The Big Dipper isn't actually a constellation, but it's part of one - Ursa Major, the Great Bear. The figure on the right shows the entire bear and the Dipper within it. For now though, we'll just spot the Big Dipper and move on.
Once you've found the big dipper, the little dipper is next. In the figure above, you can see the big dipper (Ursa Major) at the bottom. Now follow a line that runs through the two stars at the front of the bowl. It will point directly at Polaris, the North Star. In finding the North Star, you've also found the Little Dipper. The North Star is the tail-end of the Little Dipper. The North Star is not super bright, so if you see a faint star in the right place, that's probably it. If you estimate the distance between the two Big Dipper stars at the front of the bowl, the North Star is 5 times that distance away.
To identify the rest of the little dipper, look for the same bowl shape as the big dipper. The little dipper is a bit smaller, and doesn't form quite as good a bowl. The stars are also fainter, so you may have better luck after a few minutes when your eyes are better adjusted to the dark. They face each other, so that something poured from the Little Dipper would go into the Big Dipper.
A few things about the North Star - it's called Polaris, or "Pole star," and it always lies in the North! Due to the rotation of the Earth, during the night the stars rotate 360 degrees - but not Polaris. Because the Earth's axis points right at Polaris, it remains in the same place in the sky all night.
On to Cassiopeia (pronounced kass ee oh PEE yuh). If you trace a line like before from the front of the Big Dipper bowl to the North Star, and then continue it an equal distance beyond, you'll see a W- or M-shaped (winter = "W" & summer = "M") constellation - Cassiopeia. It also is shaped like a crown, which is appropriate since Cassiopeia was the queen of Ethiopia in Greek mythology. She was an unrivaled beauty, and quite vain.
