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• aurora lights

Then came the northern lights, that happy troupe of dancing flame.

The northern lights where what a rainbow would be if it could dance to soulful rhythm.

The Northern lights were a river of green in the midnight blue.

The Northern lights were what dreams could be if they were ever allowed to dance so free.

There was a green fire in the heavens that night, a natural green to blossom above.

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The Aurora: Inspiration for Art and Poetry Integration

The aurora is a phenomenon most frequently observed in the Arctic (the aurora borealis, or northern lights) and in Antarctica (the aurora australis, or southern polar lights). Interactions between the electrically charged solar wind and Earth’s magnetic field produce dazzling bands of color — pinks, reds, whites, greens, and blues–that move across the sky. Subject of countless myths and scientific studies, the aurora is a well-known and engaging polar phenomenon.

The northern lights in Greenland. The light on the horizon is a fishing boat, and the smaller one behind, the entrance to the fjord into Tasiilaq. Photo courtesy of Nick Russill.

While the science behind the aurora is quite complex, the aurora does inspire the use of children’s literature, mythology, poetry, and art in the elementary classroom. In this article, we’ve highlighted lesson plans for using a variety of art techniques (watercolor, impressionist painting, crepe paper blots, mosaics, resists, and collage) and poetry types (cinquain, acrostic, diamante, and haiku). This issue’s feature story, The Aurora: Fire in the Sky ,  discusses the aurora. Additionally, the Virtual Bookshelf highlights several outstanding books to introduce the aurora to elementary students.

The following YouTube video shows the beauty of the aurora australis, or the southern lights. Filmed at and around McMurdo Station in Antarctica, it uses a time-lapse video function. Simply put, the camera takes images every few seconds and then “stitches” the images together into a movie. While neither images nor videos come close to experiencing the real thing, they are still engaging for students and teachers alike.

Depicting the Aurora: Art Techniques

Before beginning any of the art projects listed below, introduce your students to the aurora through children’s literature , expository articles, images, and video. If you are fortunate enough to have an art educator at your school, you can collaborate on an integrated unit. If not, don’t worry – the activities below provide step-by-step directions for each art technique. Most of the lessons and activities featured do not specifically reference the aurora, but are general instructions to be used with a wide variety of subjects.

Artist in Residence: Watercolor Lessons A comprehensive guide including watercolor techniques, defining, finding, and painting the horizon, and silhouette techniques. This guide is especially helpful for classroom teachers without an art background or an art educator to collaborate with. The “wet-on-wet” technique is most suitable for painting the aurora.

Painting Like an Impressionist A lesson plan on painting in the impressionist style, which could be easily adapted to paint a scene depicting the aurora. This lesson refers to a color wheel and the use of complementary colors (colors opposite one another on the color wheel). It would also be helpful to have images of impressionist paintings on display. Many of Monet’s pieces would introduce students to the soft swirls and dabs of paint that defined the impressionist style.

Crepe Paper Blots A lesson plan for creating  crepe paper blots. Students could use crepe paper in the colors of the aurora.

Pumpkin Seed Mosaics In this activity, students use dyed pumpkin seeds to create a mosaic. This could be adapted to depict the aurora.

Crayon Resist In the crayon-resist technique, students use light-color crayons to draw the shimmering bands of the aurora, stars, and the landscape (horizon, mountains, trees). Students then cover their drawing with watered-down black tempera or watercolor paint. The crayon resists, or shows through, the black paint. Perfect for depicting the aurora against the night sky!

Torn Paper Pictures This document describes the process of creating a torn-paper collage. The irregular shapes of torn paper reflect the irregular shapes of the aurora.

Describing the Aurora in Poetry

Use the featured lessons to help students write poems about the aurora. Poetry can be written before, after, or independently of the art projects listed above. The aurora is also a natural springboard for descriptive writing and pourquoi stories , in which students explain how or why something exists in nature.

Composing Cinquain Poems: A Quick-Writing Activity (Grades K-2) Cinquain (pronounced “cin-kain”) is a five-line poetic form, using a wavelike syllable count of two-four-six-eight-two. In this lesson, students write simple cinquain of their own as a follow-up to a subject they have been exploring in class.

