Kindergarten©* Kindergarten©*
Note to the Teacher
Most of us have looked up at a night sky in awe of the moon and the thousands of stars in our universe. Thus, we have been introduced to astronomy. Among those who regularly gaze toward the heavens are young children. At a very early age they wish upon stars, hope to see a "shooting" star, and try to locate pictures in the starry night. Throughout time there has been enormous interest and curiosity about astronomy. The ancients created "star pictures" which we still use today (constellations) and every day our knowledge of the universe which surrounds us is enhanced through the use of technology. For these reasons, it seems appropriate to begin a study of astronomy in the primary grades, spiraling the curriculum from the kindergarten level through the high school years. Such a fascinating subject cannot help but hold the attention of children, stimulate their curiosity, and motivate them to want to learn.
The lesson plans contained in this unit have been developed for elementary use and are cross-curricular. They contain appropriate hands-on activities.
The activities presented in the unit are suggestions only and the teacher may design alternatives. Virginia SOL's addressed for this kindergarten unit are included at the end of the six lessons.
Lesson One
What Are Stars and Do They Really Twinkle?
Objectives
The student will:
Materials
Procedure
Begin the lesson with Mozart's piano piece as above (better
known as "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"). Encourage children
not to reveal the name of the piece. As the music plays, distribute
pattern blocks to groups of children. Invite them to create a
pattern block picture of the image which comes to their mind as
they listen to the music. Observe and comment.
Explain that the melody they heard was created by a very famous musician named Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who lived about 200 years ago. Thus, this piece of music has existed for a long time but not nearly as long as stars have been around. You might wish to read the students the second stanza of what they know as "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" as it is much less familiar than the first. It reads:
Suggest that it might be fun to embark on a study of astronomy, defining the term (a study of the stars, planets, and other heavenly bodies). Explain that astronomy is one of the oldest sciences in the world. Assuming enthusiasm will occur, badges denoting each child as a "young astronomer" should be distributed. Inform students that whenever they are about to study the science of astronomy, they will wear their badges. This should be an effective tool in having them learn the term.
Take a helium-filled balloon and ask children to predict what a balloon might have to do with a star. After discussion, deflate the balloon having students watch what happens. Explain that the balloon was filled with helium and ask what they now know about helium after watching the balloon deflate. Perhaps someone will note that it is invisible. This provides an opening to explain that helium and hydrogen are invisible gases that create stars. State that stars are giant balls of gas that are so hot and fiery that they glow brightly and give off heat.
Explain that stars come in all sizes but they are so far away that they look like tiny, beautiful, twinkling points of light. Explain that those tiny twinkling points of light are really GIGANTIC! Also, stars are different colors. The color of the star depends on how hot it is. Cool stars are red. Warmer stars are yellow-orange, hot stars are white and very hot stars are blue. You may want to make a class poster equating the color of a star with its temperature. Emphasize that we cannot feel the heat from the stars because they are so far away.
Ask students if they believe that stars vanish in the daytime? After discussion, make them aware that stars shine all time. We do not see them during the day because the light from the sun is so bright that it is impossible to see the light coming from the stars. Ask the students to try the following experiment:
On a clear evening, just as it starts to get dark, lie looking
up
into the sky. As it gets darker and darker, watch the stars seem
to pop
out one at a time. Actually, the stars have been there all the
time and are just
waiting for the light from the sun to fade. Suggest they count
as many stars as
they can see and when they can no longer count any higher, they
can guess
how many stars there might be.
State that stars do not twinkle. They only seem to twinkle when
we look at them from the Earth. When stars are out in space they
just glow steadily and do not move. They seem to twinkle because
of the Earth's air. The twinkling begins when the light from the
star hits the air, which is moving, and tosses the light around.
Conclude the lesson by reading Laura's Star, an enchanting
book for kindergartners. The story involves the comfort Laura
gets from her star in the evening and her reaction to its disappearance
as morning arrives. The discussion following the reading can emphasize
that Laura's star really did not disappear, it simply could not
be seen during the day because of the light from the sun.
Objectives
The student will:
Materials
Procedure
Hand out badges. Recall the prior day's lesson on stars by returning to Mozart's piano piece. Give students one minute (while listening to the music) to recall what they remember from the day before. When time has elapsed, have students pair with a neighbor and share any information about Lesson One. Have a group sharing time to assure that concepts in the previous lesson have been grasped. Correct any misconceptions, reiterate important facts, and distribute astronomy badges.
Ascertain if any of the students were able to watch the stars "pop out" as was suggested. If so, have them estimate how many stars they thought there were in the sky. Explain that the most stars anyone is able to see with the naked eye is about 2,000 but there really are millions of stars. Clarify that with the use of a telescope (which magnifies) many more stars can be seen. Having a model or picture of a telescope would be helpful.
