Adventures in Outer Space

We blasted off into outer space! A spaceship helped us get where we needed to go. 

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1...

Blastoff!

After reading Roaring Rockets 

by Tony Mitton and Ant Parker,   

 we used collage materials and shapes to create roaring rockets of our own. 

"Twinkle, twinkle little star"...

We sang the song, read a book by the same name

and then read, Laura's Star 

by Klaus Baumgart.

"Starlight, star bright, 

First star I see tonight,

I wish I may, I wish I might, 

Have the wish I wish tonight."

We recited this poem and talked about what we would wish for on the first star...

We were all in agreement- we would wish for a star like Laura's, one that would fall down from the sky and be our friend.

Using flashlights, we made "stars" dance on the ceiling of the darkened room.

We made nighttime pictures using white paint mixed with glue, star shapes like cookie cutters and sponges, and silver glitter. We printed star shapes onto black paper and then sprinkled silver glitter over the top of the prints. They look like the nighttime sky with twinkling stars!

After reading Berenstain Bears on the Moon, by Stan and Jan Berenstain, 

and Moon Boy by Barbara Brenner,

we decided the moon would be a great place to visit. We blasted off in our rocketship and landed on the moon where we had to jump, walk, crawl and slide. It was like an obstacle course on the moon!

We sang, "What will I Take to the Moon?". 

We each had to decide what we would take if we went to the moon.

What will I take to the moon?

What will I take to the moon?

The rocket is small, I can't take it all.

Better hurry up cause we're leaving soon.

What will I take to the moon?

I'm gonna take  my_____________________.

Gonna take my __________________ to the moon.

The rocket is small, I can't take it all.

Better hurry up cause we're leaving soon.

What will I take to the moon?

My "nigh-nigh", my hiccupotomus and my pillow.

My smurf and my star.

My pig!

Donuts, cookies and ice cream!

We played "Moon Math", a game where we rolled dice and counted out the right number of moon rocks to put in the craters. Once we filled them up, we rolled the dice to remove them. It was a great game for counting and one-to-one correspondence. 

It was fun playing in moon sand. It's different than regular sand in that it can be molded and shaped. It was an awesome sensory experience!

There's No Place Like Space by Tish Rabe 

had us jumping on planets as we named them, from the ones closest to the sun to the ones farthest away in a game of "Planet Hopscotch". 

We used big and little marbles and golf balls to create our own planets. We dipped them in paint and dropped them in a cake pan lined with paper. We tipped the pan to make the marbles and balls move around, swirling around the paint as they went.

 

 We loved the results! We picked names for our planets and told a little bit about them. 

My planet is Mercury. It is cold at night and hot in the day. My mom and dad live on my planet. It is orange, purple, red and blue.

My planet is Earth...our planet. Our planet is called Earth. I like my planet- it doesn't have any pink.

My planet is named "Flower".

My planet is Neptune- that blue one. Did you know that Neptune is my favorite and it's blue all over? Who lives on Neptune? Exactly us!

Hush Little Alien by Daniel Kirk 

was the springboard for our play dough fun. We had colors made special for creating aliens. Pipe cleaners, eyes, straws, buttons and a variety of other materials were added to enhance our play experience.