Composing Cinquain Poems with Basic Parts of Speech (Grades 3-5) Students learn about cinquain poetry and write their own cinquain poems.

Acrostic Poems (Grades K-5) This interactive resource guides students through brainstorming about a topic and then writing original acrostic poems. The finished poems can be printed.

Dynamite Diamante Poetry (Grades 3-5, modify for grades K-2) In this lesson, students review nouns, adjectives, and verbs and learn about gerunds. They then practice using them as new vocabulary words by composing structured diamante poems as a class and independently using an online interactive tool. The poems can be printed and displayed or published as a class book or magazine.

Reading, Writing, Haiku Hiking! A Class Book of Picturesque Poems (Grades 3-5) Using One Leaf Rides the Wind by Celeste Davidson Mannis as an introductory text, students learn to identify elements of haiku poetry. Students go on a class hike to observe nature in their own neighborhood, and collect “picturesque” words in their writer’s notebooks. (Instead of a hike, students could view images of the aurora in a video or on a web site.) They explore syllable counts in their word collections and use descriptive words to compose original haiku. Students then use print and online resources to locate facts for informational notes on the topics of their poems. Finally, students work collaboratively to publish their poetry and notes in an illustrated class book.

Seasonal Haiku: Writing Poems to Celebrate Any Season (Grades 3-5) In this three-part lesson, students write and illustrate haiku depicting seasonal images. First they use their observation skills, real-world knowledge, and knowledge of parts of speech to help them create seasonal word charts. They then listen to and read samples of haiku to identify haiku criteria, followed by a writing session where they create haiku that depict seasonal images. Finally, they publish their poetry mounted on colorful backgrounds that illustrate the images in their poems.

This article was written by Jessica Fries-Gaither. For more information, see the Contributors page. Email Kimberly Lightle , Principal Investigator, with any questions about the content of this site.

Copyright May 2008 – The Ohio State University. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0733024. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. This work is licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons license .

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‘northern lights’ by philip pullman.

‘Lyra and her daemon moved through the darkening Hall, taking care to keep to one side, out of sight of the kitchen.’

And so, with his opening sentence, Pullman sets the scene of this exciting fantasy story which introduces Lyra’s world: a parallel world where humans have daemons (physical manifestations of their souls) and the wayward Lyra is about to overhear a conversation which will change her life and the future of her world.

Northern Lights , the first in the trilogy of books which make up His Dark Materials , was published in 1995 to great acclaim. Much loved by both children and adults, it is set to gain a new generation of fans as the much-anticipated BBC adaptation comes to our screens. You may wish to capitalise on this enthusiasm by introducing the original text to your class.

There are many features of this book which make it fantastic for inspiring a Year 6 class:

• a gripping plot which propels the reader easily through 400-odd pages
• engaging and dynamic characters (including some enigmatic villains)
• immersive and wide-ranging settings
• rich writing which challenges and stimulates
• great potential for triggering discussion, empathy, prediction and writing

If you were to pick one reason to share Northern Lights it could be for the strong characterisation. Lyra, the main character, is a fantastic mix of contradictions: she is a barbarian, a liar (known later as Lyra Silver Tongue), boastful, brave, big-hearted and irrepressible. Lord Asriel and Mrs Coulter challenge children to balance the ideas of charismatic exteriors and hidden motives. Pullman’s ear for dialogue means that characters can often be recognised by the register of their speech.

The plot of Northern Lights is ambitious and exhilarating. Lyra, in a bid to save her friend Rodger from the ‘Gobblers’, escapes kidnappers and travels from Oxford to Svalbard (by barge, ship, hot air balloon and polar bear). She encounters armoured bears, witches and uncovers terrible plot which has personal repercussions.

By plunging readers into an alternative world, Northern Lights is great for triggering discussion, speculation, description and explanation. Children can speculate what animal their daemon would be (Pullman has claimed raven); explain how an Alethiometer works; describe the view from a hot air balloon and discuss just what they think the mysterious Dust may be.

The novel can be enjoyed at many levels. While older readers may be interested in the allegorical depths, children can enjoy it as an exciting page-turner with a great set of characters, intriguing technology and powerfully atmospheric settings. Although it is a long novel, it is clearly separated into three parts. A teacher might share it as an engrossing class novel and select one part to focus in on for teaching. And when you have finished the book, there is a natural (and expanding) progression for your confident readers to follow.

