Patterns in the sky is the lesson I have prepared for kindergerten and first. We compared the day sky to the night sky including things we would find in the sky. We studied Van Gogh's The Starry Night which possesses many patterns as well as textures.
My room has one wall that is essential only windows so observing was quite easy during the day. We observed clear dyas, cloudy days, windy days, and so on. I then presented a practice worksheet of sorts labelled an divided as Day and Night. A blank circle was placed in the ceter of each side just under the label.
In my initial attempts to inspire their imagination I only had my demo pinned to the board for the students to view during our discussions. We discussed the day side to include clouds, rainbows, birds, butterflies, planes, kites, and helicopters. For the night sky, we talked of stars, bats, fireworks, and rockets.
Leaving these items for the students to draw on their own was difficult for a great majority...even with the demo for them to look at. After spending one day with one kindergarten and one first class reviewing their tries I revised the worksheet to include atleast one visual drawn on each labelled side for the student. For example, I drew a kite on the day side for the students to color as they wished. On the night side a star or a rocket was included.
Including these visual seemingly increased their confidence in the drawings they drew to enhance what was already on the paper.
