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I Enjoyed learning about all the activities in Module 1. From this Module, I would like to do the construct a sundial activity. I would engage the children with the song day and night. I would explore sources of light and then identify the sun as a source light. We would examine how the earth moves around the sun. We would look at how shadows get formed. I like the example of the people sun dial as outlined in blackrock castle. If there was no sun you could uses a torch. Use chalk to mark your shadow and notice does you shadow change over time. I would teach the class how to make the sun dial, by marking the hours and creating a folded dial. I would point the sundial south. This would be linked into our digital learning plan as children would be able to take pictures of the activity and put it into their online learning portfolio.
Hi Siobhain, I love making use of starry night as an art resource too. I enjoyed reading you music suggestions. Thanks for sharing.m
Hi, I really like how you would encourage 6th class to take ownership of the garden. Giving responsibility to children often pays back ten fold in how they engage with the project.
Hi Laura, I love how you got the children comparing what they may see to what others may see. Very clever way of building their knowledge of life outside their community while also encouraging reflection about the night sky.
Hi, I really enjoyed you post, particularly where you encouraged the children to spend time with their family exploring stars and planets. Any time you can bring learning into the home is brilliant.
Hi Geraldine, like you, I believe that the framework will be very useful going forward. I am also glad to hear that stem can be busy and noisy for others and of course. I never read the book shadows, but plan to check it out after this cours. Really like your idea of bringing i pads into the lesson too.
The night sky has inspired much are throughout the ages, I think this activity is a lovely way to blend the scientific with the artistic. I will outline some songs that come to mind when thinking of the night sky:
Black Treacle by the Artic Monkeys.
Starman by David Bowie
From a children point of view I would think of twinkle Twinkle Little Star or when you wish upon a star
With Regards to Art I instantly think of Starry Night by Vincent Van Gough
A poem that stands out for me is Slyvia Plath Stars Over the Dordgone
I had not read the poem star dust by Micheal D Higgins until I saw it mentioned in this forum. I thoughorly enjoyed it and will be adding it to my list of poems anout the night sky.
The possibility of linking the night sky to the arts is endless and I think many creative lessons could be inspired by the night sky for children to complete.
I would discuss biodiversity with the class and explore the importance of having a variety of plants and animals in an area. There would be scope here to examine eco systems, food chains and food webs. We would explore our school environment and assess the biodiversity in the school environment by doing an animal plant hunt exercise. We could explore ways to increase the biodiversity in the school environment such as exploring ways to make the area more inviting. It would be a good opportunity to make a things like bug hotels.
We could follow on from our lessons on light pollution to explore how it may impact on creatures in our local habit. We could explore its effects on nocturnal animals and the migration of birds. There would the be scope to explore specific animals like bats, do a case study on them and explore the effects of light pollution on them and how it impacts them.
I would explain the definition of light pollution to the children in the class. As mentioned in the slides, I would define it as the inappropriate or excessive use of artificial light. We could do a matching activity with the various types of light pollution glare, sky glow, light trespass and clutter. Children could match the names with the definitions and pictures of the various types of light pollution. As well as this we would explore the components of light pollution; quantity of Light, Direction of light, composition of light.
Group discussion about where light pollution occurs in the community, what type is it and what are its components. We could visit the site of identified places and brainstorm improvements that could be made. As a class, we could draft a letter to the city council expressing our concerns and possible solutions. This would give an example for the children to feel like active members in their community.
The day before I use stellarium with the children, I would invite them to look at the night sky the day before with a trusted adult, and record what they could see. Having discussed their findings, I would then invite the children to explore the view from their community with stallarium. The children could compare and contrast what they saw the night before and what they might not have been able to see but can see using stellarium. Further to this I would explore stars and planets with stellarium and we would examine which planets could be seen from the night sky and which may be during the day and thus be unable to be seen. I would invite the children to repeat the exercise from the night before and see if they can make any extra connections from stellarium and notice more of the nights sky than the night before.
