Once Upon a Starry Night

by Jacqueline Mitton and Christina Balit

Summary: Once Upon a Starry Night explains ten widely known constellations. The book takes the reader on a vivid journey of the night sky. The author compares the night sky to a vast picture book and says that the sky is filled with kings, queens, gods, heroes, and mythical creatures. The ten constellations that are portrayed in this book include: Cassiopeia, Andromeda, Perseus, Pegasus, Lyra, Hercules, Orion, Centaurus, Ophiuchus, and Argo. The author details the myths behind each constellation. The pictures are colorful and rich. The book also offers a map of the night sky.

SC Science Standard: 4-3 The student will demonstrate an understanding of the properties, movements, and locations of objects in the solar system. (Earth Science)

SC ELA Standard: 4-6 The student will access and use information from a variety of sources.

Indicator: 4-6.4 Paraphrase research information accurately and meaningfully.

Activity/Lesson: After the teacher reads the book aloud, the students will work in groups to research their assigned constellation. The students will draw and prepare a presentation on their constellations to the class. After all of the groups have completed their drawings the teacher will put together all of the constellations and create a class map of the nights sky.

Objectives:

• The student will identify the properties of an assigned constellation.
• The student will illustrate an assigned constellation.
• The student will orally present a minimum of 5 facts about an assigned constellation to the class

Materials:

• Once Upon A Starry Night
• Black poster board
• white crayons
• gold star stickers
• computers and additional reference texts for the students to use for research.

Procedure:

1. The teacher will aks the students if they know what constellations are and if so which ones have they heard of.
2. The teacher will also ask the students what a myth is and any examples they may know.
3. Next the teacher will read Once Upon a Starry Night
4. The teacher will break the class into 10 groups, assigning one of the ten constellations from the book to each group.
5. Each group with research their constellation and draw on black chart paper using white crayons and star stickers.
6. The groups will prepare a short oral presentation on their constellations and present to the class.
7. The teacher will put together all of the constellation to make a map of the nights sky on the ceiling.