1.27.2012

Spaced Out - Wrap Up

We spent the past couple weeks wrapping up our solar system theme.

We had a weird week last week where school just didn't fit in it's normal schedule.  We did a lot of night school, car school, and in between chores school.

But we got it done so that works for me.

Here's a peek at what we did.
Josie is now doing curriculum to cover reading, math, and writing.  These posts only cover the extra theme work we are doing.

Moon Surface

We looked at some pictures of the moon's surface and talked about how meteors run into the moon and give it a bumpy surface.  To illustrate, she dropped marshmallows (meteors) into a bowl of flour (our moon) to see what would happen.




Marshmallow Moon Phases

Josie remembered this from last year but she's always up for a lesson that involves eating marshmallows!  We looked at some examples of the different moon phases and then I gave her 3 marshmallows and told her to make them look like the different phases.




Reflection Experiment

I told her how the moon looks like it has it's own light but that it really just reflects the sun's light.  To illustrate, we headed into the bathroom and shut off the light.  Then Josie shined her flashlight onto the mirror.  We talked about how the mirror didn't have a light at all but that her flashlight made it look like it did.


Full Moon Observation

Pretty self explanatory.  We went outside and observed the moon.  Josie thought she was super special since she got to stay up "really late" to see the moon.

It was only 7:15.

God bless you early sunset!

Revolving Illustration

To illustrate the way the Earth orbits the sun we did a little revolving illustration.  We used a marble as our Earth and sent it spinning around a pie tin.


Planet Line Up

We colored some planets, cut them out, then glued them in order for a little art project.  Josie's coloring and scissor skills have improved dramatically in the past month.




Create A Planet

Our big art project was Josie's favorite for this theme.  We made a paper mache planet and then filled out a story book about her new planet.


To See our first two weeks of the Solar System check out Spaced Out - Week 1

For links to these projects and the ones we just didn't get to check out my Solar System PinBoard.

5 comments:

Brittney said...

Everything looks so fun--you've done a great job creating this unit. I'll have to remember to do our space unit in the winter so we can observe the moon! ;)

Sarah said...

Ok so I've already told you how much I love your ideas...but Oh my! I love that marshmellow moon phase idea! Can't wait to start our solar system unit...

Kristina said...

Popping in from Preschool Corner-- great space unit! And love the idea of a paper mache planet! We made a mobile and had lots of fun, too!

Bekah said...

Stopping by from Preschool Corner Link Up! This is a GREAT way to learn about Outer Space - you've been pinned. Thanks for sharing all your ideas - my son would love the marshmallow eating for lunar phases and I'd be saying "God bless you early sunset too!" lol New follower!

~Bekah @SonshineTotSchool.blogspot.com

heather said...

lovely activities! i'm in need of some activities about the sun... and i think the marble in the pie tin will work just perfectly :) and i love the explanation of the moon's light! thanks for sharing your ideas :)