Explain to students that, in some ways, stars are a little
like people. They are born, they grow up, they grow old, and eventually,
they die. However, unlike people, stars can live for thousands
of millions of years. Stars also come in all sizes just as people
come in all sizes. There is a difference though because even the
tiniest stars are really big, several miles across (equate distance
to some measure children might understand--from home to school,
etc.). Along with small stars, there are medium-sized stars as
well as supergiants. Request that they think about the fact that
even tiny stars are very big and then imagine how huge supergiants
must be!
Have students close their eyes and visualize your description
of the beginning of the life of a star:
Allow time for students to discuss what they envisioned. Introduce Vincent van Gogh's "A Starry Night" as an example of what a famous painter saw when he examined nature and the stars. Ask them if the pictures they formed in their minds looked anything like van Gogh's swirling stars.
A question and answer period can following about why we usually draw stars with points rather than as burning hot balls of gas and dust. Accept all reasonable responses.
Provide students with black construction paper and red, orange, white, yellow, and blue chalk. Remind them that cooler stars are red, warmer stars yellow-orange, hot stars white and very hot stars blue. Have them draw their own version of "A Starry Night." It will be an interesting and informal assessment to note whether they use the traditional star shape or apply their new found knowledge of stars as swirling masses of gas and dust. Hang pictures next to the van Gogh print.
Conclude the discussion of the life of a star by noting that nothing lasts forever and stars eventually die. Some overheat, blow up, and explode like a balloon ( we cannot be hurt from this explosion because stars are very far away). Other stars die when they cool down and shrink.
Finally, read Draw Me a Star. Discuss how Carle draws
his stars and the colors he uses.
Lesson Three
The Sun is a Star
Objectives
The student will:
Materials
Procedure
Hand out badges. To review and assess the prior day's lesson, clear a large space in the gymnasium or playground. Scatter students around in the space, making sure there is adequate space between each child. Teacher occupies the center of the area, camouflaging a flashlight.
Ask students to think about the birth of a star. Remind them of van Gogh's "A Starry Night" and how the stars appeared on that poster. Request that students carefully and quietly behave like the gas and dust that form stars. Suggest that as they move, they head toward the teacher in the very hot center of the star. See how many students can remember the spinning/whirling motion of gas and dust particles as they form a star. When students surround you tightly, switch on the flashlight and announce that after billions of years, a star has been born!
Discussion of the activity should follow to further cement the concept of the birth of a star.
Once back in the classroom, inform students that they are about to discover a very special star. This is a special star because it is our closest star and appears to us to be the brightest and biggest in the sky. It is also a star that we see during the day. Have students venture a guess as to what this star might be called.
The star, of course, is the sun. Explain that because the sun is the closest star to us, it seems to be the biggest but it is really only a medium-sized star. The sun is just the right distance from us to warm and light our planet, Earth. Of all the objects in the sky, the sun is the most important. Without the sun, there would be no life on earth. All the plants would die, the animals would have nothing to eat, we would have nothing to eat. Our Earth would be very dark and cold if the sun did not shine upon us. Without the sun, nothing could live.
Try this experiment. Take two similar plants. Place one of the plants on a window sill where it will get lots of sun. Place the other plant in a dark closet. Have students predict what might happen to the two plants after a week's time. Remember to water both plants at the same time and with the same amount of water. After one week, remove the plant from the closet and put it next to the plant on the sunny window sill. Examine the differences. The plant left in the closet, without any light, is a sad sight. What does this experiment prove? Discuss.
Explain to students that we cannot travel to the sun because
it is much too hot! It is much hotter than the flames on a stove.
In fact, the surface of the sun looks like a boiling hot pot of
soup. Hot gases shoot out from the sun. Some even shoot thousands
of miles out into space and then return to the sun. Show students
the illustrations in The Sun to support your verbal description
or use images from the internet at StarChild: http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/solar_system_level1/sun.html
Should you not have access to the internet, StarChild will supply
you with a free CDRom containing the same material.
Display van Gogh's "Olive Trees" reminding students
that this is the same artist that painted "A Starry Night."
Ask them if they can feel the heat from the sun when they look
at this image. Inform students that they will be drawing images
of the sun to accompany a group story which will be written the
next time astronomy badges are given out.
Objectives
The student will:
Materials
Procedure
Hand out badges. Have students list facts about the sun as a star and note same on chart paper. If necessary, assist them to remember the heat from the sun with the van Gogh print, and with pictures from The Sun. Brainstorm facts from the previous lesson (sun is our closest star, the sun is the most important object in the sky, the sun looks like a boiling pot of soup, we cannot travel to the sun because it is too hot, nothing can live without the sun, etc.). Have each child illustrate and label his/her own" favorite fact" about the sun.
