Night Owl, Morning Magpie: YEAR 1 - Science - Elaborate
One night, Little J hears the nocturnal Barking Owl and becomes fascinated by how the owl stays awake at night. In the morning, he is woken by the carolling of magpies and on the way to school, he is swooped by Maggie, the magpie. Miss Chen teaches the class about nocturnal animals.
Elaborate - Represent and communicate observations and ideas in a variety of ways
Theme - DAY & NIGHT
Revisit the story of Little J & Big Cuz, Episode 13 ‘Night Owl and Morning Maggie’ and ask students to suggest what ‘nocturnal’ means.
Access Earth Observatory, NASA and select one or two of the images that display the lights of the earth at night. Have students suggest what the lights represent. Question the students about who would be the only people to experience this view of the earth. Have students make observations about the greatest number of lights and how Australia compares to other countries as per the density of lights and the location of the density of lights.
Access images of the night sky, from, Summer Night Sky, In particular, find the ‘Gallery’ images and/or the maps for the Eastern evening, and Morning. Find two images, one looking up to the sky, and one looking form the sky down to the earth. Ask students to describe the similarities and difference between the two views.. Have students identify the sources of light from each view, and what makes the darkness in each.
Ask students how scientists can see and photograph what is in the sky, and direct their responses to the use of telescopes. Introduce the class to the Italian astronomer, Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), invented the first telescope in the 1660s and explain the science of how a telescope works.
Using found materials (postal tube, tape, concave and convex lenses) have groups of students build a small telescope. Ask students to take turns taking the telescope home over the course of a week and each night record what they can see in the night sky. Resources fir building a telescope, include:
Have students share with the class what they observed and documented in the night sky, especially the star constellations visible.
Introduce students to the Aboriginal artist, Alma Nungarrayi Granites, and her artworks. Using the I See, I Think, I Wonder visual analysis strategy, have students consider the similarities of the artworks to the night skies as seen through telescopes.
Pose and respond to questions about the meaning of the artworks in relation to Aboriginal Dreaming stories and/or Torres Strait Islander Bipo Bipo Taim (Before Before Time) stories, such as.
- Before Galileo
- Before Galileo: Star Law of Bill Harney
- Aboriginal Skies
- Australian Aboriginal Astronomy, by Prof Ray Norris
In groups, have students add to their observation report on the night sky, by retelling or recounting an Aboriginal Dreaming story and/or Torres Strait Islander Bipo Bipo Taim (Before Before Time) story about the sky or constellations.
“A science journal is a record of a students’ observations, experiences and reflections. Each entry is dated and annotated by the student. Annotations may include written labels, drawings, diagrams, charts, small specimens, photographs, and graphs. Student engagement and learning is evident in the science journal.”
Sourced from: Primary Connections, Linking science with literacy