Can you believe that it is almost the end of the school year! I feel like this last month flies by with all of the end of school year craziness. How many days do you have left? We have 11 1/2 days left that will speed by!
Trying to keep the kids engaged at this point of the year is always a challenging task. This is why I save our big themes, all hands-on lessons, for the last few weeks of school. Anything to keep them busy and engaged. This week will be all things SPACE!!! Check out some of the fun we had last year! It was definitely a favorite week for the year!
We watched tons of Brain Pop Jr. videos. We just cannot get enough of Annie and Moby! Click below to check them out!
We talked a lot about astronauts and what it would be like to go into Space. We even talked about food that astronauts eat. So of course we had to try some astronaut ice cream! They were a little skeptical at first and very slow at tasting the astronaut food. But once it touched their tongue, they quickly gobbled it down and loved it! They said it “melted in their mouth” and “tasted like chocolate pudding!”
We then worked on our measuring skills. I used DeeDee’s pack for the scale model of the distance between the planets. We talked about the inner planets and the outer planets. We then measured the distance of each planet from the sun with our shoes! Learning is always better when your shoes are off! They were surprised at how far away some of the planets are.
In one of our stories, it said that when an astronaut takes a step on the moon, because of the little gravity on the moon, each step is 30 feet long. We definitely had to try this one out. They definitely thought they could take a step 30 feet long too. I measured a piece of tape 30 feet long and placed it on the floor. Each kid attempted to jump the entire distance but they did not quite make it. Our farthest jump was only 6 feet. It took us 8 jumps to make it to the end of the 30 feet. Thanks for this great idea Caitlin!
We also learned about how the craters on the moon were formed. Jennifer had the perfect way for us to explore this hands on. We filled a plate with flour (to represent the moon) and had balls (asteroids) crash into the moon to form craters! This was very messy so I thought we would do this one outside. Trying not to get the custodians on my bad side 🙂 This was definitely a hit and helped the concept really sink in.
Since they could not take a piece of this home, we made a mini version using Plaster of Paris.
What better way to end our space unit than with a dessert straight from the moon. Moon Pies!!!!
I have also been working on a new Flippy Flap to add to our Space Unit and finally got it posted. I cannot wait to share it with the kiddos tomorrow! Check it out below!
Come take a peek at what we will be up to next week! Click on the picture to grab a copy for yourself!
