Crinkle, Crinkle, Little Star Activities

 After a recent trip to Liberty Science Center, we left the gift shop with a NASA shirt that says "I Need My Space" for my son and two books - one called This Little Scientist and another called Crinkle, Crinkle, Little Star. He is super into science and my daughters are loving touch and feel books, so they were big hits.

The latter is a rhyming book that extends the well-known song "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" by adding information about some constellations and their stories. We also have this one, which is somewhat satisfying for the girls when they fight over the crinkle one.

We watched this short video about constellations:

before seeing One World, One Sky: Big Bird's Adventure in the IMAX theater.

We printed a constellation connect the dots page, which was a big hit! 

Lastly, we came across a StoryBots video about Outer Space.

I cannot wait to see my son's reaction when he gets The Moon in My Room for his birthday. He, like most kids, has been fascinated by the moon since he could look outside. Before he was even two years old, he could point out the moon during the day and tell you when he saw a full moon or crescent.

Now you may not have a child or student in preschool or even lower elementary, but there are tons of great resources out there to get kids interested in astronomy. Here are a few:

NASA Kids Club has lots of fun space activities to do!

National Geographic Kids has an easy to use section of their site just for learning about space.

NASA Space Place is for slightly older kids.

The European Space Agency website is also geared towards grades 1-5.

Last, but not least is Time for Kids, your go-to place for current space events.

Can't get enough science? Read on:

https://alysiabattista.blogspot.com/search/label/science

Read other astronomy posts here: 

https://alysiabattista.blogspot.com/search?q=astronomy

Book shopping? Check out more posts that include books here:

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Getting the Fourth of July off to a Dazzling "Star"t!

In honor of the signing of the Declaration of Indepence, all star items in my TPT store are free! 

(click to download)

 As part of this year's third grade astronomy unit, we worked on the Earth, sun, and moon system as well as other celestial bodies like planets, meteoroids, asteroids, comets, and stars. I thought the Fourth of July would be a great time to share the star / constellation activities with you!

My essential question for the beginning of the star classification lesson is, "What is a constellation?" Students write their hypotheses in their journals (they have some prior knowledge due to myths they have been reading in language arts) and we look for common answers. I find that students usually don't mention that the stars that make up constellations are different sizes and colors. I introduce that concept by showing students this star comparison video.

Then students are asked to work with partners to color the stars and fill in the lab sheet showing 4 different ways stars can be classified: size, color, temperature, and luminosity/brightness (each star is labeled with them).  The plan and lab sheet are here. If you have early finishers who need a challenge, have them try to find the star's letter used in a Hertsprung-Russel Diagram.

While students are working, I play this constellation song so they get used to their names and have an easier time identifying the stars and their constellations when we visit the StarLab.

We also compare meteors, asteroids, and comets using this sheet.

If you'd like to try this lesson with younger children, just have them sort by color or size and skip the lab sheet.

Don't have materials? Check out this FOSSweb module. 

Check out my website for lesson plans, lab sheets, and more astronomy websites for teacher and student use.