Twinkle, twinkle, little star...How I wonder what you are! For so many generations, people used the night sky as a calendar, to guide their way as they traveled, or to create stories to entertain themselves and others. Some even used it to predict the future. It was an integral part of their lives. In our society, knowledge of the moon, stars, planets, and constellations is a lost art. I'm trying to bring back a bit of that lost art here in Harrisburg with my fourth graders.
Fall is a great time to study the moon, stars, and solar system. It starts getting dark earlier and is still warm enough to spend some time outside in the evening. Students just have to look up to see the beautiful, immense night sky, full of stars (and the moon) right out there in the backyard! A great opportunity for some backyard science!
Some time ago, I placed glow-in-the-dark stars on my light panels in the shape of constellations. So, every time we turn off the lights in the classroom, the kids can see Leo, Orion, the Big Dipper, Sagittarius, Cassiopeia, and other constellations. My class, of course notices these on day one. I explain what constellations are and how to connect the dots to see the shapes. They usually conclude that the ancients had vivid imaginations to make a man or a flying horse out of those shapes! I turn off the light and tell the stories, which I have kid-ified over the years. Then I give them a star map and teach them how to use it. You can find monthly star maps at www.skymaps.com. Sometimes at this point we borrow a class set of iPads and explore the Night Sky app. Their assignment is then to try to find the constellations at night and circle on the map the ones they find. The next day I have "constellation club" posters all around the room for students to sign if they found a certain constellation (Cassiopeia Club, Big Dipper Club, etc). I usually get a note or two from parents thanking me for a great family evening! From time to time, during the year I send home monthly constellation maps just for fun or extra credit. When my daughters were teenagers, they used to tell me that I was turning all my students into geeks. I prefer to think I'm turning them into astrophysicists!
We also make a book of moon phases (If you're into Pinterest, there's a fun idea you can try that uses Oreo cookies to model the phases of the moon.) and I assign moon calendars. Students observe the moon each night for a month and draw and label it. Students who return their moon calendars receive extra credit and Moon Pies - or Starburst - or Milky Ways. Be sure you check out moonrise and set times on this site www.timeanddate.com before you assign the calendar. Sometimes the moon isn't visible until the wee hours of the morning!
Over the years, I have done several other astronomy activities with my students that you might like to try. If you have access to a Star Lab portable planetarium or are close enough to a planetarium for a field trip, that is great! There are also local amateur astronomy clubs that love to introduce kids to the stars and planets by doing star parties. There is nothing like looking in a telescope and seeing Saturn's rings or Jupiter's moons!
