• Home
  • Books
    • Sharks Unhooked: The Adventures of Cristina Zenato, Underwater Ranger
    • Giant Rays of Hope: Protecting Manta Rays to Safeguard the Sea
    • A River’s Gifts: The Mighty Elwha River Reborn
    • Planet Ocean
    • Eavesdropping on Elephants
    • Neema’s Reason To Smile
    • Zoo Scientists to the Rescue
    • Sea Otter Heroes: The Predators That Saved an Ecosystem
    • Plastic, Ahoy! Investigating the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
    • Ebola: Fears and Facts
    • Jingle the Brass
    • Nugget on the Flight Deck
    • Surviving Animal Attacks
    • Elite Operations series
    • Energy Lab series
    • QuickReads Fluency Library
    • Books for English language-learners
    • Writers write all kinds of things
  • Author Visit Programs
    • FAQs
    • Calendar
  • Blog
  • Educator Resources
    • STEM + Literacy Activities
    • Teacher Guides
    • Earth Day Every Day newsletter archive
    • LitLinks
    • KidLit creators who make kids want to read
  • Writer Resources
    • Writing Classes
    • Manuscript or Proposal Critiques
    • How I got my start
  • Who is Patricia Newman?
  • Contact
    • Stay In Touch
    • Earth Day Every Day newsletter archive
Patricia NewmanPatricia Newman
Sibert Honor Children's Book Author & Environmentalist
  • Home
  • Books
    • Sharks Unhooked: The Adventures of Cristina Zenato, Underwater Ranger
    • Giant Rays of Hope: Protecting Manta Rays to Safeguard the Sea
    • A River’s Gifts: The Mighty Elwha River Reborn
    • Planet Ocean
    • Eavesdropping on Elephants
    • Neema’s Reason To Smile
    • Zoo Scientists to the Rescue
    • Sea Otter Heroes: The Predators That Saved an Ecosystem
    • Plastic, Ahoy! Investigating the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
    • Ebola: Fears and Facts
    • Jingle the Brass
    • Nugget on the Flight Deck
    • Surviving Animal Attacks
    • Elite Operations series
    • Energy Lab series
    • QuickReads Fluency Library
    • Books for English language-learners
    • Writers write all kinds of things
  • Author Visit Programs
    • FAQs
    • Calendar
  • Blog
  • Educator Resources
    • STEM + Literacy Activities
    • Teacher Guides
    • Earth Day Every Day newsletter archive
    • LitLinks
    • KidLit creators who make kids want to read
  • Writer Resources
    • Writing Classes
    • Manuscript or Proposal Critiques
    • How I got my start
  • Who is Patricia Newman?
  • Contact
    • Stay In Touch
    • Earth Day Every Day newsletter archive
Aurora borealis-6279388728_df9bc7c7db_w

LitLinks: Why does the sky glow? Let’s find out!

October 5, 2022 LitLinks, LitLinks-Grade 3-5, LitLinks-Grade K-2 No Comments
LitLinks Logo-2022

GUEST BLOGGER NELL CROSS BECKERMAN


WHENTHESKYGLOWS-cover

WHEN THE SKY GLOWS is a trip around the world discovering all the different ways nature can make the sky glow. From the Northern Lights, to the full moon over a city, there are so many ways nature can make the sky glow in so many places.

In this lesson, I’d like you to encourage your students to stretch their powers of imagination using the book as a springboard for an exotic trip. Using David Litchfield’s spectacular illustrations, and both the descriptive and informative text of the book, how can your students project themselves into one of the book’s scenes, and imagine what it is like there?

Ask your students to imagine they are with another person in one of these scenese listed below. Ask them to write down the conversation they are having with that person.

Imagine the sky…

at sunset

Imagine you are with a photographer at a watering hole on a delta. Write down what she tells you about taking pictures at sunset rather than midday. What do you think about what you are seeing? What animals are your favorites and how are they acting?

sunset 1
sunset2
when a volcano erupts

Imagine you are watching a volcanic eruption with a scientist in Iceland. What are you learning? Ask your scientist some questions. What does the scientist tell you?

volcano 1
volcano 2
when fireflies glow

Imagine you are walking along a steamy wooded path with a park ranger. What does he tell you about fireflies? What amazing sights do you see? Please share your thoughts. What else do you see or hear in the woods at night?

fireflies 2
More sky resources

I hope this lesson helps your students enjoy adventures in nature through the help of a book and inspires them to go exploring in real life!

This lesson was created by Myrna Zarnowski, a professor in the Department of Elementary and Early Childhood Education at Queens College, CUNY. More can be found from the curriculum guide for WHEN THE SKY GLOWS.