• Category : A classic text (with good reason)
• Age : Years 5 and 6 (Upper Key Stage Two)
• Topics : fantasy; science-fiction; characterisation; strong female characters; ambiguous characters; parallel worlds; quests; friendship; morality
• Teaching areas : fiction writing; descriptive writing; characterisation; reports; recounts; explanations; discussion; persuasive writing; dialogue; register

English plans that use 'Northern Lights'

For teaching plans and resources using this book, see Hamilton's Year 6 English block, ‘ Significant Authors: Northern Lights ’. Children listen to, read and write about the novel, explore characters, make comparisons between different versions, revise clauses and subjunctive form and then pick up on one of the plot strands to write an ‘untold tale’.

Discover another of our favourite books: Dear Teacher by Amy Husband .

Explore our English blocks by selecting a year group. They allow you to tailor your teaching. Adjust the length of time you spend on a genre and what English objectives to focus on. Hamilton’s flexible blocks keep the teacher in control.

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Northern Lights: Notes and Activities for KS3

Students are encouraged to:

• Discuss and interpret the actions of key characters throughout the novel
• Complete quick quizzes to demonstrate their comprehension & knowledge of each chapter
• Write creatively using key characters & moments in the novel as springboards for diary entries, letters, news reports, description, prose fiction & much more!
• Read and analyse extracts of the text to demonstrate understanding of the writer’s craft as well as spelling, punctuation & grammar
• Take part in discussions, role play & debates to practice their speaking and listening skills in relation to key ideas
• a brief summary
• class discussion points
• a comprehension quiz

A good range of comprehension, creative writing and quiz activities to keep the students interested and engaged K Greaves, Teacher and Peer Reviewer

Starter, film, final tasks and teacher’s answers are also included to support a well-rounded and easy-to-deliver scheme. Six reading Assessing Pupils’ Progress grids included and matched to activities throughout the pack make the assessment process simple.

Useful and valuable resource A Baiden, Teacher and Peer Reviewer

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What do teachers say about this resource (5161).

A really fantastic resource that has been created with such a high attention to detail with every page in the pack! There is such a variety in the tasks given to you in this pack. Two things I particularly appreciated were the summary question pages for each chapter and the teacher notes pages. Secondly, the teacher ‘crib’ sheet included with every chapter gives you answers and thoughts to all of the questions and work. Now, of course, the teacher should do the work too so we understand it, but if you’re having one of those particularly busy weeks, those answer sheets are invaluable! The variety of topics and the way that they are worded provides such clarity and structure to the students’ work in lessons. The fact that every single task has a clear focus area in terms of the assessment areas in English really helps the students to see an overall reflection of what each piece of work is helping them with. It allows for far more of an informed progression through the term with the student placed at the center. The attention to detail with every single page in this is phenomenal. The fact that it includes clear mapping to the assessment objectives and the criteria for each area of English really helps – especially if you are working in a school where senior management are hot on those bits of data! Just the overall presentation – they aren’t like the slightly old(er) fashioned resources you can find on the internet with graphics throughout that support the students’ understanding of the topics in each chapter. While you may think that Northern Lights could be seen as a challenging book, this scheme of work make it accessible and approachable for almost any ability level within KS3. With varied tasks and stellar attention to detail, you aren’t going to want to pass up on this resource! Honestly cannot really fault this resource! H Smith, Teacher and Customer

I love the self-assessment levelling forms - this is great for stretching students and making them aware of their progress. This resource prepares students well for character, theme, and language analysis throughout. I also feel that the creative tasks allow the students some ownership of their interpretations; creating a daemon and comparing the book to the film. E Evans, Teacher and Peer Reviewer

There is a good range of comprehension, creative writing and quiz activities to keep the students interested and engaged throughout the study of this text. K Greaves, Teacher and Peer Reviewer

A useful and valuable resource that could be used with a variety of learner abilities. It is visually appealing  throughout. A Baiden, Teacher and Peer Reviewer

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Letter to the Northern Lights

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The light here on earth keeps us plenty busy: a fire in central Pennsylvania still burns bright since 1962.

