Space Unit-{Earth's Rotation & Moon Phases}

As part of our space unit, we talked all about Earth's rotation and moon phases today. We began our day by going outside to our playground at 8:30 a.m. in the morning and tracing our shadows. I didn't tell the class why we were doing it, and they really didn't ask since they love any excuse to use sidewalk chalk. I'll explain more about this activity later...

We went about our day until it was theme study time. We began our Earth's rotation and moon phases study by watching a short video all about the moon on Brainpop Jr. and then reading two short moon books on the MyOn app on our iPads.

After the video we talked about what causes the moon to be different sizes when we look at it on different days. We created a craft to help them understand the revolution of Earth around the Sun, and the moon's rotation around Earth, which causes the phases.

We then completed a yummy activity from Khrys Bosland from Keepin' It Kool in KinderLand. We used Oreos to show the phases of the moon. This activity looked and sounded so much easier than it actually was, but my students got the gist of it regardless of how some of them turned out, and they got to eat their cookies in the end, so that is really all that mattered to them.

We then headed back out to the playground at 2:15 p.m. in the afternoon and we had our partners trace our shadows again from the same spots we stood this morning. Can you guess what we found out? Our shadows had moved and they were smaller! It was a complete "ah ha!" moment for my kiddos because they took what we had been learning about all day and put the pieces together to realize that the sun was in a different spot in the sky because of Earth's rotation, so that made our shadows move and change size.

Here are our shadows at the end of the day.



Tomorrow we will begin studying the planets in our solar system a little bit more closely.

Space Unit-{All About Astronauts}

We began what is quickly shaping up to be one of my favorite units this year, SPACE! There is so much that I am wanting to do this week, so I have had to break down my days to make sure that I can fit it all in. Today we began by learning all about astronauts. 

We began by hopping onto one of our favorite iPad apps, MyOn, and reading the book If I Were an Astronaut. 

This book was a perfect introduction into the lives of an astronaut while they're on the job. With the help from descriptive, and adorable, illustrations, my students were completely engaged in this book.

Following the book, we created an astronaut can, have, are chart. 

{Bet you can't guess what my favorite clipart store is, huh?}

We then completed an astronaut application writing prompt...

and created an adorable astronaut craft to go with it.

After packing up at the end of the day, I added all of our learning and fun about astronauts to our hallway bulletin board.

If you are interested in grabbing my Astronaut Craftivity for yourself (it comes with four other writing prompts along with the astronaut application prompt), click the picture below to grab it up for your own kiddos.

Along with my Astronaut Craftivity, I am using my products below to complete my Space unit this week. Click the pictures below to check them out for yourself.