Dear Earthlings,
Our week began with a blast. We started reading books about rocket
ships and our solar system. The children knew which planet we live on,
Earth. We talked about what makes a real spacecraft blast off. The
class said fire blasts it into outer space. We saw pictures of some
rocket ships blasting off in our books. The conversation led to how
hot lava blasts out of a volcano, too.
We painted our rocket ship gray. It has five parts. Everyone got many
chances to ride in the rocket ship during free play in the big room.
One person said it turned into a race car, another group played babies
in the rocket ship, while another looked as if she might fall asleep.
Some children wanted to know if we were really going to outer space in
our ship? We asked if they thought we could build a real rocket ship,
and many knew we could not. When the children answered that it was
pretend, some looked relieved while others were disappointed.
We did an experiment using Diet Coke and Skittles to show how a
chemical reaction can make something explode and shoot up in the air.
We had to try it twice, as the first explosion was a disappointment.
The second time we remembered to use Mentos, not Skittles! We talked
about what kind of fuel a car uses and that a rocket ship uses liquid
hydrogen.
After we looked at pictures of our solar system, we talked about the
sun and the planets orbiting around it. Using papier mache, we began
and finished making the planets Earth, Mars, Venus, and Mercury.
Whew, it was a productive week!
Next week, more planets.
Have a lovely weekend on our planet,
Therese