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:

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

To the Moon...and Back!

It's been a couple of months since I last posted, and boy have I been busy! Don't worry, I'll blog about some fun stuff we did at the end of the year, but for now you get to see my fun adventure at Space Camp!

 I was one of 170 teachers selected (out of thousands who applied) to attend Educator Space Camp at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, on scholarship from Honeywell.

Here are the 10 teachers from New Jersey. We outnumbered every other state!

Here we are with Robert "Hoot" Gibson, a retired astronaut. He is really awesome!

Team Kibo was tons of fun, and we definitely learned a lot from each other.

We simulated a water reentry to Earth (except at a MUCH lower G force) by ziplining backward off a 50 foot tower into water.

Here we are on Space Shot, learning how it feels to be shot toward the sky in a rocket...only 1 G of force...but it was still scary!

I made some awesome new teacher friends (here are my roommates from the UK/Japan, Arizona, and Vermont).

We completed a moon landing mission and a shuttle mission, completely gaining insight and respect into the precision required to be an astronaut.

I was a mission specialist who performed an EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity) - fixing a broken window on a capsule on the moon. 

I didn't even have a complete pressurized suit (you can see my hands were exposed - that would kill an astronaut in space) and it was still difficult!

 My job in the shuttle mission was under Mission Control - CATO (Communications and Tracking Officer).

We got to play around in different simulators and see real objects that were in space or used for tests.

Here's the MAT (Multi-Axis Trainer), the thing everyone thinks of when they hear of Space Camp. They tell you that you shouldn't get sick because your center of gravity doesn't change...

I got to wear an arm sleeve that was used for tests by...

Neil Armstrong!

We had a small graduation ceremony where my NJ teammate Emily Bengels won the Right Stuff Award!

 

Watch the video - and then apply for next year!

Mission Space Camp: Complete.

Field Trip Fun

We went to Liberty Science Center last week. It was foggy, so the kids didn't get to see the view of the Statue of Liberty. (That was always the most exciting part for me as a kid!) My group spent most of its time around the animals. It was neat because we spent the beginning of the year learning about animal classification and adaptation as well as plants. They also got to do a couple of investigations that made them feel like real scientists.

Do you see animals hiding? We do!

These fish were bigger than our heads! Their slim bodies allow them to move with agility. They have eyes on the sides of their heads to see predators more easily. There were also two dogfish sharks that were hard to get a picture of.

We watched how water can affect sand, particularly with erosion. This stream table allowed students to use cranes and suction to move the sand.

A mock sand dune tank complete with fake herons, fish, and turtles was a big hit.

Can you see how the turtle blends in with the rock? Do you see the slim fish right under it and in the top right corner of the picture?

See the spotted flounder? Neither did we at first! Its spots help it blend in with the rocky bottom.

These puffer fish warn predators to stay away by filling themselves with air. They also have very sharp teeth and can be poisonous!

We took a break from the fish to do an investigation with fresh water and salt water.

We found that when mixed, our red salt water sank underneath the blue fresh water because it was more dense.

Eventually it mixed into purple brackish.

Students learned about wind power as they used a sort of reverse vacuum to power a moving fan. We watched the meter as the fan blades moved faster and faster.

We watched how atoms moved within different states of mater using balls on springs.

Students learned about how oil is drilled in the ocean. It's pretty destructive to the ocean...

and can be very dangerous and costly if there's a spill!

And then after lunch...it was back to the animals! Do you see the snake? Here's a hint: the blade of grass points right to it!

The turtles blend right in with the wood chips.

The kids looked at scorpions and other icky creatures.

We saw gila monsters...

that blended right in with the ground and logs.

We saw poison dart frogs, whose colors warn predators to stay away!

 We saw humungous cockroaches blending in with the wood.

We also watched moving walking sticks. They were really good at mimicking the sticks they were on!

Before we left, some of the kids just haaaaad to go into the Tornado Tunnel. You can see the wind speed increase in the background. A category 1 tornado reaches at least 74 miles per hour. They crammed so many kids in there that the door popped open! 

It was a fun day, but we didn't get through even half of the exhibits. I was really happy that no one got hurt or sick! ;)

Just in Time, Abraham Lincoln!

I know it's kind of late to be posting about Presidents' Day, but things have been crazy between conferences, report cards, and getting ready for Read Across America Day and our author's visit from Patricia Polacco. It's about two months away, but I wanted to get my students ready for her visit, so I killed two birds with one stone. Last week I read them Just in Time, Abraham Lincoln! This week they will be reading some of her other books in literature circles.

If you're looking for comprehension questions, check this freebie out! It has 15 comprehension questions and one open-ended essay.

In addition to all sorts of other President-themed activities, we visited http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents to learn about and write 3 facts about two presidents each. Two presidents x 22 students = 44 presidential fact pages! We also wrote about three things we'd like to accomplish if we were President or one thing we'd accomplish and three things we'd do to accomplish it. We decided that it would be a pretty tough job!

We also took the White House virtual tour.

I showed students pictures from my visits to the Washington area a few years ago.

Can you name the following monuments, statues, and buildings?

Ford's Theater, where Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth

(closed for repairs when I was there)

The House Where Lincoln Died

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery

Arlington National Cemetery

Eternal flame and graves of JFK and his widow, Jackie

Visit the White House National Park if you're in the Washington, DC area!