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The Northern Lights were incredible this year. I was lucky to have had a fantastic display where I live. But unfortunately the children that I teach did not manage to see them due to living in the city. I had one child who actually cried as he had quite an interest in the lights and was devastated to have missed them!
Consider how many Songs / Poems /Art can you think of to connect us with the Night Sky?
This is a lovely topic to integrate with songs, poems and art. Simple rhymes such as ‘Twinkle, Twinkle’ and ‘I see the Moon’ introduce the night sky to child from a very young age. During the dark evenings I love to wrap up my 2 year old before she goes to bed and bring her outside to say goodnight to the stars and see if the moon is around. My older kids get very excited when they spot the moon in the sky in the early morning. On another note I think it’s a comforting notion when explaining death to children to say that when someone dies they become a star. In the past year we used a lovely book called ‘My Grandad is a Star’ to help them when their grandad died.
Robert Louis Stevenson’s ‘The Moon’ is a poem that we studied this year. It creates beautiful imagery of the creatures that come out during the night and are visible by the ‘light of the moon’. It gets the children to think about what happens at night and the whole other world that comes alive when they are going to sleep.
Aboriginal Sky Star Art: Explain to the children that Aboriginals are among the world’s cultures who have used the stars for navigation, storytelling, calendars and teaching for tens of thousands of years. Show the children a selection of Aboriginal inspired star art and let them explore and create their own star art using black paper, paint and cotton buds.
This can also be linked to the story of the Nativity which they learn about at Christmas when the Three Wise Men followed a star to guide them to where Jesus was born.
Sky full of Stars, Coldplay: This is a song about unconditional love. But the lyric that stands out to me is the most is ‘Cos you get lighter the more it gets dark’. And this is something that can be observed by the children if they have the opportunity to stay up late stargazing.
I like your idea of having a template printed with the possible creatures they might see. It makes it easier for the children to know exactly what they are looking for.
How you would incorporate the needs of nocturnal species, especially those that rely on dark skies into school biodiversity plans
We are very lucky to have a school garden on our school grounds which allows for lots of biodiversity. It consists of native trees, lots of flowers and shrubs, a vegetable garden, bug hotels, bird feeders, a willow tunnel, among a mixture of grass, bark and stone along the walkways. This is particularly wonderful for a city school. I believe that this type of setting would provide protection for nocturnal species such as owls, bats, moths, city foxes and other wildlife that depend on dark skies to survive.
We could look into reducing unnecessary artificial lighting around the school grounds. The students could interview the school caretaker and survey the types of lighting that is present around the school grounds Outdoor lights should only be used where required for safety and security, with timers and sensors, and facing downwards to minimize light spilling into nearby habitats. We could also check the type of lighting used and see if it would be possible to replace any bright white lights with warm-coloured ones.
The students could carry out biodiversity surveys during the day in school and if possible in the evening time in their own gardens or surrounding areas with a parent. These finding could be recorded and shared in school.
These investigations will help the students to develop scientific inquiry skills while building an appreciation of the importance of dark skies.
• Creating a teaching resource using the “Globe at Night” citizen science programme
1. Introduce the lesson by asking why can’t we see as many stars in the city as we do in the countryside? What is light pollution? Why is it important to protect dark skies?
2. Identify the four main types of light pollution: skyglow, glare, light trespass, clutter
3. Look at pictures from the locality (city) and around rural areas around Ireland. Look at the quality of the night sky in areas with very little light pollution such as west Kerry.
4. Talk about the Globe at Night programme and explain that it’s a worldwide citizen science project where volunteers measure night sky brightness by comparing what they can see with star chats.
5. The next activity can take place at home with adult supervision.
-Pick an observation site
-Allow your eyes to adjust to the darkness
-Identify the constellation using the Globe at Night guide.
-Compare what they see with the start charts.
-Record: date and time, location, weather conditions, sky brightness
-Input their observation to the Globe at Night database.
6. In class the following day students can compare results, create graphs to represent the data and discuss their findings.
7. If possible a field trip could be organized in the winter time when the skies get darker earlier to an area with less light pollution to fully explore the night sky.
I really like the idea of using motion sensor night cameras to capture nocturnal activity around the school. It would be amazing to capture an owl or a fox in the school grounds at night and very exciting for the children to see.
I really like the idea of using the check list and working in pairs. It gives a real focus and motivation for the lesson. To be able to develop this further at home and maybe be able to identify them with their parents would be a great feeling of success for the child.
Q3 Plan to observe the Moon – which phase of the Moon is best for observing in the morning from school? What dates will that be?
The waning crescent moon is the best phase to observe the moon in the morning. Plan for observations during the week before each new moon. Suggested observation dates for the next school year are:
· 6-10 Sept; 5-9 Oct; 2-8 Nov; 2-8 Dec ‘26
· 1-2 Feb; 2-4 Mar; 1-3 April; 1-3 May ‘27
1. Observe the moon between 9 and 11 am.
2. Sketch a drawing noting the moons position and shape in the sky.
3. Use a map of the sky around the school to mark the location .
4. Note the date and time of the observation
5. NASA’s Daily Moon Guide is a lovely resource to use with the class for observing the moon each day of the year.
6. Encourge the children to keep a moon diary to note their own observations of the moon from their homes and invite them to share their findings with their classmates
I love the idea of making their own sundial. Making one using rocks or chalk to begin with would be a fascinating way for them to explore the movement of the sun.
Q3. Plan how your students could “observe and record the positions of the sun when rising and setting and at different times of the day”
I would introduce this in September and present this as a year long project that we would return to each month to notice differences in time and location. As we are only in school from 9am to 3pm we could only record the position of the sun during these times during the school day and we would be relying on a sunny day.
1. Record the sun position at 9.30 am, 12pm and 2.30 pm.
2. Chose the same central point in front of the school (south facing) to make note of suns position.
3. Sketch and photograph the suns position at this time. Alternatively have a map drawn for the children where they can accurately pin point the location of the sun at the various times.
4. Use a compass to for location (east to west)
5. Record and discuss the data collected.
A resource I often use with the children is my iphone weather app where it gives the time of sunrise and sunset daily. So we could discuss this in class also and once they are familiar with the lesson below they could use the skills they have learned to record the sun-rise and sun-set from their homes.
At the end of the year we could compare our data and see how the data changed as the year progressed