3-Day: Exploring the Universe
The children are absolutely loving our study of the universe. Once we learned that the sun is the center of our universe, it was time to hop aboard our space shuttle to check out things in outer space. We talked about all of our planets and discussed why tiny Pluto is no longer considered a planet in our solar system.
The children made imaginary planets this week using balloons, bright paints and marbles to create swirly whirly objects in space. You can see our works of art outside the classroom. We talked a little bit about gravity and the north and south poles, exploring magnets and their strange pulling power! Olly's dad taught us a trick: by placing magnets on either side of a photo or strip of paper, the magnet below moves the magnet above, like magic!!!
Our sensory table this week included galaxy slime, floam and baking soda with vinegar and eye droppers. We pretended we were conducting outer space science experiments!
We read lots of wonderful fiction and nonfiction books about the solar system. One of our favorites was Mae Among the Stars, about a little girl who wanted to be an astronaut. Her teacher was not very supportive of the idea, but she dreamed big and worked hard to become real astronaut Mae Jemison. You would've been very impressed with your children as they listened, formed opinions and shared feelings about the story.
On Friday, we culminated our visit to outer space by boarding our rocket ship, wearing our carefully crafted space helmets. After a very bumpy ride with many technical difficulties on the way to outer space, we collected lots of asteroid rocks that were hidden all over Planet Bowen (the playground!)
We celebrated Charlie's birthday a day early! Happy birthday, Charlie!!!
Now that there is a glimmer of spring in the air, it's a good time to update your child's spare clothing (shorts, pants, long sleeve, short sleeve, underwear or pull ups, and socks).
Spring conferences will be held on April 8th. I will send out a sign up next week so you can plan childcare or shift schedules, if necessary. Please let me know if the allotted times pose a challenge for you and I'm happy to meet at another time or even speak over the phone. As I did in the fall, I will send you your child's write up prior to our meeting.
We hope all of you have a wonderful weekend.
Karen and Mayson