HomeMy WebLinkAboutRead Aloud Book Gr. K-Lesson 15What do you see when you look out your window at night? Do you see
lights from your neighbors’ homes or from cars driving by? Do you see
streetlights? If you had lived long ago, you wouldn’t have seen these lights.
Long ago, there were no electric lights, and there were no cars.
In the past, nighttime was a time of darkness. There was very little light or
no light at all. What did people do at night? Many people looked up at the stars.
Stars are the little lights we see when we look up into the night sky. Stars
are actually huge balls of hot gas in outer space. But they are so far away
that they look tiny to us here on Earth.
People who lived long ago looked up at groups of stars in the night sky
and imagined that they made the shapes of animals, people, and objects.
Today we call these groups of stars constellations. Two constellations that
many people know about are the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper. They are
called dippers because some people think they look like spoons used to dip
into water.
Long ago, both the Greeks and Native Americans thought that the Big
Dipper and the Little Dipper looked like bears. People called them Big Bear
and Little Bear. People made up stories about these bears. Some Greeks said
that they were a mother bear and her baby bear. Some Native Americans
saw three stars behind the Big Bear. They imagined that these three stars
were three hunters who chased the Big Bear across the sky.
So, turn off your television, your radio, and your lights tonight. All will be
quiet. In the silence, look up at the stars in the sky. What shapes will you see?
What stories can you tell about those shapes?
COMPREHENSION Which words in this selection describe things about
the night sky? Why do you think people made up stories about the
shapes of the constellations?
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It was Sunday afternoon. Kathy was playing at her friend Gloria’s house. The
two girls were sitting in the backyard.
Gloria said, “Let’s play a game. We can take turns fi nding cloud shapes.”
“What kinds of shapes?” asked Kathy.
Gloria studied the sky for a minute. She tried to spy an easy shape to see in
the clouds. Gloria spotted a cloud shape above them. She pointed up at the
cloud. “See that cloud above us?” Gloria asked. “It has the shape of a whale.”
“You’re right. It does have the shape of a whale,” said Kathy.
“Now it’s your turn to look for a cloud shape. Tell me what you see,” Gloria
coached.
Kathy pointed to a cloud over on the left. “I see a cloud that looks like a
rabbit. Can you see its two ears and fuzzy tail?”
Gloria tilted her head and looked at the cloud. “I think so. Yes, you found a
cloud shaped like a rabbit!”
“It’s your turn again,” said Kathy.
Gloria saw a big, puffy cloud on the right. She pointed to it and said, “I see
a cloud shaped like a pillow.”
“I wish I could take a nap on that cloud,” Kathy said. The girls laughed.
Then Kathy noticed a round cloud. She said, “Guess what I see? That cloud
over there is shaped like an apple. Do you see the stem on top?”
Gloria said, “I see it. That cloud makes me hungry. Let’s take a break from
this cloud game and get a snack.”
The girls went inside to get apples. They knew there would be more cloud
shapes waiting for them later.
COMPREHENSION What words tell about how Gloria and Kathy fi nd
the cloud shapes? Why do you think it is easy to play the cloud game?
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