Featured image credit: “Aurora borealis, Odda Nordlys” by Dag Endre Opedal is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.


Nell Cross Beckerman headshot

Nell Cross Beckerman is a former TV documentary writer/producer/director and author of DOWN UNDER THE PIER (Cameron Kids 2020/illustrated by Rachell Sumpter), WHEN THE SKY GLOWS (Beach Lane Books 2022/illustrated by David Litchfield), and CAVES (Scholastic Oct 4, 2022/illustrated by Kalen Chock.)

Is the Scholastic Book Fair coming to your school this fall? Nell is offering to send signed bookplates to your school and free virtual visits in support of CAVES. Email her with the dates of your book fair at NellCrossBeckerman@gmail.com for more info.

Are you a picture book author? Nell teaches a self-paced mini-course WRITING NATURE WITH ALL FIVE SENSES at Storyteller Academy, available now! Visit Nell’s website or connect with her on Twitter or Instagram.


Click for more LITLINKS STEM + Literacy activities

Tags: STEM+LiteracySTEM+Literacy Natural Science
No Comments
Share
0

You also might be interested in

Wind-erosion

LitLinks: How to play with metaphor in nature writing

Sep 6, 2023

GUEST BLOGGER HEATHER FERRANTI KINSER The emotions and sensations inspired[...]

Nurse-log

LitLinks: Easy, inspiring writing prompts direct from nature

Apr 2, 2025

GUEST BLOGGER KIRSTEN PENDREIGH The natural world is full of[...]

rainforest spread 14_15_CGTM

LitLinks: Show kids how to protect ancient rainforests, endangered species

Apr 21, 2021

GUEST BLOGGER EVELYN BOOKLESS A beautiful, informative way to educate[...]

Leave a Reply

Your email is safe with me.
Cancel Reply

Click the logo to have LitLinks delivered to your inbox

LitLinks Logo-2022

Author Visits

https://youtu.be/zj6n-RFOcPA?si=8WCTnyXbTiwYumYo
https://youtu.be/ziN0UrqaDYI

Earth Day Every Day Newsletter Archive

Earth-Day-Every-Day-newsletter-banner

Post Categories:

Blog Archive

Top Posts

LitLinks: How to share our ocean connections with kids and teens

LitLinks: Let’s learn to decode photos in STEM nonfiction

LitLinks: How Elephants Can Make Your Sound Unit ROAR!

LitLinks: Easy ways to build students’ science communication skills

Proof that science connects kids to the larger world

Recent Comments

  • Danna Smith on LitLinks: Did you know goats can teach children about homonyms? I love this series of books!
  • Raven Howell on LitLinks: Did you know goats can teach children about homonyms? Absolutely love this piece you wrote! Thanks for sharing your…
  • Annie Lynn on LitLinks: 3 easy ways to use animals to introduce onomatopoeia Wonderful idea to link sounds and musical instruments to nature…
Empowering young readers to act

Latest Blog Posts

  • LitLinks: How to use conservation to invigorate student writing
    LitLinks: How to use conservation to invigorate student writing
  • LitLinks: How playing with existing ideas might lead to new ones
    LitLinks: How playing with existing ideas might lead to new ones
  • LitLinks: How to create a sniffing map to explore our sense of smell
    LitLinks: How to create a sniffing map to explore our sense of smell

Connect with me on social media

Action Shots

Check out the STEM Tuesday Blog

© 2025 — Patricia Newman

  • Home
  • Books
    • Sharks Unhooked: The Adventures of Cristina Zenato, Underwater Ranger
    • Giant Rays of Hope: Protecting Manta Rays to Safeguard the Sea
    • A River’s Gifts: The Mighty Elwha River Reborn
    • Planet Ocean
    • Eavesdropping on Elephants
    • Neema’s Reason To Smile
    • Zoo Scientists to the Rescue
    • Sea Otter Heroes: The Predators That Saved an Ecosystem
    • Plastic, Ahoy! Investigating the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
    • Ebola: Fears and Facts
    • Jingle the Brass
    • Nugget on the Flight Deck
    • Surviving Animal Attacks
    • Elite Operations series
    • Energy Lab series
    • QuickReads Fluency Library
    • Books for English language-learners
    • Writers write all kinds of things
  • Author Visit Programs
    • FAQs
    • Calendar
  • Blog
  • Educator Resources
    • STEM + Literacy Activities
    • Teacher Guides
    • Earth Day Every Day newsletter archive
    • LitLinks
    • KidLit creators who make kids want to read
  • Writer Resources
    • Writing Classes
    • Manuscript or Proposal Critiques
    • How I got my start
  • Who is Patricia Newman?
  • Contact
    • Stay In Touch
    • Earth Day Every Day newsletter archive
Prev Next