Field Trip!

Today we took our field trip to the Adler Planetarium in downtown Chicago. It was a day of fun and discovery as we experienced some of what we’ve been learning for the past few weeks. Our visit included the Shoot for the Moon exhibit, in which we learned about previous space explorations and the Apollo project, as well as the exhibit, Our Solar System, in which we explored the planets, moon, sun and more. Our trip ended with the Night Sky Live! show in which the students took a 3-dimensional tour of the night sky. What a great way to end our astronomy unit! 

   

Creative Writing Project

To go along with what we’ve been learning in science, this week we are writing creative stories about constellations. Last week we learned about some of the constellations and how ancient peoples would create stories to explain the constellations. We also learned where to locate these constellations in the sky. This week, the students had the chance to pick one of these constellations and write their own creative story explaining the constellation.  We started the stories in the beginning of the week, finished them by Thursday, and peer edited them. Today the students wrote out their final stories and drew a picture of their constellation to attach to their story. If they did not get a chance to finish in class, these will be due Monday, but there shouldn’t be too much to do this weekend. I’m excited to see what stories our class has written! 

Astronomy Unit

This week we started our astronomy unit in science. I’m excited for what we’ll be learning! Over the next few weeks we will be learning about the solar system, the planets, stars, constellations and more. There are a lot of exciting lessons and activities coming up, including a final group project. This is a really neat unit where students will hopefully get a better understanding of the world beyond us. I hope they enjoy it as much as I do!