|
Overview: The students will read the book The Big Dipper, then make their own model constellations.
Booklink: The Big Dipper by Dr. Franklyn M. Branley illustrated by Ed Emberly, Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1962. ISBN 62-10999
Objective: Students will explore how constellations were named. Students will construct a constellation and name it.
Science Processes and Content: Processes-observing, constructing and designing, inferring, and model building. Content-space science, systems and subsystems, stars and constellations.
National Science Education Standards: Unifying Concepts and Processes, (1) Science as Inquiry, (2) Physical Science, (4) Earth and Space Science, (5) Science and Technology, (7) History and Nature of Science
Materials: Book The Big Dipper, about 5-to-8 stars for each student, glue stick, and a blue or black piece of construction paper for each student.
Procedure:
1. Have the students do a KWL chart so that you know what they know about constellations.
2. List all the names of constellations that they know.
3. Read the book The Big Dipper, then have the students describe and explain how the Big Dipper and the bear got their names.
4. Give each student a piece of dark construction paper and 5-8 stars.
5. The students drop the stars at random onto the construction paper and glue them in place.
6. Students then observe the design and infer or explain what constellation they see in it.
7. Then they name their constellation.
8. Children share their constructed constellations with the whole group, describing it and saying it’s name. The children can then write stories to go with their constellations.
Related Books:
Moon, Sun and Stars by John Bryan Lewellwn, Children's Press. ISBN 0-516-01637-7
*The Sky is full of Stars by Franklyn Branley, Harper Collins Publisher, 1981. ISBN 329-23153-7
*This book can substitute for the The Big Dipper when it is not available. |
