Lesson 4
Star Light, Star Bright

Objectives:
  • Students will identify the sun as a star.
  • Students will describe characteristics of the sun.
  • Students will identify constellations.
  • Students will record their discoveries about stars on a class mural.

Time Required:

  • 2-one hour sessions
Vocabulary:
  • stars, constellations, Orion, Big Dipper, Little Dipper
Materials:
  • chart or chalkboard
  • marker or chalk
  • KidPix
  • The Golden Book Encyclopedia CD-Rom
  • Visit Science NASA  to view images of the sun
Procedures:
  • Revisit K-W-L and write new information students have learned.
  • Write sun and star on a chart or chalkboard and ask students if they know what these two things have in common.  Emphasize that the sun is really a star.
  • Ask students questions such as the following to get them thinking and wondering about stars.  Write the questions on a chart.
    • Is the sun the biggest star?
    • What are stars made of?
    • Why do they shine or twinkle?
    • Do you think stars ever burn out?
    • Have you ever been in a place where you could look up and see all the stars?
    • Do you know that some groups of stars look like animals or objects?
  • Encourage students to share previous experiences or knowledge they have about stars.  Record students’ ideas on a chart and also record things they would like to know about stars.
  • Have students use the Golden Book Encyclopedia and research under star, sun, constellation, and Milky Way.  Students will read or listen to the articles and look at the pictures.  Tell students to pick one thing they have learned about stars to share with the class.
  • Students will make a mural of the night sky using Kid Pix.  Encourage students to make stars of all sizes and to invent constellations.  They can use the Kid Pix section to create shooting stars, planets, spaceships, or space stations.
  • Print the murals students created and make a class quilt. 
  • Learn the times of the sun and moon risings at United States Navy  
Evaluation:
  • Students will pick one thing they have learned about stars to share with the class.
  • Murals
Extension Activity 1:
  • Visit Constellations- United Kingdom and click on Constellations.  Find two names of stars and how they got their name.  Which of the two stars is brightest and how far apart are they from each other?

 

Extension Activity 2:

  • Students will create a moon puzzle
  • Using a draw/paint application have students draw a simple shape
  • Copy the shape, then Paste several times in a row, side by side, so they slightly touch each other
  • Copy the row of shapes, then Past the set below the first so it just touches
  • Add a few details to the white space between the two rows. add details to one shape
  • Copy/Paste on the other white shapes
  • Repeat steps 3-4, copying and pasting a second set below the first set
  • Repeat until the drawing area is filled
  • Print one copy
  • Glue artwork to a piece of cardboard
  • Trim edges and cut cardboard into puzzle pieces
Home Learning:
  • Students will look up at the sky and draw a picture of what they saw in the evening sky and write a sentence about it. Students can use desktop publishing to write and print sentence.


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