What Miss Mitchell Saw by Hayley Barrett. 2019

Two Women, Two Comets

Inspiration Books

What Miss Mitchell saw by Barrett, Hayley — Beach Lane Books, 2019 : 520.92; Int Lvl: K-3; Rd Lvl: 3.8. Every evening, from the time she was a child, Maria Mitchell stood on her rooftop with her telescope and swept the sky. And then one night she saw something unusual--a comet no one had ever seen before! Miss Mitchell's extraordinary discovery made her famous the world over and paved the way for her to become America's first professional female astronomer. NFD,  NSTA

Complete Video Reading Narrated by Hayley Barrett https://www.teachingbooks.net/tb.cgi?tid=66134

AND

Caroline's comets : a true story by McCully, Emily Arnold — Holiday House, 2017. Dewey: 520.92; Int Lvl: K-3; Rd Lvl: 2.9. Caroline Herschel was the first woman to discover a comet and the first woman to be paid as a scientist. NSTA, SS, ND, CCBC

Lesson Plan from Holiday House http://www.holidayhouse.com/docs/CarolinesCometsTG_Revised_Marla.pdf

Rationale: In 2017, the story of Caroline Herschel, the first woman to discover a comet, was on the NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Books and in 2019, Maria Mitchell’s story about discovering a comet and becoming America’s first professional female astronomer was published. Neither of these books has a 2018 copyright, but maybe by averaging the two years it will be ok to include the two books in 2018, the year of Outstanding Science Trade Books I’m featuring. The two women astronomers fit so well together that I couldn’t resist sharing them together and concocted that rationale. Both titles are for the K-3 interest range, Caroline’s Comets being a little less difficult to read. They lend themselves so well to a compare and contrast activity, one of the CCCS;s primary standards. In my small school each of the primary grades has an astronomy unit: planets, stars, moon and moon phases, or miscellaneous astronomical features such as comets and meteorites. When the third grade class is studying comets a comparison of the two early female astronomers is an excellent library lesson. 

Grades K-3--Sky Watchers

Background: Picture book biographies or memoirs are excellent introductions to students, whether young or old about careers. In this case, the career is astronomy. In this case, the astronomers are females, the first in the field to discover comets. In the 17 and 18 hundreds that was quite a feat. This lesson will emphasize both the scientific discovery and the women themselves. This lesson has been prepared for third graders. I am assuming they have had experience using a Venn diagram and then writing a summary from the Venn diagram. If not, work through the process of taking notes within the diagram on a chart, computer projection or white/chalk board.

Preparation: Preview the complete book reading for What Miss Mitchell saw by its author Hayley Barrett at https://www.teachingbooks.net/tb.cgi?tid=66134

Access to internet and projection capability.

Prepare and copy a two circle Venn diagram for distribution to the class or chart paper for group project.

Explore the Lesson Plan from Holiday House at http://www.holidayhouse.com/docs/CarolinesCometsTG_Revised_Marla.pdf to determine whether you would like to use more of the lesson plan than I do in this introduction.

Introduction: (Hold up both books) What do you think these books are about? Do you think they are factual or fiction? Correct, they’re nonfiction. (If you have talked about nonfiction books earlier, elicit from the students or mention the following.)

1. Nonfiction writing gives us information that is true.
2. Nonfiction writing is organized around a specific idea or topic
3. Nonfiction writing teaches facts.

There are different kinds of nonfiction writing. These two books are narrative nonfiction or writing that tells a story about a person, event, or place based on research. Let’s read and find out about Caroline Herschel first.

Read aloud:

Caroline's comets : a true story by McCully, Emily Arnold — Holiday House, 2017. Dewey: 520.92; Int Lvl: K-3; Rd Lvl: 2.9. Caroline Herschel was the first woman to discover a comet and the first woman to be paid as a scientist. NSTA, SS, ND, CCBC

Let’s jot down some facts that we learned about Herschel. (Record via chart, chalk/whiteboard, projection computer so students can see the list. Allow students to make suggestions, but if necessary guide the discussion to make sure something is said about: family, father, home country, education, how became interested in astronomy, what she discovered, how discovery was or was not accepted, any awards, role of women in the field of astronomy, who or what inspired them.) 

Caroline Herschel lived in the 1700s in Europe. In the 1800s an American women made a scientific discovery. Let’s listen to the author of What Miss Mitchell Saw read the book. Share  https://www.teachingbooks.net/tb.cgi?tid=66134 Listen for similar types of information we listed for Caroline Herschel. 

(Repeat making a list of facts learned about Maria Mitchell.)

Projects:

Option 1: Create a two circle Venn diagram with the class, in small groups, or individually based on student experience with Venn diagrams and ability. The students, again as a class, in small groups, or individually write (a) compare and contrast paragraph(s) about the two women astronomers. The writing may be demand writing in longhand orr a keyboarding project.

Option 2: Using the list of information the class developed for one of the astronomers, develop a 5 or 6 slide presentation about one of the astronomers. Students need to select 5-6 important facts, write one or two sentences about the fact and include an illustration pulled from the internet. 

For a lesson for older students about astronomers, check this My Books Alive entry for I, Galileo at https://www.mybooksalive.com/search?q=i%2C+Galileo

For related poems check out the My Books Alive entry for Out of the World : Poems and Facts About Space at https://www.mybooksalive.com/search?q=out+of+this+world+%3A+poems

Other NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Books about Astronomy and Astronomers for Primary Students:

Star stuff : Carl Sagan and the mysteries of the cosmos by Sisson, Stephanie Roth  — Roaring Brook Press, 2014. 520.92; Int Lvl: K-3; Rd Lvl: 2.9. A biography of Carl Sagan focusing on his childhood and culminating in the Voyager mission and the Golden Record. Freeman, NSTA 2015.

Look up with me : Neil deGrasse Tyson : a life among the starsby Berne, Jennifer — Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, 2019 520.92; Int Lvl: K-3; Rd Lvl: 3.6. A biography of famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and awe-inspiring facts about our universe. NSSTB List 2020, NSTA LIST 2020.

Benjamin Banneker : pioneering scientist (On My Own: Biographies) by Wadsworth, Ginger  — Millbrook Press, c2003 p2006 520; Int Lvl: K-3; Rd Lvl: 3.7. Introduces Benjamin Banneker, a free black man of the eighteenth century who loved to learn and used his knowledge and observations to build a wooden clock, write an almanac, and help survey the streets of Washington, D.C. NSTA List 2004

Look up! : Henrietta Leavitt, pioneering woman astronomer by Burleigh, Robert  — Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2013 : 520.92; Int Lvl: K-3; Rd Lvl: 4.3.  An illustrated biography of the pioneering woman astronomer Henrietta Leavitt. NSSTB, NSTA, CCBC, Freeman, Titlewave, RB

Starstruck : the cosmic journey of Neil deGrasse Tyson by Krull, Kathleen — Crown Books for Young Readers, 2018 : 523.01; Int Lvl: K-3; Rd Lvl: 5.5. A picture-book biography on science superstar Neil deGrasse Tyson, the groundbreaking American astrophysicist whose work has inspired a generation of young scientists and astronomers to reach for the stars! NSTA List 2019, NSSTB 2019