{"id":1822,"date":"2009-09-21T12:20:40","date_gmt":"2009-09-21T17:20:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/archives\/1822"},"modified":"2009-09-21T12:20:40","modified_gmt":"2009-09-21T17:20:40","slug":"teaching-earth-science-with-childrens-literature-what-makes-day-and-night-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/2009\/09\/21\/teaching-earth-science-with-childrens-literature-what-makes-day-and-night-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Earth Science with Children’s Literature: What Makes Day and Night"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"earth-science.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What Makes Day and Night<\/a>, written by Franklyn M. Branley <\/a>and illustrated by Arthur Dorros<\/a>, is\u00a0a book answering children’s questions as to what causes ‘day to be day,’ ‘night to be night,’ and how the sun appears and disappears during these times.<\/p>\n

This book follows a group of inquisitive children on their journey into finding out exactly what causes\u00a0these events\u00a0to happen, starting off with the basics of how our planet, Earth,\u00a0is constantly spinning and rotating on its axis and the daily evoluations\u00a0it makes around\u00a0the sun.\u00a0 The illustrations provide children with a clear sense of the Earth’s full rotation around the sun and shows the different stages of sunrise, day, sunset, and night, as well as providing insight into the moon’s lunar phases.\u00a0 In addition to providing solid, factual information on these concepts, the children in the book conduct their own experiements at home with a flashlight in order to\u00a0have a hands on understanding of\u00a0how days and nights are created and the effects of light and darkness on Earth.<\/p>\n

This book can surely serve as an anticipatory resource prior to a unit on Earth’s movement and motions within the solar system, and can be read aloud to the class or read independently by students because of the simplicity and student-friendliness of the text.\u00a0 The author and illustrator do an excellent job of allowing students to grasp and process these abstract concepts through facts, home experiments, and detailed illustrations, leaving them with a sense of pride and curiousity to learn more about our plant and solar system.<\/p>\n

Curriculum Connections<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

What Makes Day and Night <\/a>serves as an excellent and useful resource to help teach, reinforce, and emphasize the third grade learning objectives in accordance with the Virgiia Standards of Learning (SOL’s).\u00a0 Investigating and understanding the basic patterns and cycles of the Earth in relation to the sun and moon (SOL 3.8)\u00a0is supported throughout the entire book through its discussion and illustrations of the stages and time of Earth’s rotation, its effects of the sun on the planet, and the phases of the moon (SOL 3.8a).<\/p>\n

Additional Resources<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n