Assignment task:
An equinox is an astronomical event in which the plane of Earth's equator passes through the center of the Sun, which occurs twice each year, around 20 March and 23 September.
On an equinox, day and night are of approximately equal duration all over the planet. They are not exactly equal, however, due to the angular size of the sun and atmospheric refraction. To avoid this ambiguity, the word equinox is sometimes used to mean a day in which the durations of light and darkness are equal.
As the Earth continues on its endless course around the sun, we're coming up on another important event.
The date of the equinox varies slightly from year to year. The exact moment of the equinox happens when the sun crosses the celestial equator, meaning that neither the Northern or Southern Hemisphere are tilting towards the sun. The time varies based on time zone, but if you're on Central Time, it happens this year at 10:50 p.m. However, no matter where you are in the world, the equinox means that day and night are almost exactly the same length, an almost perfect 12 hours apiece.
There have been lots of traditional lores about the equinox throughout history, and today it's used in the astronomical division of the seasons to mark the beginning of fall for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere because the Northern Hemisphere is beginning to tilt further away from the sun. And it's the beginning of spring in the Southern Hemisphere because that half of the globe is beginning to tilt further towards the sun. And both those seasons will continue until the Winter Solstice, at least astronomically speaking.
You will select a work of art (based upon the equinox) and plan procedures to encourage a creative writing project based on the work of art.
- Select a work of art appropriate for elementary ELA students (K-6) that can be correlated to our semester focus-Spring/Vernal Equinox. You may select a children's book cover, work of art, graphic image, etc. Upload the image to your submission.
- Appropriate citation of image.
- Plan five or more questions that will facilitate the observation of your selected image.
- Plan a two-paragraph narrative that models mature conversation with your students regarding the selected image.
- Plan an activity, project, or assignment that allows the students to creatively express themselves.