Whole squads of tiny squid blaze up the coast of Japan before sunrise. Of course you didn’t show when we went

searching for you, but we found other lights: firefly, strawberry moon, a tiny catch of it in each other’s teeth.

Someone who saw you said they laid down in the middle of the road and took you all in,

and I’m guessing you’re used to that—people falling over themselves to catch a glimpse of you

and your weird mint-glow shushing itself over the lake. Aurora, I’d rather stay indoors with him—even if it meant

a rickety hotel and its wood paneling, golf carpeting in the bathrooms, and grainy soapcakes. Instead

of waiting until just the right hour of the shortest blue-night of the year when you finally felt moved

enough to collide your gas particles with sun particles— I’d rather share sunrise with him and loon call

over the lake with him, the slap of shoreline threaded through screen windows with him. My heart

slams in my chest, against my shirt—it’s a kind of kindling you’d never be able to light on your own. 

Copyright © 2016 by  Aimee Nezhukumatathil . Originally published in  Poem-a-Day  on September 1, 2016, by the Academy of American Poets.

More by this poet

I could be a whale shark, first time brushing teeth next to you.

When I say first time, that implies  there will be a second, a fourth, a ninety-ninth.  From far away our teeth must look like Tic Tacs,  Chiclets, moons of a faraway planet. Nocturnal  animals can smell better at night because scent  lingers when the air is still, and so I smell the mint 

Ode to Sitting in a Booth

It’s the closest thing to a cave. I have to resist this wild urge to carve a name or word in it.

My favorite way to sit here is with cold vodka & grapefruit juice & whatever bitter concoction

you’re sipping. Under the table I’ll nudge you with my heels—a sign no stalactite or dripstone

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'Door into a magical world' creative writing task

Creative writing task where students write their own story about a door into a magical world. Could be used during the study of Philip Pullman’s  The Northern Lights  but also suitable as a stand-alone lesson. Includes helpful teacher notes with a list of other novels that use this device. 

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Northern Lights: Facts About the Aurora Borealis

Here are some facts about the Northern Lights.

• The Northern Lights, also known as the Aurora Borealis, are dramatic and colourful light formations which can be seen in the skies in the northern hemisphere.
• Pink and green are the most common colours of the lights, although they can also be seen in red, yellow, violet and blue. They can appear as sheets or arcs of light, or rays.
• The Northen Lights are caused by electrically charged particles from the sun colliding with gaseous particles in the earth’s atmosphere.
• The lights can be seen anywhere, although they are more visible further north, especially in Canada, Alaska and Scandinavia. They can occur at any time of the year.
• Most displays of Northern Lights are between a height of 80 and 120 km.
• The lights have been seen since ancient times and one of the earliest documentations is on a stone tablet from 568 BC. It was made by the royal astronomer to King Nebuchadnezzar II.
• Many primitive people were fearful of the lights, seeing them as a premonition of disaster. Some Eskimo tribes believed that children would be snatched away by the lights, or that the lights could cut a person’s head off.
• Astronauts on the International Space Station have the unique experience of seeing the lights from the side. Astronauts also experience more radiation while the lights are occurring.
• One of the most spectacular displays was in September 1859 when thousands of km of telegraph lines were disrupted.
• The Northern Lights in March, 1989 caused a 12 hour power failure in Quebec, Canada.
• The lights could be seen during the Battle of Fredericksburg in 1862, during the American Civil War. The Confederate Army saw that as a good sign as the lights were seldom seen that far south.

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The Northern Lights in the Arctic: KS1 Lesson Plan

Subject: Understanding the world

Age range: 5-7

Resource type: Lesson (complete)

Last updated

11 September 2020

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Welcome to Earth Cubs! A free platform to Learn the World.

In this lesson discuss Arctic weather conditions and seasons. Be inspired by art and photographs and create your own Arctic image.

Visit earthcubs.com for lots of creative & extensive materials all focused on the environment & sustainability.

Fully aligned to EYFS outcomes & National Curriculum (ages 3-7). Our complete lesson plans include: guided teaching steps, activities & outdoor learning ideas.

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