Cross- Curricular Activities

Closely examine the quilts in Winter Lights and point to children how different shapes come together to form a larger image. Using tangrams or other 3D geometric shapes, ask children to create images using the different shapes. Start easy by making squares – who can make the largest square? Who can make the smallest square?

Over the course of a week, ask children to log what time the sun rises and what time it sets each day. After a week or your chosen timeframe, discuss what they observed about the times they recorded. Are the days getting longer or shorter? Is the sun setting later or earlier as each day passes?
- Here are video resources providing explanation on daytime/nighttime and the seasons:
  Day and Night - The Rotation of the Earth
  Movement and Position of the Earth - Seasons
Learn about light and how it interacts with various materials. Select materials of various opacity, such as clear plastic (transparent), wax paper (translucent), cardboard (opaque), and tin foil (reflective). Then, in a dark space, take a flashlight and shine it at each material. Ask children what they observe (Does the light shine through the material? Is it absorbed? Does it reflect?).

After reading poems about winter, invite children to write their own winter poem. Help them get started by giving them an opening line (try using a line from a Winter Lights’ poem!), then ask them to finish it. Challenge them to include a metaphor or simile in their writing!
Have children choose their favorite poem from Winter Lights. Give them a couple of days to memorize and to practice reading their poem out loud. Then, invite each student to recite their poem!

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