one. In groups, children would pick a tree and in each season sketch and make notes as to how it is changing. We would identify it by its leaf, seed or fruit and record vocabularly such as deciduos, coniferous, evergreen etc. Do any of the trees provide habitats? If so can we find any evidence? if we peel some bark away what might we find and again identify the insects/birds that live there. Recently we had to fell trees on the grounds because of disease…we could discuss the impact this may have in terms of light, habitat etc.
A bug hunt is always fun to do and using kits we could use a variety of collecting items to do this in the long grassy area on our grounds. The biodiveristy booklet and Eanna Ni Lamnhna resources would be ideal to use as well as the videos in this module.
If we mapped the different habitats on the grounds…hedgerows, grassy area, tree area etc and also did a light map we coould compare the 2 and look at whether areas that are lit up are near where the habitats are.Anne,
this post touched my heart!,,,the sentiment of how the sky connects us all…when we are away from loved ones, we hope that when we look at the sky, that we are seeing the same things………
and the inspiration that can be found in songs like ‘reach for the stars’…
a lovely post to read!
The idea of a webcam is brilliant. I recently heard Derek Mooney talk about his famous camera in the blue tit nesting box. He has had it for many years and it was interesting to hear him talk about the patterns of behaviour of the birds over those years. What a great resource for a primary school especially if data was collected over a period of time.
Light pollution in my area.
I live in Gorey but regularly travel back from family visits to Dungarvan. In the wintertime when the children are getting tired of the journey, I welcome the skyglow of the town ahead as a reminder to them that we are almost home! Its in some way comforting! It is about the only advantage I can think of for light pollution.
We recently moved from an urban housing estate where it was near impossible to get a view of the sky between building obstructions and the lights from the town. We now live on the outskirts of the same town but are amazed at the difference in our view of the sky at night where constellations can be easily identified from our back garden.
With the recent move we have noticed that we sleep better…Previously there was street light entering into every room of the house and now once lights are out, it is completely dark. My parents also live in an urban setting flooded by streetlight and just yesterday after a trip to west cork and being used to frequent sleep interruptions through the night, they were stunned with how well they slept while there. We wondered was it due to the darkness & stillness of the light.
Other participants have mentioned about how light pollution can have an on ones circadian rhythm and I think there is some merit in that.I think security plays a big role too in how businesses keep instore lighting on in some big stores/car parks through the night. It seems like such an ineffective use of energy. Yet on certain roads/parks around the town the use of lighting can be very welcome if you are walking on dark evenings. We compromise so much from nature for our safety/convenience.
I have also noted about the effect of light pollution on wildlife….My brother who lives at the foot of the dublin mountains but in a housing estate recently sent me a picture of a deer walking through his estate at dawn. I met a fox myself a few nights ago at a camp ground, comfortably walking around in the lit up area. We have rabbits in our garden at all times of the day where I would have expected them in the late evening or early dawn. We frequently have birds who fly straight into our windows ending up hurt or worse. One has to wonder, are they all confused with all the disturbances on their habitats and responses to light?
Learning about the different types of lighting in this module, I hadnt realised that there are lights being used to reflect the light downwards, having less of an impact on the night sky. This is something I will look out for, as I hadnt ever paid much attention to the types of lighting in my area. I was also stunned to learn that rural electric
This is also an interesting concept to explore in the classroom and a good way to connect with the local environment. Using the globe at night resources would open up so much discussion about what it would be like to live in areas dense with light versus places in total darkness. Explore that idea in relationship to animals, plants, human life etc
As others mentioned in their posts, some children have never experienced total darkness at night. Even exploring how our eyes adjust or how living in areas of darkness may require adjustments to how we do things.It is indeed sad to think that some children may never know what the sky looks like outside of light polluted urban areas. It is a privilege I had taken for granted to have had opportunity to travel to places where the night sky can be seen in its true sense. Not every child has this opportunity.
Assignment 2: Observing the phases of the moon
With the mooon at its most visible late in September in our skies, it gives a few weeks to introduce the theme of the moon and get a sense of what prior knowledge the children have about the moon and its relationship witht the earth & the sea.
As a stimulus, I would use the song ‘I see the moon & the moon sees me’ with junior classes https://youtu.be/MUL8AyfXIP4 or with older classes the poem ‘The moon speaks’ https://i.pinimg.com/originals/fc/82/f3/fc82f3cac120a90b88b676d9ae0848c4.jpg or ‘Follow the moon’ by Marie Tully https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/follow-the-moon#google_vignette which opens up good discussion around the moon’s positioning.
During discussion I would get a sense of their depth of knowledge and as we go I would record using a KWL chart. I would also add new vocab to a word bank and use this later in a vocab/image pairing lesson or kahoot quiz.
We would use concrete materials to show the orbit of moon & earth around the sun..;.with an advanced senior class they may be able to do this themselves as one pupil(moon) walks around another (earth) as it orbits another object/person (sun).
Using paxi & our moon-phases & eclipses video I would introduce the moon phases and use photos to match with descriptions. The Esero 62 lesson would also be a helpful resource.
Coming into the 3 rd week we would begin to observe the moon across 5-7 days and using a large chart in the classroom, woukd sketch what we saw each day. Children could use their own sketching and descriptor words to record in their own notebooks.
