Moth, The Fire Dancer is part of a compilation entitled Keepers of the Night which provides an integrated approach to teaching the mystery and fascination of the animals, plants, and insects that inhabit the world of night. Through the use of Native North American stories, nighttime artistic and scientific activities, children learn to develop a caring, constructive relationship with nature and the outdoors.
Moth, The Fire Dancer introduces its theme, insects, spiders and plants at night, with a Native American story. The discussion section that follows provides background information and questions about the night and its nocturnal interactions between insects, spiders and flowers. Students participate in a variety of activities that vary from playing games to scientific experiments. Each activity provides goals, detailed teaching instructions and a list of required materials.
The Scents of Attraction – Using a variety of pleasant liquid scents, the students play a game to understand why scent is a good attractant for moths.
Light Up the Night – Students set out different coloured lights and observe which colours generally attract more insects. They record and share their observations.
The Blooming Night – Students discover the sensory world of flowers that bloom at night. They observe insects and spiders that are active on flowers at night.
Cricket Cacophony – Students learn how and why crickets call in the evening and at night. They listen to crickets calling and create their own cricket chorus.
Cricket Thermometer – Students listen to the number of calls made by the field cricket in fifteen seconds and use a formula to calculate the approximate temperature in Fahrenheit and Celsius.
Firefly Flashers – Students learn why fireflies create and flash their lights. They participate in a game during which they identify their mate by recognizing a particular flash of pattern of lights.
The Spider and the Firefly – Students use a red light to observe a spider in action on its web at night.
Poetry to Your Ears – Students create poems from words describing the unique sounds of the night.
A section entitled Extending the Experience provides a variety of activities to reinforce and supplement the lessons of the story and activities.
Loading...
