SHADOW HIKE:
I have lead this hike for different subjects and focuses throughout my years of teaching. I have two different versions explained on this page. The second version is located under the first set of photographs, so just continue to scroll down the page after reading the first version. 

Before the Hike:
  • You will need clipboards, plain paper, pencils, and sidewalk chalk.
  • Take a cameral along to take photographs of the students in action. 
  • Read the poem "My Shadow" by Robert Lewis Stevenson. There is also a recording of this poem that was put to music. It is a fun version of the poem.

During the Shadow Hike:
  • Version One: I use this version while teaching a science unit on the sunlight and shadows, social lesson on emotions, and also a follow up on character education lessons.
  • Body Shadows: Go outside on the blacktop or concrete sidewalk/driveway. Have the children stand in different poses. As he/she poses, trace around his/her shadow with sidewalk chalk. You can have the child stand showing different emotions. After tracing the shadow, label the emotion it is displaying.
  • You can also have the students write messages that pertain to character education coming from the shadows, so as the other students walk in and out of the building, they are reading these reminder messages.
  • Take photographs of the students tracing shadows. Create a class booklet using the photos.
Version Two:  I use this version to teach Point of View or Perspective in a novel. I also use this hike to teach metaphors.
  • Before the Hike:
    • You will need pictures of various cloud formations.
    • Show the various pictures on the projector and have the students tell you what shapes/pictures they see in the clouds. This part of the lesson is so fun because the students will see many things that you will miss. 
    • Have a quick discussion on how different people see different pictures in the clouds. It is just like how two people can read the same book, but see it differently. They see it through their perspective.
    • Then explain that today, they will do the same sort of thing using shadows. 
    • Hand each student a clipboard, a few pieces of white paper, and a pencil.
    • Explain that they will go outside and trace shadows of items they find outside. (I often have to demonstrate how to move the clipboard of white paper around at different angles to find where the shadow will fall.
  • During the Hike:
    • The students walk around the school grounds and trace shadows of different items. They need to write next to the shadow what the item really is.
    • I usually have them trace at least 3-4 different shadows.

  • After the Hike:
    • Have the student bring in their shadows and place them on their desks/tables.
    • Now the creativity begins. Have them look at the shadows from different angles and think of what else the shadow looks like. It is just like cloud shapes that they completed before the hike. They can walk around the room and ask their classmates what they "see" in the shadow. This is important to do so the students will get to hear different ideas about the shapes the shadows create.
    • The students pick their favorite shadow. They cut it out of black construction paper, and then they glue it onto a white piece of paper.
    • Have them write a poem about this shadow. Some students choose to reveal what the real item is that is creating the shadow, but other students just use the metaphor. I have included some of the poems below the photos shown below.
    • For some worksheets for writing the poems, click on the links below.
    • Shadow Poem Sheet
    • Shadow Poem Rough Draft
    • Grading Sheet for Shadow Poem

The Great Retreat

Shadows are stranded chunks of night
Running away in fear from the light
Silently searching for a thing under which they hide
For most if not all of the day
As afternoon arrives they slowly creep out
to rule for the night
But as day break encroaches they quickly must flee
Else become stranded under a tree.

-John Jaeger
Where?

Where do bugs hide on a sunny day?
Where's a good place to rest out of the rays of the sun?
In the shadow of a plant.

-Ryan Milner
The Shadow of the Past


A small new born of the wild,
Harmless as can be,
Mom and Dad gone for the day
Baby left to be,
Though you'd think this carnivore
Was cuddly and cute,
It'll tur into a huge scary brute.
But,
It's really just a mushroom shadow
Growing in the wild
Not hurting anyone,
Adult or child.

-Brooke Biernbaum
What Could It Be?

What could the shadow be?
Is it a beautiful angel,
Soaring through the heavens?
Could it be a majestic eagle
Shooting through the sky in search for unsuspecting prey?
Or is it a moose,
Lumbering through the forest in search for a snack.
This shadow could be absolutely
ANYTHING
When the bright sun is out.
But when night comes,
It's only a fragile group of leaves
swaying in the wind.

-Parker Freeman