Supermoon Season
Jamie Morse, Mirror in the Sky, 2019
We experienced a remarkable blue moon here in the Northeast last night, lighting up the sky. As I describe in my post Tell It Again, what happens next - after the moment has passed - is vital to your child’s integration of the experience.
Whether your child saw the moon or not, this is a perfect opportunity to tell a story, describing experience in a concrete way with sensory details. You can create your story using ‘wh’ questions that support a clear narrative and critical thinking.
Where were you when you saw the blue moon? What did it look like? How did you see it? How did it change your perception of the environment overall? What time was it? What is a blue moon? What is a supermoon? Why is this called the sturgeon moon? When will another supermoon be visible?
A story about your experience sounds like this:
“Did you know that last night I saw something called a blue moon in the sky? It was not actually blue! But the moon did seem to have a pale blue tinge in some areas. This was a full moon - it looked like a circle. It was exceptionally bright - it illuminated the sky. This means that it lit up the area around it, and even brought more light to us here on Earth. I could see our whole street more clearly because of the light of this moon. And it looked so close - I almost felt like if I stretched high to the sky, and extended my arms, that I could touch it. I saw it about 9:30 pm - after you were asleep! It was hiding behind rainclouds when you went to bed at 7 pm. We can look again tonight - it will still be a full moon.”
A story about the phenomenon of a blue moon sounds like this:
“Remember how I told you about the blue moon? It was not actually blue! We aren’t exactly sure why people call this a blue moon, but they have for hundreds of years now. Remember I told you how bright it was, how close it looked in the sky? This type of moon is also called a supermoon. The moon is looks very large to our eyes because it is actually closer to the Earth right now. The Algonquin people, who are one of the indigenous peoples in this country, have called this the sturgeon moon. A sturgeon is a type of large, ancient fish. They live in fresh water, though some types spend time in salt water. Sturgeon are more easily caught at this time of year, in this month of August, when this type of moon comes.”
If your child saw the moon, ask them these same questions above to help them build their own capacity for a cohesive narrative, and to more fully integrate the experience as they become more conscious of the details.
This type of storytelling is essential to the development of language and memory.
So tell stories about the moon this week - and there are three more supermoons coming this fall!
And you can support deepening awareness with these moon books, too!
Lots of meaningful engagement awaits you, if you take the time to connect in this way.