Our Night Unit!


THE NIGHT
A Poem by Myra Cohn Livingston

The night
creeps in
around my head
and snuggles down
upon my bed,
and makes lace patterns
on the wall
but doesn't say a word at all.

The fall is a perfect time for a unit all about night, dreams, nocturnal animals AND a bit of Halloween fun! We begin the unit with a transitional story "Clifford's Bedtime" which uses the character from September's theme and features him getting ready for bed. A natural extension of this story is to write about the things we do at bedtime...great for sequencing!

We also read Paulette Bourgeois' story "Franklin in the Dark" and use it for our next formal writing workshop. Using three or four pictures from the story, the children first sequence them and then retell the story in writing, creating at least one sentence per picture.

THE PROBLEM
by Jane Levey

Franklin is a turtle.
He lives inside a shell.
The darkness makes him frightened,
So he can't sleep too well.
He asks his friends to help him.
They said "We get scared too."
So brave Franklin crawled
Inside his shell
And said "Good Night" to you!

P.S. The nightlight helped!

We then read other stories about the nighttime, including:

Good Night Little Bear
Goodnight Gorilla!
North Country Night
Night is Like an Animal
Grandfather Twilight
Time for Sleep
Night in the Country
Sleep is for Everyone
Can't You Sleep Little Bear?
Goodnight Moon
No Jumping on the Bed
The Napping House
Bedtime for Frances
There's an Alligator Under My Bed
There's a Nightmare in my Closet
There's Something in my Attic (Mayer)
There's a Monster under my Bed
There's a Dragon in my Sleeping Bag
Ira Sleeps Over
Bedtime (First Start Easy Reader)


One fun activity to do with the story of The Napping House is to act it out using velcro story characters (I got my set from Lakeshore Catalog!) After retelling and sequencing the story, the children glue pictures representing the characters in order, and then paste the corresponding word next to it, which helps them as they begin to match text with pictures.

Another classmade books is inspired by Mercer Mayer's "There's An Alligator Under My Bed." Each child is given a paper with a bed drawn on it, and then must draw something under it, label it and then create a blanket to "flap" up to reveal what's under their bed...a favorite class publication, particularly when we use real fabric!
Because many of the books we read feature words such as BEDTIME, GOODNIGHT, FLASHLIGHT and NIGHTTIME, it's a natural time to introduce the concept of compound words. A great way to get the class involved and excited is to do a puzzle activity. Each child is given a piece of paper with a word written on it that they must read and illustrate. Then, they must find someone who has a piece of paper that fits theirs like a puzzle. For instance, one person may have BUTTER and another FLY...they get together, turn the paper over to find the word BUTTERFLY! I quickly tape the papers together, and now as a team they must work to illustrate the new compound word! We then bind them together in a class publication!

Since we're involved in this unit early in the school year, first graders are still practicing their handwriting. Each child is given a booklet cut into the shape of a cave, with a gray cover and lined writing paper inside. Each day they enter a sentence in the "Cave of Nocturnal Animals" booklet. We begin with "one bat sleeping upside down," and then move on to "two raccoons looking through trash cans" and continue in this pattern through the number ten.

During this unit we also focus on what happens at night as well as nocturnal animals. Some of the books we read are:
Stellaluna
Bats
Batbaby
Night Gliders
The Kissing Hand
Wait Till the Moon is Full
Bat Jamboree
The Midnight Farm
Owl Moon
Owl Babies
Lazy Ozzie
Whooo Is It?
Owly
Sleepy Owl (Pfister)
Night Creatures
Don't Laugh Joe!

We keep a class chart where we list facts that we've learned about each of the nocturnal animals we study. Bats, owls and flying squirrels are perennial favorites! We like to impress our families when we announce, "Did you know we are DIURNAL?" (DID YOU??!!) We use the word NOCTURNAL as our first make-a-word activity. Children are given a sheet of paper with the letters AOULNNRTC written in boxes. They cut apart the boxes and try making words using those letters. Then, as a class with the teacher using the overhead and clear letter tiles, we make as many words as possible, starting with one or two-letter words, and progressing up to the "mystery" word NOCTURNAL. When completed, the children glue the letters in order to spell the mystery word! We'll do this activity many times over the year, using thematic words!

There are many bat and owl related art projects that fit nicely into this theme...we like to do fancy bats after reading "Bat Jamboree." Using colored paper, feathers, sequins and other craft materials, we create dressed up bats ready to perform! After reading about flying squirrels, the children cut and color a flying squirrel with flaps spread wide. We then add a string and take them outside to fly our squirrel "kites!"




BATS
Flying, flying through the sky,
Bats are neat, I'll tell you why.
Flying foxes are the tallest.
Bumblebee bats are the smallest.
Bats are yellow, red and brown
Bats sleep hanging upside-down.
Some eat bugs and some eat fruit.
Some look mean and some look cute.
Flying, flying in the sky.
Bats are neat, now you know why!

 MR. OWL by Edna Hamilton

I saw an owl up in a tree,
I looked at him, he looked at me.

I couldn't tell you of his size,
For all I saw were two big eyes.

As soon as I could, I made a dash
Straight home I ran, quick as a flash!

A major writing activity during this unit is the writing of a nonfiction animal report. Children choose a nocturnal animal as their topic and can even "research" it at home using books, the internet or other resources. There are many, many books and resources available to them in the classroom as well. To write the report the children must include a fact about the animal's diet, its habitat, its appearance and other interesting facts. The report itself is not lengthy, but the process involved helps them to be more successful when writing reports later on in the school year.

To culminate this unit, we hold a class PAJAMA PARTY! Everyone comes dressed in their cozy pjs, bringing a blanket, sleeping bag, pillow and flashlight, and some great bedtime stories! When the children enter the classroom, the clock may say 9:00 A.M., but our room looks like 9:00 P.M.! The lights are off, crickets chirp and owls hoot in the background, and flashlight "stars" shine above! We spend the day reading great books, including:

Arthur's Sleepover
Slumber Party
Lights Out!
Franklin's Sleepover
Franklin's Blanket
Milk and Cookies (Asch)

Because we work on this unit during the month of October, it is natural to extend this theme into Halloween. Some of the Halloween stories we read include:
Georgie the Ghost
The Teeny Tiny Woman
The Teeny Tiny Teacher
The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything
Say Boo!
Clifford's Halloween
In a Dark, Dark Wood

Here's hoping you find something you can use in this online unit! Please feel free to email me with any comments!
 Back Home
Back to Online Units

Back to Literature Themes