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Detail how light pollution is impacting your local area and how you would engage your learners to explore this.
Working in a high population urban area in Dublin it is near impossible to see any kind of visibility even on the clearest of nights. The children will be given homework to observe and keep a journal of the light pollution. Taking notes of what kind of light pollution is causing the lack of visibility in the night sky.
I would also engage my students by reading a book called “Can you see the stars tonight” by Anna Terreros Martin. This book is about a young girl who discovered light pollution from her town and how it is affecting the puffins from making their journey home. In the end she instigates a project with her school friends where they aim to reduce artificial light to help the moon and stars shine through. Which will be the basis of the taking action part of the lesson.
The children will then work together in groups to come up with posters about how to reduce light pollution and what they can do at home to help reduce light pollution. They can then share their posters with the rest of the school.
I have fond memories of doing a lesson very similar to this when I was in school! It is such a good plan! We also made a mnemonic for remembering the order of the planets as a bit of fun to finish the topic too. The website as well is so fantastic, as they can explore it in the class and continue exploring it outside of class too. I wish it was around when I was doing the lesson you planned!
Plan to observe the Moon – which phase of the Moon is best for observing in the morning from school? What dates will that be in 2024- 2025?
One of the Engage Literacy readers is about the phases of the moon. Children in my class who read it were enthralled with the moon phases and as a result we created a mini lesson based around observing the moon as part of their optional homework.
To start, children will be read the book Moon Phases by Charlotte Guillian and asked to create a bank of questions they have about the moon phases.
Children will be explicitly taught the different phases of the moon on Earth. They will briefly explore other planets and their moons but focus on Earth’s moons. We will use the youtube resource Paxi as well.
During early November RTE have reported a super moon, which will be an ideal moon for observing. So each morning at the same time during the week 3-7th November, children will go out and observe the moon. They can take photos on iPads or draw/sketch (more ideal as it incorporate art!) and write about their observations. Children will then use the timeanddate.com moon location website to track and get more information about the moon and its phases during November.
To conclude, children will reflect on their questions from the start of the topic and see if they have answered their own questions.Any questions that were not answered can be researched together as a class. Children can complete the topic with sketching/charcoal drawings of a moon phase they have observed.
Further learning: Home work. Children can choose to create a moon log over the month of November to compare and contrast the different phases they observe.
I love projects with a purpose. The children are more likely to be engaged and create greater connections and learning links. The house activity would be fantastic because after they can move on to discuss where in the school would our classroom be best situated to ensure we get the most amount of light. Real life learning at its finest.
Construct a sundial in your immediate area or plan for your school grounds to see where a sundial could be placed
First Class
Children will explore time and how it is told. They will learn about where time came from originally and how it was told before clocks and watches. A discussion about how the sun moves across the sky and how shadows change during the day to help them understand and visualise how a sundial might work.
Discussions about sundials and how they work (i.e optimal location).
Children will explore the school grounds looking for a place where they feel would be the best location for a sun dial. Going out for short periods of the day over multiple periods to track shadows and taking photos on iPads and use chalk to mark the shadows and time.
If children are happy with their location, they can then create a sundial to record the time. Children can then move around and compare, contrast and reflect with their peers. This will create discussion about observation and promote further inquiry.