A Literary Leaf for The Lights that Dance in the Night

10+ sessions, 2 weeks

Overview and Outcomes:

This is a two-week Writing Root for The Lights that Dance in the Night by Yuval Zommer. Children arrive to school/class to find swathes of green and purply fabric or ribbon on the walls or ceilings. In each class, they find a moving image of the northern lights on the screen and there is soothing music playing. The children receive tickets and are invited on an adventure north.

The text is discovered and the children explore the movement of the lights with the oldest children delving into the science of the phenomenon, each age group creating short explanations in different forms. As the text is shared, the children create a map or writing a poster to encourage visitors to see the lights. Upon finishing the text, children write notes or letters of thanks to the lights and then the theme of hope is explored - for children in UKS2, this includes the use of the poem, Hope is the Thing with Feathers by Emily Dickinson. Finally, the children plan either a recitation or the writing of their own poems, rehearse or write and then participate in a whole-school Aurora Borealis Extravaganza to share outcomes.xz

Synopsis of Text:

In this wonderfully festive picture book, Yuval Zommer imagines the Northern Lights' fleeting journey from space to Earth and how they weave a special magic for the animals and people living in the frozen lands below.
From tiny specs of dust to gleaming rays in the dark, the Northern Lights travel across the Arctic, uniting every creature in a celebration that reverberates through land and sea.

Links:

Hope and belief, Northern Lights, Aurora Borealis