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Roll and Read (Yellow)
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Have you ever wanted If so, you are like the
to poke your finger
ancient astronomers.
through the stars in They lived thousands
the night sky?
of years ago.
Why do these names
come from the Latin
language?
Greek and Roman
parents would point
out constellations
such as Hercules to
their children.
Think about what
you’ve learned the
next time you look at
the night sky.
These bright stars
were important to
ancient peoples.
At different times of
the year you can see
different
constellations in the
sky.
That’s because
constellations only
suggest things.
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A ran is a male sheep.
Rams have horns.
Horns are like
antlers.
Because people who
You have already
A myth is an old story
Other stories tell
spoke Latin
read about the names
that has been told
about amazing events
discovered and named
of constellations.
orally for
involving gods and
many constellations.
generations.
heroes.
The Greek and Romans To people who lived in
When the Bantu
You’ve now learned
spent many nights
Africa, the cluster of people saw Pleiades in
plenty about the
looking overhead at the
stars call Pleiades
the sky, it was time
constellations.
night sky.
was very important.
for them to begin
plowing and planting
crops.
The narrator explains
Then they have to
Once a year just
The Greeks and
that when people die
pass the Dog Stars. before sunrise, Sirius
Romans had many
they travel through
can be see in Egypt.
great astronomers.
the sky.
Ancient astronomers
The word astronomy
The astronomers
The first star charts
imagined that there
comes from Greek
placed the stars into
had forty-eight
were lines between
words meaning “star”
separate
constellations.
some stars.
and “law”.
constellations.
If you roll a 6, choose 1 block to read.
* Use with "Pushing Up the Sky” 3.3.2
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Roll and Read (Green)
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The Snohomish
people still live in
what is now
Washington State.
The Creator stopped
when he reached the
land of the
Snohomish.
While everyone else
was pushing, three
hunters were chasing
four elk.
They have lived there
The elk gave them
They made tools,
for a long time. They meat for food. They
weapons, and art
were known for
made clothing from
from elk antlers.
hunting elk.
elk skin.
The people got
But none of them
“We can use a word
together. They
spoke the same
as a signal to start
agreed to push up the
language!
pushing,” said another
sky.
leader.
Just when the
The elk raced into
When people work
pushing started, the the sky. The hunters together they can do
four elk reached a
followed!
great things. That is
place where the sky
the lesson of the
touched the earth.
Snohomish story.
They became trapped The leaders explained When the signal was There were too many
in the sky! After a
the plan. People
given, they would
languages! No one
while they turned
made poles out of tall push and poke the sky
could understand
into seven stars.
trees.
up with their poles.
anyone.
People bumped their It also honors the elk It explains what the Elk even became part
heads on the stars.
that they hunted.
Snohomish saw
of a constellation.
The sky was not easy
overhead in the night
This tale tells how
to get around either.
sky.
that happened.
As he went he made
the land. He gave
people different
languages.
The decided on the
word ya-hoh. It
would mean “lift
together!”
The elk and the
hunters wanted to
return from the sky.
It was too late!
These people were
unhappy. They were
unhappy for other
things.
The elk were very
important to the
Snohomish.
If you roll a 6, choose 1 block to read.
* Use with "Pushing Up the Sky” 3.3.2
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Roll and Read (Blue)
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Suppose you are being
driven to a soccer
match, but your dad
doesn’t know his way.
Up in space a satellite
transmits a signal.
The two stars in the
bowl are called the
Pointers because
they point to the
North Star.
The famous star is
the North Star. The
famous set of stars
is the Big Dipper.
Each day’s ending
position would be the
starting place for the
next day’s
measurement.
Navigators used a
magnetic compass to
measure the course.
What Galileo had
discovered was
Jupiter’s moons.
Those “stars” were
later identified as
Saturn’s rings.
Astronomers are
scientists who study
the universe.
The satellite locks
onto the car’s
position and sends
back directions.
Of all the early
explorers,
Christopher Columbus
is probably the most
famous.
The North Star is
sometimes covered by
clouds. And the horizon
can be hard to locate at
night because of
darkness.
That interest led him to
design a reflective
telescope that used
reflecting mirrors
instead of lenses.
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A galaxy may include
hundreds of billions
of stars.
Galaxies contain gas
and dust, and are
held together by
gravity.
He is known both for
the places he sailed
to and he different
groups of people he
met on his travels.
With dead reckoning, a
captain would start
sailing from a known
point and measure out
each day’s course and
distance.
One night in 1610
Galileo noticed four
objects near Jupiter
that no one had seen
before.
Some people believed
that two children were
playing with his lenses
and put two of them
together.
In Newton’s design a
curved mirror was angled
to reflect light through a
side eyepiece.
Constellations are
In Columbus’s time
Your latitude is your
groups of stars that the quadrant was the distance either north
make up shapes in the most important tool
or south of the
sky.
in celestial navigation.
equator.
These telescopes
were refractive.
Their front lens bent,
or refracted, light.
Columbus also used
celestial navigation
techniques.
If you roll a 6, choose 1 block to read.
* Use with "Pushing Up the Sky” 3.3.2