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Task 2: Consider how many Songs / Poems /Art can you think of to connect us with the Night Sky?
As primary school teachers, we would have to ensure that the lyrics of the songs/poems/rhymes we have chosen are age appropriate.
Songs/Poems/Rhymes:
- Twinkle Twinkle Little Star – This is perfect for young children to wonder and learn about the stars and dark skies.
- Star Light, Star Bright – This is a simple and engaging song that encourages children to make wishes on the first star they see at night. It has been a hit with my Junior Infants!
- Seven Little Stars Shine at Night – Again, one for the younger children, it uses repetition and imagery to describe the stars and their lovely glow.
Ten Little Stars – Another infant classic! A counting song where children can follow along as stars disappear one by one. - Sky Full of Stars – Coldplay
- Space Oddity – David Bowie
- Moon Dance – Van Morrison
- Man on the Moon – Frank Sinatra
- Spaceman – The Killers
- Cosmic Love – Florence and the Machine
- Dark Sky Island – Enya
Art:
- The Great Comet of 1680 Over Rotterdam – Lieve Verschuier
- Starry Night – Vincent Van Gogh
- The Meteor of 1860 – Frederic Edwin Church
- Starry Night Over the Rhone – Vincent Van Gogh
I had never heard of Kerry Dark Sky Parks. Such a great resource and amazing that it’s in our own country! It will be easier for the children to connect to it on a personal level.
Biodiversity and Light Pollution – Junior Infants
In our large urban school in Dublin, our Green Schools Committee and management team has to work hard to provide green spaces so the children in the school have the opportunities to enjoy the outdoors. We have built two garden areas in which we have planted native trees and hedges, put in a bug hotel and bird boxes and we ask our caretaker to mow the grass as little as possible.
To help the children learn about the animals and plants around them, we’d begin with short nature walks. They’d be encouraged to look closely at the world around them and get them spotting bugs, listening for birds, and noticing leaves and flowers. They could look inside the bug hotel to see what tiny creatures live there. The children could complete drawings of what they see in their nature scrapbook. We’d chat about where we find the most bugs and wonder why they like certain spots, especially darker, hidden places.
As we learn more about animals that come out at night, we would read simple stories about owls and bats, such as ‘Owl Babies’ or ‘Bat Loves the Night’. Through discussions, the children would begin to understand that some animals are awake when we’re asleep and that they need darkness to find their way. We could get the children to design bat boxes and owl boxes in the classroom as an art activity using fabric and fibres. The children could then request that bat and owl boxes be put into our school gardens to provide dark spaces for these nocturnal animals. We could also do an audit of any lighting around the school garden areas that could disturb the animals and remove them and see if it brings any more wildlife to the area over time.
Bat boxes are a lovely idea. They are something that I think thr Green Schools Committee in my school should consider for next year. Simple but effective!
Light pollution is an increasing issue around my area, North Dublin City. There is constantly new housing estates or businesses being built, all with construction/street/security lights, to name but a few. The large population of the area means there is a constant flow of traffic which also contributes to light pollution with car and traffic lights. Very rarely would I get the opportunity to see the night sky unless I leave this area. Some of the children in my class have never left the area meaning they have likely never seen a sky full of stars, which is quite a shocking realisation!
To get my class thinking about this, I would begin a discussion about what they can see in the night sky where they live. Then, alongside comparing photos, we could also give the children the chance to use websites like Stellarium to freely explore what the night sky should look like without all the extra light we are surrounded by.
The children could engage with a night-sky journal where they record what they see each night for a set period of time, including things like the number of stars they see, what colours they see, if there are any bright lights nearby, or anything else they deem important to include. How the children record this could be up to the individual – do they want to write words/draw/paint etc. of what they see?
Following this we could explore how light pollution is affecting wildlife/humans. The class could, in groups, design their own “light-friendly” area using drawings or models, with better lighting ideas to assist with minimising light pollution.
To make the children feel like they can personally make a difference, we could discuss practical things they could do at home/in school.
I think it’s a great idea to team up with a rural/urban school. I know personally that a lot of the children in my school have never stepped foot outside of a very built up urban area so it would be great for them to hear from children of their own age about their environment.
Observing the Moon – Infants
The teacher could first put a real-life image of the Moon on the board/on students tables and get them discussing what they see at their groups. Take feedback from the children and see what they already know. Have a full class discussion asking questions, such as “Have you ever looked up and seen the Moon?/What did you notice?/What shapes do you see?/What do you know about it?”.
As an infant teacher, story time is always a good idea! The children could be read a story/stories throughout the week involving the Moon, such as ‘Zoom to the Moon!’ or ‘Astronauts to the Moon’.
Explain to the children that they may see the Moon out on a clear night, but sometimes you can spot it during the day too. Explain to them that it doesn’t always look the same and this is something they are going to explore as young astronomers. EESA’s Paxi video about the Moon Phases is a really good way of showing the children this.
For hands on, active learning, each child can be given a simple observation chart that includes the days of the week and a space to draw each day’s Moon. The children will go outside in the morning as many days as possible in the month searching for the Moon, drawing what they see underneath each day (If there isn’t too much cloud cover! If there is, this could be another learning point for the infants – Why can’t we see the Moon today?). The chart could be sent home to allow the children to look at the Moon at night with parents/guardians/siblings if it was not visable during the day.
The children could be given time to explore the Moon freely on tablets/iPads on websites such as NASA’s Daily Moon Guide. I have used this before with classes and they have loved it! It is an interactive map for observing the Moon each day.
I also have never been exposed to Stellarium or Sky View before. From looking at them in this module, it is absolutely something I will be bringing into my plans and teaching for next year. I think a lot of teachers will get plenty of use out of it!
I completely agree, children learn so much from eachother. Budding up with older classes is so beneficial. In our school we are paired with an older class for reading, but next year I think I may involve them more with SESE too, particularly for hands on activities that younger children could do with a helping hand with!
Planet Tubes – Gravity
I think this activity is a fantastic way to get pupils excited about gravity and weight. It’s hands-on, visual, and full of fun!
Of course, prior to making the planet tubes, the children will need to have been involved in a discussion about gravity, basing the complexity of information on the level of the class. Focus on how gravity changes on different planets because of their size and mass. We’d explore how our weight can go up or down depending on the planet we’re on, while our mass stays the same no matter where we go.
For the planet tubes, children could be in groups. Depending on the size of the class, maybe they will make all planets per table, or maybe each group will be assigned a planet to create. Pupils would look at satalite images/real life photographs of the planets and decide amongst themesleves what they deem appropriate to add to the tube, for example, for the Earth, they could decorate it with mountains, clouds, oceans, maybe even some animals or little cartoon people to bring it to life. If working on Mars for example, they could stick red sand to the tube. Various fabrics and fibres could be given to the children to work with for this.
Inside each tube, the children could place small objects inside it, maybe little toy figures or mini everyday items, to show how their “weight” changes depending on the planet. It’s a great way to get everyone talking and thinking scientifically.
As an additional activity to keep the children’s imagination ticking over, we could ask the children to come up with their own imaginary planet in groups, give it a name/individual characteristics and what gravity is like on this planet. They could make a tube for this planet too!
