Xapa to the World

Tag: night

  • Stars – a Nature Study with Book List

    Stars – a Nature Study with Book List

    I remember in high school when we had to present a cultural oral report in our social studies class. It was to be about storytelling in different cultures. I had been fascinated by the stars and how cultures (at the time, I believed only the Greeks and maybe the Romans) had taken their epic stories and placed them into the stars. It had a dual purpose – help people remember the plots of the stories and remember where the stars are and their significance. I went about 5 or 10 minutes over my time limit and our teacher graciously let me because we were all engaged in the lesson.

    My book list includes not only non-fiction books about stars and scientists who study them, or sweet picture books about stars, like Eric Carle’s “Draw Me a Star,” but also several cultural ties including the Underground Railroad from the 1800s.

    You may find a free printable of my list of 21 books on – again for FREE. 🙂

    If you want to skip the download, you can find the list on both or

    I’ve since learned that the Greeks were not unusual in their study of the skies and the paths of the stars and planets. East Asia, Africa, and the southern continents also have their own stories tied to constellations. I am grateful for the dearth of material available while studying with my kids so that I can also learn about the many ways cultures and nations have used the stars for their own purposes.

    A fun activity to do with your kids is to make a star box! You will need a light source (maybe a battery-powered tea light, or a flashlight that can be propped up), a cardboard box, black construction paper, and something to poke holes with, maybe a small screwdriver or pencil tip. Remove one side of the box, leave the rest intact and strong. Poke holes of varying sizes (nothing too big, though) in the construction paper. Try following a real star map for some familiar constellations, or create your own! Then, with the light source inside the box, facing the open side, tape the construction paper across the opening. Place in a room with a clear ceiling and turn off the lights! Stargazing outside is of course preferable, but if you live in a place with high light pollution, uncooperative weather, or you have littles who just can’t stay up that late, this is a great alternative!

    The best option, of course, is to get outside in the dark and see the stars yourself. It saddens me that some children (and grownups!) have never really star-gazed before. During the pandemic, I remember when some power-outages happened after a big storm and emergency services reported several concerned calls about the bright blemish in the night sky – referring to the Milky Way!

    One of our nearby state parks is working to get a Dark Sky certification and it’s been so neat learning about what is required and all the ways that a dark sky is so important. Did you know that most birds make their migrations in the dark? That’s why bright exterior lights and bright cities can be so hazardous to birds. Also, many insects and even plants require regular periods of darkness.

    We have been trained through fear that darkness is dangerous and evil. Of course safety is important, but darkness is a beautiful thing. Human actually have pretty good night vision, but it does take time to adjust and to strengthen. If you want more information about the importance of dark skies, please check out Dark Sky International. It is an incredible organization with lots of resources – would make a good resource for unit studies in your homeschool, whatever the age!

    Disclaimer: This site uses some affiliate links. This costs you nothing, but helps supplement our homeschooling costs. Thank you for your support!

  • Moon – an Autumn Nature Study with Book List

    Moon – an Autumn Nature Study with Book List

    I have written quite a few poems over the years about the moon. I have loved it for a very long time. I like that it has a very set schedule, but it doesn’t follow the rules of daytime/nighttime. It pops up in the middle of the day sometimes. And then there’s the whole following you through the sky while driving.

    It’s not a surprise, then, that the moon features in a ton of picture books!

    You may find a free printable of my list of 35 books on – again for FREE. 🙂

    If you want to skip the download, you can find the list on both or

    One of my poems, The Moon-Cloud, was written back in 2010. Another, The Heavy Moon, was in 2006, while I was in my last year of college. And here is one of my first moon poems, written back in 2003, it was published in one of those National Poets Society books where they graciously offer you to pay to put it in (haha!):

    Nighttime

    Have you ever tried to chase the moon?
    As its soft yellow crescent rocks down to the horizon?

    While the stars dance around it
    and drip light through the seas that darken its surface.

    Have you seen it grow as it dips beneath the skyline and peeks through the trees
    that toss it back and forth,
    and forth and back?

    What wonderful magic the dark sky plays on the watchful eyes of a child,
    sitting and connecting the stars into heroes and villains and damsels.

    While grass collects the dew between his fingers and
    sticks to the toes of a girl
    as she chases the lightning bugs that bring the stars so much closer to us.

    Sarah Martin, 2003

    There are a lot of fun activities you can do when studying the moon. One would be to make a soft dough in a round pan and drop different kinds of pebbles onto the surface, noting the formation of craters. You can learn the phases of the moon with chocolate sandwich cookies by scraping away parts of the cream and their names – gibbous is such a fun word!

    I hope you find lots of ways to learn about the moon and I hope these books help!

    Disclaimer: This site uses some affiliate links. This costs you nothing, but helps supplement our homeschooling costs. Thank you for your support!