Dear Parents,
On Monday we made Valentine cards for people we love.
Afterwards, we looked in our books for pictures of control panels to copy for our spaceship. We made four control panels, one for each section of the ship.
During one of our practice Blast Offs the astronauts became so distracted pushing buttons that we had to abort the trip. We decided to remove the control panels for the actual Blast Off and reinstall them in the spacecraft for play later.
Valentine’s Day was a sweet success! After we sorted the cards and treats, one person started crying when he realized we were not going to indulge immediately. We reminded him that he would get to take all his treats home.
Our Blast Off was exciting! We made it to the moon and back safely. The astronauts were astronomically excited to try real astronaut food after the parents left. We shared some freeze-dried Neapolitan ice cream sandwiches. One person said she didn't just like it, she loved it!
Pajama Day was a sleepy affair.
On the day after our Blast Off we watched a video of a NASA’s Artemis moon rocket blasting off. The children kept asking, “Is this Real?!” It was very real. The ground control gave reports that it started at 128 miles per hour but near the end of the video it was going over 6,000 mph. The class was mesmerized. The video was fourteen minutes long and we watched at least ten minutes. They asked why it was taking so long? We said because it is a real spaceship and these things take time.
Have an unbelievable break,
Therese
Far Out!
Dear Parents,
We painted our spaceship white. The children worked in groups of four with paint rollers. They were excited to paint the ship. We also painted our space helmets white, and our oxygen tanks too.
We read A Trip To Mars and Life on Mars. One book was fiction about a little girl who goes to Mars with her kitty while the other was a non-fiction book about real robots going to Mars. We talked about the differences. The class knew a child could not really go to Mars alone, with just her kitty.
When we read I Want To Be An Astronaut, the class noticed that the spaceship in the book was white like ours, and had an American flag on it.
We had a practice Blast Off! to make sure ground control and the astronauts knew what to do during the Blast Off! We had to rearrange a couple of details. One astronaut kept getting out of the ship before we landed; ground control asked him to wait for the other astronauts, or sit to the side. He decided to reboard the spacecraft.
We brainstormed names for our spaceship, and then voted. The choices were Director Spaceship Fire, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Elephant X-Wing, Strawberry House, Sun Romano Sino, and Trumpet of the Sun. We will add the name to our ship next week.
In the classroom we have been working in large groups to assemble our outer space puzzle, an animal puzzle, and to connect our train set. We have been playing with our Earth animals on the carpet, while at the table using magnet boards to create words with letters.
We have finally been spending more time outside as the kitchen construction is drawing to an end, and the sun is shining. One day in the yard almost the entire class spontaneously started a game of Duck, Duck, Goose. It was so much fun to witness the cooperation, turn taking, and listening skills exhibited in this display of fun.
Reminder: parents are invited to our Blast Off! Thursday February 15 @9:30am.
Your children are piles of joy!
Therese