3-2-1 Blast Off!

Dear Earthlings,

This week we prepared for our Blast Off. We read and reread Roaring Rockets by Tony Mitton and Ant Parker. We climbed aboard our ship, practiced getting our oxygen tanks and helmets on, and planting flags on the moon. We saw a picture in one of our books showing that real astronauts practice too. 

On Wednesday while some children tumbled with Larissa, the rest of us worked on Valentine’s Day cards. We pointed to our hearts, and the children said hearts are red. We asked, “What is the red for?” Someone shouted, “Blood!” Another person said, “Hearts are for love.”

Our Blast Off! went off without a hitch. We planted our flags on the moon, and after saying goodbye to our families, we had some real freeze dried astronaut ice cream.  One of the children asked if it was going to be cold.  It was not. It was Neapolitan, and crunchy. 

On Friday we had another family share. Afterwards, we played on our planet. We asked the children if there were baby chicks on any other planet. “Noooooooo!” they all shouted. 

We asked the class, “Is there life in outer space?” before reading a book by the same title. Seven children said “Yes.” Two said “I don’t know.”   Five said “No”. 

Have a peaceful week off,

Therese

Our Spaceship

Dear Parents,

This week we worked on our spaceship. We saw a spaceship in one of our books and painted ours white too. The children worked in groups using rollers. Someone said, “It has to be all white!”

We worked on our helmets and oxygen tanks. We painted them white also, like the ones we saw in our books. Everyone tried on their helmets twice before we painted them. The helmets produced many smiles. We tried on our oxygen tanks to figure out how to fit them.

We played in our spaceship in the big room. 

We searched in our books to find a picture of a control panel. We found one in our airplane book. While half the class was tumbling with Larisa, the rest of us worked on our control panels for the spaceship. We glued buttons of paper, foam, cardboard, and card stock. The buttons are every color of the rainbow, and gold. 

After affixing the control panels into the spaceship, most children immediately climbed aboard and started pushing buttons. 

On Friday everyone made flags to leave on the moon during our Blast Off. Two children asked if we were really going to the moon. Others responded that it was just pretend. We talked about using our imaginations, and that our spaceship is only made of cardboard. Then we went into the big room to read our book Roaring Rockets and act out the story.

We’ve been reading: I’ll Catch The Moon, Planet Earth, Night Sky, Planets, Wheels, Not A Box, A Trip To Mars, I Want To Be An Astronaut, and Luigi’s All Night Parking Lot. 

Reminder parents are invited to our Blast Off! on Thursday February 12@9:30am.

It was a busy, busy week,

Therese