It is a great shared read when you are learning about time.
- talk about day/night
It was night and some fireflies danced around the moon. Eric Carle
- talk about the sun coming up and the changing placement of the sun on each page
- talk about the sun position at your school and think about making a sun dial with your students
- talk about how we have set activities at different time - e.g. breakfast in the story
- talk about the progression of time through the day and the time it takes to do things - this is beautifully illustrated in the text on the final pages as ladybug flies along the whale
- look at the clocks and how the hands change on each page
- ask a student to tell you the time on each page
- look at the clock and the words for the time on each page
You can also review compound words as you read the text:
- fireflies
- ladybug
- breakfast
- somebody
- anyway
Have your students make a firefly for a classroom display. There is a template in the Coloring Club.
- paint them
- cut and assemble with glue
- use crayons to add extra wing detail
For this display I also used the moon clock from our tracing pack.
Once you've created a math display, use it for language-based brain breaks. Talk with your student about:
- how many fireflies are on the board
- how many wings
- how can we make counting the wings easier
- what time each clock is telling
- point to the clocks in order of the time
- what else would be flying/awake at night
If you'd like more ideas for teaching time find a growing collection through the website.
If you're not yet in the Coloring Club, we'd love to have you!
If you're not yet in the Coloring Club, we'd love to have you!