Place fact list and illustrations on display. Illustrations may also be submitted via the internet to the following sites:
http://www.kidsspace.com
http://school.aol.com/primary/science.adp
http://www.google.com/search?q=elementary+science
Objectives
The student will:
Materials
Procedure
Hand out badges. Take students outdoors and encourage them to observe shadows created by nature (trees, flowers, birds, etc.) Have them observe their own shadows. Attempt to have the children discover that shadows occur when light from the sun is blocked by an object by asking the following questions:
After discussion, determine whether understanding exists about shadows occurring when the sun is blocked. Have students create an unusual shadow of their own and have that shadow traced by another student.
Read Bear Shadow, a story about a bear attempting to lose his shadow and, finally, coming to terms with its existence. Be sure to point out the sun in the illustrations and explore the times when bear momentarily loses his shadow.
After the book is read, create shadows with artificial light (a lamp, a flashlight). Have students cast shadow images onto paper or the walls. Explain that the same principle is at work with artificial light--when something blocks light, a shadow forms.
It might be fun to have the students trace the shadow of an object at home. Provide class sharing time for students to discuss and guess the object represented by the shadow. Make sure students who complete this task explain where they were when the tracing was done, what time it was, and how they formed the shadow.
Lesson Six
Space Sonnets
Objectives
The student will:
Materials
Procedure
Hand out badges. Have several poems from Blast Off! Poems About Space printed out on large chart paper. Read:
Lead a discussion of the poem with the following questions:
Why does this child have the feeling that she hasn't counted
all the stars?
Does anyone remember about how many stars you can see without
using a telescope?
Are there hundreds of stars, thousands of stars, or millions of
stars?
The poem says that stars "glitter bright white" but
what do we know about the color of stars?
Why does the air have to be "fresh as the first night in
fall" to see the stars?
Read the first stanza of :
Discussion questions might include:
The first poem we read was about stars, this poem is about
the sun. Why would a poem about the sun be read after a poem about
stars?
Is the sun our closest star? Is it our largest star?
Why do you think the poet talks about the sun warming words?
Point out that these two poems have different styles. See if the students can recognize that one rhymes and one does not.
Have students create their own poems or a group poem. Guide them in the use of new vocabulary words. Submit poems on-line to any of the following sites:
Kids Creations (http://www.bhg.com/crayolakids/index.html)
CBC4Kids (http://www.cbc4kids.ca/general/words/writers-corner/currentpoems15.html)
Make sure to check the sites regularly so students may see the poetry posted.
Virginia SOL's Addressed for Kindergarten
Science
Scientific Investigation, Reasoning and Logic
The student will
K.1 conduct investigations in which objects are described both
pictorially and verbally and unusual or unexpected results in
an activity are recognized
K.2 investigate and understand that humans have senses including
sight, smell, hearing, touch and taste. Senses allow one to seek,
find, take in and react or respond to information in order to
learn about one's surroundings.
Matter
K.4 investigate and understand that objects can be described in
terms of their physical properties including the eight basic colors
and shapes and forms.
Life Processes
K.6 investigate and understand basic needs and life processes
of plants and animals. Key concepts include living things change
as they grow and need food, water, and air to survive and plants
and animals live and die (go through a cycle)
Interrelationships in Earth/Space Systems
K.7 investigate and understand that shadows occur when light is
blocked by an object. Key concepts include shadows occur in nature
when sunlight is blocked by an object; and shadows can be produced
by blocking artificial light sources.
Earth Patterns, Cycles and Change
K.9 investigate and understand that change occurs over time and
that rates may be fast or slow.
Math
Geometry
The student will
K.14 identify representations of plane geometric figures (circle,triangle,
square, and rectangle), regardless of their position and orientation
in space.
K.15 compare the size (larger/smaller) and shape of plane geometric
figures (circle, triangle, square and rectangle)
Patterns, Functions and Algebra
The student will
K.20 identify, describe, and extend a repeating relationship (pattern)
found in common objects, sounds, and music
Language Arts
Oral Language
The student will
K.1 demonstrate growth in the use of oral language listen to a
variety of literary forms, including stories and poems participate
in creative dramatics
K.2 use listening and speaking vocabularies
K.3 build oral communication skills
Reading/Literature
The student will
K.8 demonstrate comprehension of stories
Writing
The student will
K.10 print his/her own name
K.11 draw pictures and/or use letters and phonetically spelled
words to write about objects
K.12 explore the uses of available technology for reading and
writing
Research
The student will
K.13 begin to ask how and why questions
* This lesson is © 2000 - Institute for Connecting Science Research to the Classroom (http://www.icsrc.org)