3...2...1...BLAST OFF!!!

Did you hear all about the AMAZING time we had today learning during Space Stations?! We were thrilled this morning to enter our classroom that was all set up with 6 entertaining and engaging stations to help us create, investigate and explore various concepts that we have been learning about in class...all about SPACE!!!!

First of all, I would like to send a huge thank you to Mrs. Z. and Ms. Jenn, who were both able to help out all morning! Zooey and Aubrey were so excited to have you there and that you could share in their experience!

I am sure you heard many things about our day when your child came home! Below are descriptions and pictures of ALL of the fun we had!

Constellation Station

At our first station, the students discussed constellations and what they are. They were then given the opportunity to create their own! Using black paper, star stickers and white crayons, students were able to create extremely unique and creative constellations! Some recreated constellations that are already in existence, while others made new constellations! When they were done with their creations they were then able to write about what they made!

Blast Off Math

In this station, our first graders practiced finding ten more and ten less. This is a skill we have been working really hard on the past week. It can be very tricky when adding and subtracting groups of tens, especially when they have been so used to working with adding and subtracting ones! Here, students matched up their two-digit rocket with the stars showing ten more and ten less. Then, they recorded their findings on their rocket math paper.

Write the Room

During the students' time in this station, they were able to explore our classroom, Mrs. Heystek's classroom and the hallway to find hidden solar system words that were hidden. Some friends were able to find them quicker than others. Students took their clip boards and recording sheets around with them and wrote each word they found by its matching picture. When they were done, they were able to pick one of the words and write it, use it in a sentence and then draw a picture of it.

Eat Like an Astronaut

This was one of the biggest hits of the day (along with our rocket launch....keep reading to find out more about that)! At this station, they were able to experience a little bit of what it would be like to actually visit outer space by eating like an astronaut!!!! We were able to try astronaut fruit, lasagna and ice cream!!! We learned that the food needs to be prepared and packaged (freeze dried) in a special way because there would not be a way to store the food and make it last while they are in space! Along with the special packaging, comes a pretty expensive price tag. We were so excited to be able to use our Boo Gram money from the fall to be able to purchase the food to use for our station! Thank you again for all your help in the fall raising the money for our class! Everyone was SUPER excited to get to try the astronaut food and almost all of them LOVED everything they ate!

Make a Moon (Crater)

This station was another tremendous hit! When students were able to orbit to this station, they received a piece of clay and some marbles. Their job was to create the moon, complete with craters! They have been learning about how craters are formed in the moon and so today they were able to explore that concept and create their own!

When they were satisfied with how their moons and craters turned out, they had the opportunity to write about how craters are formed. Don't worry if your child's moon got a little squished on the way home. The air-dry clay takes a day or two to set up and harden so they should still have a little time to reshape and recreate their craters if it did get a little banged up!

Wear the Solar System

During this station, students were able to color pictures of the sun, as well as all 8 planets in our Solar System. We have been learning all about the different planets and some of their unique characteristics. This was a great opportunity to try and color them accurately as well as help us practice learning the order of the planets as they attempted to glue them on to their headbands in the correct order. Not everyone finished their headbands in the time allotted for their station...no worries...they can finish them at home since they took all of their planets and their headband home with them!

This was great practice in being able to memorize the order of planets. I have challenged the class to learn the order of the planets and if they can recite them correctly, they will earn an awesome space treat!!! We already have a few Solar System Super Stars who were able to enjoy their Milky Way treat!!!

Rocket Launch

During the last couple of weeks, some of our class discussions were around the Space Race and specifically, the United State's efforts to put a man on the moon. We heard stories about the various Apollo missions and discussed what it would be like to be an astronaut and go into space. During our afternoon, we wrote stories about what it would be like if we could be astronauts and then went outside and had fun launching our own rocket!!! We launched our rocket a few times and each time there was SO much excitement when it launched. You can watch our rocket launch below:

If you are looking for a fun activity with your child, try out cosmic yoga and join them on an adventure doing some fun, engaging yoga poses with Mike and Muttnik on the Moon!

As you can see we had a BLAST in orbit today. We hope you had just as much fun reading about our fun and seeing all of the pictures of our trip through space!!! We can't wait for our next learning adventure!