Astronaut in the Orange Emergency Suit

When one of our dads who works for NASA visited our class last Thursday, a student asked him what the difference was between the orange spacesuits and the white suits.  Well, the orange suits are the ones you used to see the astronauts wearing when they boarded the space shuttle.  That suit is designed for "emergencies" or for launch and re-entry.  The white suits are used for "outside" - space walks. 

I decided to make an astronaut in an orange suit but may change it so the students make it as a glyph with them choosing between orange and white depending on answers to questions.  But for now, here's what it is going to look like.  (I am debating whether to take a photo of each student and put it behind the "shield" made of part of a baggie.)  We'll see how the time goes...

The Moon is Made of....SUGAR!!!

This year I decided to let the students make the phases of the moon with Oreo cookies.  Last  year I used Ritz crackers and Cheez Whiz which was much easier, BUT not nearly as "authentic" looking!  ALL of the children were able to do this, but it did take some coaxing not to eat the moon!

The DAY AFTER we did this activity, I saw SPRING Oreo cookies with YELLOW sugar!  The yellow would've looked good, too. 

Space Units about to launch! Hope it's not a "scrub"!

What started out as creating some ten frames and dot cards for my classroom has turned into a much larger unit!  I just kept thinking, "Oh, and I need a center for (fill in the blank)...and 'Wouldn't it be great to have'....."  I don't see how Deanna Jump, Kim Adsit, DeeDee Wills, and all the other fantastic teachers whose units I purchase can find the time to make their wonderful units!  My hats off to all of them!  I hope to have my unit for sale soon!

Interactive Attendance and Lunch Count: Space Theme

I created this interactive attendance board for my Mimio.  The students will drag an astronaut icon on top of their names when they enter the classroom.  Here's the link.  It can probably be saved as a notebook file if you have a Smart Board. Or try clicking "Download, Open With...." and choose your Smart Board program. 

This is the lunch count screen using ten frames.

Mars Science Laboratory Launch Successful!

Phew! I am so glad it launched on the weekend and not during the week!  I didn't want to have to worry about putting our "safety plan" into place in the event the launch wasn't successful.  (Basically it just involved getting indoors, making sure all doors and windows were closed and shutting off the AC.)

I wasn't able to see the launch from my backyard because of the clouds, but I did hear it.  To see a great video of the lunch, see below.

NASA Video of the launch:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QCNsKricls