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Consider how many Songs / Poems /Art can you think of to connect us with the Night Sky?
I think that linking Steam with the arts is perfect for the classroom and the Night Sky is a super theme to do this with. I think that this would work for any class grouping in a school. From Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in junior infants to “He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven” by the Irish poet W. B. Yeats.
Other ideas are;
Star Light Star Bright
Moondance by Van Morission
Fly Me to the Moon” by Frank Sinatra
A Sky Full of Stars” by Coldplay
Silver by Walter de la Mare
Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night
Starry Night Over the Rhone by Vincent van GoghI would usw these two Van Gogh pieces as an art lesson as part of a unit of work on the Nigjt Sky. I would explore both pictures with my class. We would discuss both pictures, comparing and contrasting them. I would then ask the children to use these as inspiration for their own work. I would encourage the children to use their own imaginations and not just copy what they see.
I teach in West Cork where a variety of artists live I would try and focus on the works of sone of these including artist Sheila Murphy and poet Annette Skade who both live in the local area and are well known to the children.How you would engage your learners to explore biodiversity in your local area and the possible impacts of light pollution on local biodiversity.
I would begin by asking my class what biodiversity is and that their understanding of it is within our school environment.
We works then complete a biodiversity audit in our school using the resources mentioned in this module.
I would then revise what we had previously learnt about light pollution and how it could effect the biodiversity in our school.
I would then extend this my visiting the local nature reserve and again do a biodiversity study and then discuss the effect light pollution would have on this. I would focus on the nocturnal animals living in the reserve and would use some of the links in this module to extend our learning on bats. I would ask speak to the local wildlife ranger and invite him to come in and speak to the children about the bats living in the nature reserve and discuss how loght pollution could be affecting then and what we in school could do to reduce this
Detail how light pollution is impacting your local area and how you would engage your learners to explore this.
I live about 4 km from a town and so can experience both light pollution and dark skies depending on which way I go!
It was very interesting to see how the light pollution in my area has changed over from 1997 to 2015. In 1997 my area was dark green with dark green all around it. In 2015 there is much more light pollution with the dark green hugely reduced and light pollution now 4 times natural light at the centre of town.
I would use these two maps with my class. I would explore the differences between the maps in the area around by school. I would ask the children to suggest reasons for this change. We would then discuss ways we could reduce the light pollution both at school and at home.
As the children live in an area with low light pollution I would encourage them to examine the night sky the next time they are in an urban area and the compare it to what they see at home.
I think it would be interesting to have a class discussion and to get the children’s opinions on the differences they have noted.
I love the area of comparing different areas. This gives pupils a wider experience of light pollution.
I would use Stellarium as a teaching resource.
I would begin by getting the class to help me to choose the right location. I would then ask if the pupils could identify or name anything they aee in the sky. We would dicuss the answers given.
I would then set the date and time for that night and we would go through what we would hope to see.
As homework that night the children would go outside and observe the sky. We would share our observations the following day. I would send out a link to the parents for Stellarium so they could explore it with their child.
I would then get the children to work in pairs in a device and explore Stellarium more. I would give then a short tick off list of things to find to keep them focused.
I would then focus the children back to the whiteboard and reset the location for somewhere in the Southern Hemisphere (link with geography and a country we had previously studied) and explore how the night sky looks from there.
My school is in a rural area and there is a good view of the stars so the pupils would to be able to identify some and share their new going knowledge at home.
I love the idea of using a picture book to introduce the topic. I think a picture book could work with any class not just infants.
I love how this activity creates a home school link and connects what the children learn in school with home and family life.
I would make a sundial in the school yard. I would choose an spot in the yard that gets full sun (easy in our yard) and that is accessible to all classes.
Before making the sundial I would teach the children about the movement and rotation of the earth in space.
I would get each child to make an individual sundial using the template shown here.
To make the large sundial in the yard I would use a pot,a stick and chalk. I would begin as a whole class, pick out the area and make out the first hour or two as class. I would then allow children mark out the rest of the hours in small groups. We would use our small sundials to confirm the time. The children could then use paint to make the sundial a permanent fixture in our yard.
This could be linked to many different subject areas for example geography – finding south, maths – lines, angles and degrees, art – design the sundial, history – the history of sundials.