To the Moon....

Last week with our www.mothergoosetime.com curriculum we learned that there is no place quite like space. What is up in the Sky? We learned that a group of stars is called a constellation. We learned that Astronomers study the sky with special equipment called a telescope.

We had a blast making Space Paper. We looked through our books and the computer for pictures of space. The children chose what colors they would like in their space design. The children then took a piece of plain white paper and colored in completely with different color crayons making sure to not leave any white spaces. Then we mixed a couple of drops of dish liquid with black tempera paint. We coated the whole paper with our paint mixture and let it dry. After it was dry we applied a second coat of our paint mixture.

When it was dry we used toothpicks to scratch our space design through the paint revealing our crayon colors.

  

Throughout our day we use math in many ways. During Circle time we sing about the days of the week. We count out the days on our calendar. We talk about the pattern our Calender pieces make.  This month our pattern is Star, Astronaut, Moon, Space Ship, repeat....

We learn geometry with Shapes. We need to use our knowledge of geometry along our reasoning and logic skills  to fit pieces together on a puzzle, train tracks, or building with blocks.

 On Wednesday we worked together to stack pieces on the moon. We needed to think logically to figure out the best way to balance our pieces on the moon. We took turns rolling the die and putting the matching pieces on the moon.

After a bit of trial and error, they did it! Did you know the Moon is only 1/4 the size of the Earth? 

B & K sorted the different star shaped manipulative's to count out 17 while E decided he would like to fit smaller stars on the number 7. We took turns counting out the stars together and sorting them according to size and color.  We are learning that numbers correlate to actual items.

What would we bring home from the moon? Moon rocks of course. We set out various rocks to explore the texture and look. We learned that 12 astronauts have walked on the moon where they were able to collect rocks and soil samples to study. 

We pretended to be astronauts returning from space, but we needed our very own moon rocks. Each child mixed 2 tbs of dough mixture with 1 tsp of water. It's important to use our math skills to measure the correct amounts. We observed how our dough changed as we mixed it with the water. We had a hard time rolling the dough into a ball without squishing it into our fingers. We had to figure out how to roll the dough into a ball without squeezing it too hard.  We set our finished rocks onto a baking sheet. We baked them at 275 for about 10 minutes. After they were cooled we observed how our dough had changed. We counted out our "Moon Rocks" and placed them in our bags.   We told stories of how we found our rocks on the moon. K said he had to wrestle his from an Alien who wasn't very nice.

At snack time we made our own "Eat the Moon" snack.  This snack was lots of fun. Added bonus it was gluten free so we didn't have to make any substitutions. 

 I let the children choose to use plain or chocolate cream cheese.

We are super excited to start this weeks theme: Rock Planets.

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