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I really like the idea of having Space week. It would be a great opportunity for the whole school to become involved and work together to try to limit light pollution. You could spend the week assessing the night sky as part of homework and completing projects at home. It would encourage siblings to work together even if they are in very different class levels.
Consider how many Songs / Poems /Art can you think of to connect us with the Night Sky
There are so many songs, poems, picture books and art that we can link to the night sky starting with the following;
Songs/ poems
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
Catch a falling star
A sky full of stars by ColdplayArt
Van Gogh’s starry night using oil pastels
Night sky scratch art using crayons and black paint
Create a planet mobilePicture books
How to catch a star and the way back home by Oliver JeffersI really like the idea of using picture books with the class when teaching a new topic. Thank you for recommendation.
How you would incorporate the needs of nocturnal species, especially those that rely on dark skies into school biodiversity plans.
Firstly, we would start with a KWL chart on what we know about nocturnal animals. I would show the children photos of nocturnal animals but placing emphasis on the ones that are mainly living in our area- bats, moths, owls, hedgehogs and badgers. We could possibly work with a local group to try and record when and where they are most active on our school grounds. I would then get the children to work in pairs to create posters to place around the school to highlight key things that we could do to help our nocturnal animals in our community;
Reduce light pollution- use warm bulbs, use motion sensor lights on our school grounds, only have necessary lights on after school hours.
Habitat friendly environment- plant night time plants such as evening primrose and jasmine, build bat and owl boxes and place around the school, plenty of hedging areas around the school to provide shelter for our animals.Detail how light pollution is impacting your local area and how you would engage your learners to explore this.
I would discuss what light pollution is & using a kwl chart, we would identify as a whole class collectively what we would like to learn about it. I like the idea of using David Attenborough video on sea turtles to show the impact of light pollution to the class.Light pollution can have huge impacts on the following;
wildlife: the artifical light can confuse birds, insects and nocturnal animals. The David Attenborough video would be excellent at highlighting this. It has the ability to change feeding, breeding and migration patterns.
People: excess night time light can disrupt sleep and hide the stars.
Energy & climate: poorly directed lights waste electricity.
For homework, the children could identify light pollution sources in their home and local area, this could make all the family aware of the impacts and perhaps improve their usage in the home. It is very important for them to learn from a young age & help them care for nature, save energy and sleep better.
That documentary sounds very interesting, it would be a great way to introduce the effects of light pollution to the class.
I have chosen to create an observing plan for autumn that shows which planets are visible in the evening sky as my module 2 topic.
I would start with lots of talk and discussion with the class to elicit their prior knowledge about planets and inform them that many planets are visible from Ireland during autumn, these are easy to identify as planets do not twinkle like stars.
I would introduce the different planets with facts and pictures. The children would work in groups to do project work on each of the planets over a 1.5 week period. When all the information has been accumulated, they would then set about their stargazing experience. The key points to note are that they may need lots of patience as we need a very clear night so it may take some time to really see. Darkness is key so those living in more urban areas may find this challenging so we would brainstorm local areas that may provide a better experience.
I would show the children timeanddate.com to identify the visible planets over the next few weeks- Venus and Saturn will have good visibility in September. The children can use the apps stellarium and skyview for a better experience. I would encourage the children to record their sightings on their planet watch worksheet. During our morning meeting, the children would have the opportunity to share what they saw.
I had never heard of stellarium or skyview before but I will definitely introduce them to my class this year. I like the idea of using them for homework, it is a fun way to engage the children but also could be a nice family activity too. I look forward to trying them out properly myself on the next clear night.
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 carry this activity out over a number of days. Firstly, I would bring the class out to the yard and we would identity where is the best area to observe the position of the sun throughout the school day. We would discuss the direction of the sun – North, South, East and West and also inform the children that the sun always rises in the East and sets in the West.
The children would each have chalk and they could record the position of the sun by making a mark/their name and maybe asking another child to trace their shadow. It would be important to record the position of the sun at set times throughout the school day- 9.10, 12.10 and perhaps 2.30 just before home time. We could use the ipads to take photos throughout the day and upload them so we could analyse them on the whiteboard. I think this would bring lots of exciting discussion around the patterns and changes throughout the day. Having read Liston (2018) article, the idea that STEM is more about being fun, meaningful and connected for the children is something I will really consider & implement this year as opposed to just ticking off boxes for science, technology, engineering and maths.
