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There are a great bank of songs, poems and art here to integrate across the curriculum. I love the idea of a whole class collaborative art project. It sounds great!
Design your own dark sky place.
To begin this project as a class we would have a lot of discussion on what makes a good dark sky place. We would focus on light pollution and the need for less unnecessary light or shield lighting. We would talk about the need to protect biodiversity and discuss what type of space would be suitable to star gaze and look up at the night sky.
The children would then be divided up into groups each with a particular role to discuss such as ‘Rangers’, ‘Stargazers’, ‘Local residents’ and ‘Light Planners’. Together in their groups they will work collaboratively to come up with a plan for consideration of a suitable area for a dark sky sight taking into account light pollution, biodiversity at night, access, stargazing tips and considerations.
They will draw a plan/map to include all of the above with the necessity of protecting the night sky and nocturnal wildlife. They will present their plans to the class on their groups. The class can give feedback to each group using 2 stars and 1 wish which is a great way to self evaluate and reflect on each others work.
I like the idea of bio diversity detectives making it really child friendly and engaging. Even small changes will make all the difference.
In my school we have a Green School committee who do fantastic work at monitoring lights in the classroom during the day however going forward this could be extended to monitor light pollution and see if there are areas that could potentially have an impact on wildlife. We do a ‘No Mow May’ in our school and over the last 2 years we have had a native orchid growing in the school grass. So the effects of not mowing are seen first hand by the children.
I do think we could be doing more to explore our local biodiversity. We live quite near a bog and I would love to do a big hunt or bio blitz on the bog with my class and observe and discuss our findings. While the bog itself is obviously quite rural, at the very front is a large hotel and coffee shop and tennis courts which are very busy. I’d be interested to see if there is an impact on the wildlife from the light pollution in this specific area.
Going back to the school the Green school committee could suggest ways to make the school more biodiverse friendly by ensuring all lights are switched off at the end of every day so as not to disturb any nocturnal animals, they could suggest that only downward facing shield lights are used in outside area and ensure that only native flowers and hedgegrows are planted in our school garden. I would also encourage them to spread an awareness regarding wildflowers to check before sowing them to ensure only ones native to Ireland are sown.
To link in with home children could also complete an observation report at home to take note of any nocturnal species they see in their gardens and to look up at the night sky and describe what they see or notice is impacting if any their vision of the sky in regards to light pollution etc. They could also be encouraged to protect any dark space in their own gardens for wildlife to thrive.
I like the idea of the light pollution survey and then collating the results from the survey. It integrates and connects the learning about night and day and light and the environment so well and is so interesting. I think the children will really enjoy doing this.
Upon completing this module I was so surprised by the number of the population who cannot view the Milky Way due to light pollution. Before doing this, I had not really thought how the lights affect wildlife or make it harder to see the night sky.
In my class I have children who live in more urban, built up areas but I also have children who live on quite rural areas also. I would encourage the children to explore light pollution through observing the night sky and their surroundings in their area. I would ask them to complete an observation sheet so they could compare the night sky based on where they live. I would also show the children the short clip showing the insects more attracted to one particular light over another and invite discussion on how this can disrupt their natural instincts. We would discuss their observations at the end of the week.
We would also take a walk around our school and local town to see what sources of light pollution are in our area.
Back in the classroom we would discuss what we could do to minimise light pollution in our locality such as dark friendly light recommendations or ensuring lighting is task appropriate or on sensors for as and when needed to illuminate. The children could then make a presentation in school assembly about light pollution and make posters to put up around the school to make other children in the school aware of light pollution in our area.
Hi Heather, I like how you are planning to observe over 3 months. It will also give the children time to hone their planet spotting abilities also. I only planned to do a 4 week period but perhaps over 3 months would have been better in hindsight. I also like how they will compare their sketches from week to week also.
Create an observing plan for Autumn that shows which planets are visible in the evening sky.
This would be a lovely beginning of the year activity to get the children back into an evening/homework routine. I would give this activity to do every evening with an adult for a 4 week period where they would observe the evening sky at home and record their observations.
After discussion in the class about the planets and asking questions such as do you think we can we see planets just by looking up at the sky? Do we need anything to help us see the planets? How could we recognise the difference between a planet and a star? On the school iPads we would log onto Stellarium and look at the planets and where the planets should be depending on our area.
At home the children would record and draw what they see in the sky on an observation log provided by me. They would record the date, time, weather conditions and planets they think they see in the sky. They would continue this for a 4 week period. At the end of every week the children would get into groups and discuss their observations.
At the end of the month the class will share what they observed at the whole school assembly discussing their findings such as what planets were easiest to find, whether they appeared in the same position every night, how they could spot a planet over a star and so on.
This is such a lovely activity prompting curiosity and an interest in the planets and space all while developing their recording and observation skills.
I really like the idea of repeating the activity in 6 months time and observing the changes. A great extension activity and lots of opportunities for talk and discussion and explanation of why our days are longer and shorter in different seasons.
Create a sundial in your immediate area.
I work with 3rd class so to begin with I would bring the children to the local sensory garden in our town where there is a sundial already there. We would discuss what it is, what it’s used for, what do they notice, what do they wonder?
Back in the classroom we would discuss if we could make our own. What does it need? We would go on a walk around the school grounds to find the perfect place, full sun light etc. We would get our materials ready and in groups on the hour they would measure and mark where the shadow lies with chalk and record the clock time between each mark and report back to the class. Every time the group returned they would fill in an observation sheet of the time, the length of the shadow and anything they noticed.
The class would discuss if they noticed any difference between morning and afternoon shadows. Is the shadow longer at midday?
At the end of the week they would compare their observations in groups on different days. I would hope that they would begin to predict where the shadow would fall before marking it.
Whole class discussion on how the sun moves across the sky.