We would reflect back on the poems and link any of our learning to those.The worldwide telescope & heavensabove website would be additional resources to use to supplement learning.
Assignnment 2: Observing ther phases of the moon
With the moon at its most visible this year around the 3rd week in September, it would give a couple of weeks to introduce the moon to the class and bring learning towards observing the phases.
I would use a poem/song as a stimulus
For younger classes I might use ‘I see the moon & the moon sees me’ https://youtu.be/MUL8AyfXIP4
or for older children the poem ‘ The Moon speaks’
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/fc/82/f3/fc82f3cac120a90b88b676d9ae0848c4.jpg
and use the stimulus to establish what information the children already have about the moon and its relationship with the earth & the sun.
As we establish prior knowledge, I would record any new/relavant vocab on a chart and possibly do further work with this in English.
We would watch the Paxi & our moon- Phases & eclipses and learn about the 4 phases of the moon. I would have a pairing activity to be done in small groups to match the phase to the correct photo. The Esero 62 Observin the Moon Resource would also be useful here.
By approx Sept 24th, the children would be ready to observe the moon over a few days and describe what they see in the sky (weather depending!) We would have a large chart in the classroom where we would sketch what we see each morning & children could record this in their notebooks using similar sketches- we would match out sketches to photos of the phases.Using resoures like heavensabove.com, or worldwise telescope or curiousminds.ie could provide supplememtary exploring opportunites for learners.
Assignment 1
For my sundial lesson, I would first do some discovery learning about light & shadows in the classroom using torches and other light sources. We would discuss what leads to good shadows being formed….light source, obstructions, proximity to light source, time of day, movement of shadows according to how the light travels etc and through questioning & discussion lead children to link their discoveries to the sun as a source of light.
Through curricular integration we would explore the history and ancient relevance of sundials and discuss how we could use this in our school.
In introducing the lesson of creating a sundial, I would pose a set of questions to select an appropriate location: where do the children think would be suitable….what would we need to consider in terms of location. We could compare & contrast different sites e.g. the open playground which is large but has a perimeter of trees versus a higher located grassy football pitch with less obstruction versus a smaller courtyard which gathers the warmth of the sun but is surrounded by buildings.
We would discuss suitable materials and children could work in groups using different materials in different locations and then discuss their results.
We would create our structures, identify cardinal points and track the shadows throughout the day.
We would wonder about what we may need to consider if we were to do the same lesson at different times during the year…..is there a better time to record results, or track the movement of the sun?
We could create a bank of vocabulary related to the theme: cardinal points, gnomon, solar, etc
I think this would be an ideal lesson to share with other classes who could then use the sundial(s) for their own tracking/recording. Children could use powerpoint to build a presentation or create a kahoot quiz from their learning. It lends well to peer teaching.Assignment 1
For my sundial lesson, I would first do some discovery learning about light & shadows in the classroom using torches and other light sources. We would discuss what leads to good shadows being formed….light source, obstructions, proximity to light source, time of day, movement of shadows according to how the light travels etc and through questioning & discussion lead children to link their discoveries to the sun as a source of light.
Through curricular integration we would explore the history and ancient relevance of sundials and discuss how we could use this in our school.
In introducing the lesson of creating a sundial, I would pose a set of questions to select an appropriate location: where do the children think would be suitable….what would we need to consider in terms of location. We could compare & contrast different sites e.g. the open playground which is large but has a perimeter of trees versus a higher located grassy football pitch with less obstruction versus a smaller courtyard which gathers the warmth of the sun but is surrounded by buildings.
We would discuss suitable materials and children could work in groups using different materials in different locations and then discuss their results.
We would create our structures, identify cardinal points and track the shadows throughout the day.
We would wonder about what we may need to consider if we were to do the same lesson at different times during the year…..is there a better time to record results, or track the movement of the sun?
We could create a bank of vocabulary related to the theme: cardinal points, gnomon, solar, etc
I think this would be an ideal lesson to share with other classes who could then use the sundial(s) for their own tracking/recording. Children could use powerpoint to build a presentation or create a kahoot quiz from their learning. It lends well to peer teaching.For my sundial lesson, I would first to some discovery learning about light & shadows in the classroom using torches and other light sources. We would discuss what leads to good shadows being formed….light source, obstructions, proximity to light source time of day etc and through questioning & discussion lead children to link their discoveries to the sun as a source of light.
Through curriculuar integration we would explore the history and ancient relevance of sundials and discuss how we could use this in our school.
In introducing the lesson of creating a sundial, I would pose a set of questions to select an appropriate location: where do the children think would be suitable….what would we need to consider in terms of location. We could compare & contrast different sites e.g. the open playground which is large but has a perimeter of trees versus a higher located grassy football pitch with less obstruction versus a smaller courtyard which gathers the warmth of the sun but is surrounded by buildings.
We would discuss suitable materials and children could work in groups using different materials in different locations and then discuss their results.
We would creat our structures, identify cardinal points and track the shadows throughout the day.
We would wonder whether about what we may need to condsider if we were to do the same lesson at different times during the year…..is there a better time to record results, or treack the movement of the sun?
I think this would be an ideal lesson to share with other classes who could then use the sundial(s) for their own tracking/recording. Children could use powerpoint to build a presentation or creat a kahoot quiz from their learning. It lends well to peer teaching.
