Week 5

This past week I started my trade book unit for reading. We are using the book The Last Safe House. This book includes both fiction and non-fiction portions about slavery and the Underground Railroad.

For this book, my class will spend three days on each chapter. The first day they will read the non-fiction pages to give prior knowledge of the types of events/places that are mentioned in the fiction part of the chapter. The second day, students will read the fiction story of the chapter and discuss the chapter in either groups or as a class. The third day, students will create a slide using powerpoint to summarize a certain aspect of the chapter. (Ex: What important details are in this chapter?)

The great part of the non-fiction pages is the type of information that is included. At first glance, one would not think there would be any science involved in this type of literature. However, I found that to not be true.

In chapter 2, the non-fiction pages talk about how the runaway slaves used stars to navigate. I thought that this would be a great point to focus on. Before my students read the story, I had them complete the following activity.

Activity:
Before class:
Before the day starts, place either cut out circles or stars around the classroom. I put about 40-50 stars around my classrooms in random formations. I also placed the big dipper and little dipper on the walls of my classroom.

During class:
First I asked my students, "How do you think slaves were able to navigate their way north? Instantly I had about 6 students raise their hands. The students said things like, "navigated by stars, moss on a tree, paths, people, etc..."
I then informed students that the slaves did indeed use the stars to navigate their way north. I then asked students, "who else used the stars to navigate?" The students responded by saying sailors did. They learned this during their last social studies unit.
I then asked students, how did the slaves know how to navigate by the stars to find north? After several responses, I stated that by word of mouth, the slaves knew that a star called Polaris would help them find north. So how did they know which star this was? They looked for the big dipper. I then displayed a picture of the big dipper. I asked students if they had seen this constellation before. They all said yes. I then informed students that the slaves would look for this in the sky to help them find the north star. They would use the star on the right side of the pan, go straight from there and find the biggest, brightest star in the sky, Polaris. This star is the tip of the handle on the Little Dipper.

So why use this star? I informed students that the star known as the North Star is directly above our north pole. Stars stay positioned in their spots while our world rotates. The star will always be in the same place. Therefore, the North Star stays at 0 degrees North.



I then asked students to take the piece of paper in front of them and roll it into a telescope. I turned off the lights and asked students to look for the Big Dipper just as the slaves would have. Once students found the Big Dipper, I asked students what they would do next? They answered look off the star on the pan for the tip of the handle of the Little Dipper. They then turned their telescopes towards the Little Dipper and were able to find our North Star in the classroom.

Lastly, I asked students what would they do if there were clouds and they couldn't see the stars? I stated that one of our classmates had already mentioned it. I then asked that student to repeat herself. "They used moss on the trees." I then explained that moss grows on the north side of a tree, so that even if they couldn't see the stars, they were able to still navigate north.

Simple activity? Yes, but it gets students thinking, helps them learn a new concept, and has students learn new information in a different way. Could I have simply just said all the information rather than have the students look for the star and navigate as if they were a slave? Yes, but having students take part in the experience themselves helps to solidify new informtion.

This particular lesson, I was being observed by my professor. What she observed matched with exactly what I saw while I was teaching. The students were engaged, they loved being able to navigate the stars, and they were intrigued to find out how slaves navigated with/without clouds. My students loved the information we talked about. Once the first couple of students gave responses, every other hand shot up. They all wanted to share. When I revealed step by step how to navigate, I would hear "ooh's and ahh's" around the classroom. This seems to be a common thing that happens whenever I integrate STEM materials/activities into a lesson. The students were engaged and excited throughout the entire lesson. So far, there has not been an activity or material that the students did not react positively to.


Please feel free to comment with your feedback, experiences, or activities you may have done in the classroom!