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Consider how many Songs / Poems /Art can you think of to connect us with the Night Sky?
This year I will be teaching 2nd class. I decided to choose this question and consider which songs/poems etc that I can link to the night sky for my incoming class.
Last year, my class really enjoyed painting ‘Starry Night’ by Vincent Van Gogh. I will look forward to teaching this lesson again but with new resources and knowledge to introduce the children to from this course.
There are lots of songs suitable for this age group that connect us with the Night Sky. For example;
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Catch a Falling Star
Fly me to the Moon
Starry Starry Night
I See the Moon
All of these songs would be suitable for junior to senior class levels. They also have strong integration to music and oral language strands in the curriculum.I agree Edel. Grandparents are a fantstic resource and great invite in to share their stories with 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 exploring what biodiversity means. I would also take the children on a class nature walk with around the school grounds. I would encourage the children to observe and record any life that they find. I would then ask the children to discuss with a partner how human activity might disturb this biodiversity.
I would get the children into groups and use IPADS to research local nocturnal animals (bats, owls, hedgehogs etc.). In these groups they could then create a storyboard showing how light pollution can affect these animals. For example, how a bat might struggle to find insects near bright lights.
I would also play the bat/moth game. This is a great game to demonstrate how bats use echolocation and the children would really enjoy it.I think this is a great way to start the lesson and to establish their knowledge. Using think, pair and share is a great way to encourage children to share their thinking.
Detail how light pollution is impacting your local area and how you would engage your learners to explore this.
While Tullamore is relatively rural, it still experiences issues with light pollution, which can affect visibility of stars and our night sky. This is evident around the town centre and in housing estates.
Most students in second class would be able to recognise the impact that light has in our town and surrounding areas. A lot of the children would also have experience of less light pollution from living in rural settings. This would be a good starting point for discussion.
To begin with, I would establish the children’s prior knowledge of light pollution by using a KWL chart. I would ask them if where think would be best to see stars in our night sky and then establish a connection to light pollution.
A simple light pollution activity in the class would be to darken the room and hang a star map. You could also hang a black cloth and put some little white lights on it. I would use a ball or globe to represent earth. Then shine a light at the stars from a tilted angle. The children will be able to see that you could still see the black cloth/star map but it would be harder to see the little lights. This would be a good way of demonstrating how bright lights prevent us from seeing stars.
I would then get the children to look at images of night skies that are not affected by light pollution and compare them with images from an urban setting. I would ask them to brainstorm how light pollution is caused and to think, pair and share about examples of light pollution in their neighbourhood.
To finish I would encourage the children to take part in The Globe at Night. Observing the sky at night from their home.Create a short teaching resource using Stellarium/ WorldWide Telescope
Stellarium and worldwide telescope are two fantastic resources. I was not aware of them but will definitely use them in my classroom.
I would introduce Stellarium to the children and model how to use it to the whole class. I would show the children how to navigate, zoom and change the time and date.
I would then assign groups to investigate different planets and constellations using Stellarium on our classroom IPADS. The children could then create a project or report back to the class about what they found. I think this would be a fantastic tool for the children to use to create group projects and broaden their knowledge of constellations and planets. For their project the groups could also create their own model of the solar system based on what they have learned.
I think this lesson would be particularly suited to senior classes. They would really enjoy the collaborative process and learning more about the planets and constellations using this resource.This is a great way to use Chat GPT. I think the children would enjoy the visual aid that this provides.
1. Construct a sundial in your immediate area or plan for your school grounds to see where a sundial could be placed
I really like the idea of a class making a sundial together. It is such a fun, collaborative lesson. Its also a great opportunity for outdoor learning.
For this lesson, I would begin by establishing the children’s prior knowledge of how we tell time., i.e. clocks, smartphones etc. Then I would ask how people used to tell time before clocks were invented.
I would then ask the children if they know where the sun rises in the morning and if they know where the sun sets in the evening. How does it get from east to west?
Then, as a class we would place a large square of cardboard on a flat area of grass. We would then take a long stick and place that into the ground in the centre of the cardboard. Ask the children to observe if there is a shadow and mark the line of the shadow. We would take a note of the time and mark it on the cardboard. I would then ask the children to predict where the shadow would be at the end of small break, noon and home time. In small groups the children could then be sent out to check and mark the shadow at those times.
We could then observe this over the coming days.
