The Grade 1s, 2s and 5s recently took part in a fun Buddy Reading activity linked to their units of inquiry. For the transdisciplinary theme of How The World Works, Grades 1 and 2 have been learning about light and how it affects us on Earth. The Grade 5’s unit on Where We Are In Place And Time, involves learning about space exploration and how discoveries in space impact human life on Earth. The strong links between the two units made it easy to collaborate between the 3 year groups, and we decided that we’d focus on the stars for our combined activity.
To prepare, the teachers recreated constellations that can be seen from the northern hemisphere by placing clusters of glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling and walls of the classroom. We dimmed the lights and the students worked together to identify the constellations using their star maps and flashlights. The older students helped their Grade 1 and 2 buddies to recognize the constellations and they all drew and labeled the constellations they found to add to their unit of inquiry books. The students had a great time and we all learned a little bit more about constellations. You can see some of the photos from the activity below.