myGanBlog: In to the air we go!

A look at this week:

We traveled on land and now we move to the air. Planes and spaceships were the topic of conversation this week. We spent time talking about outer space as well. We started the week by seeing a special box with glow-in-the-dark stars in it for the children to enjoy! Then we made telescopes to see the stars. We also spent time counting stars in math by placing as many as we wanted on a piece of paper and then counting how many we put! We made our own airplane tickets by copying words that may be found on a real ticket. The children made airplanes and spaceships out of paper, popsicle sticks and other supplies in the classroom. They were able to build a spaceship in the blocks or pretend to go on an airplane ride in home living. We also worked in our passports and for each of the activities that the children completed, they got a stamp in their passport and then tried to write or draw about the activity as well! This week was a shorter week with Wednesday being a day off; however, the children really seemed to enjoy the activities. It was really nice to hear one or two of them comment that they wanted to get another stamp in their passports! Some of the children also got the chance to experience how astronauts may drink when they are in space by putting orange juice in plastic bags and using a straw to drink it!

Conversations from the week:

I explained to the children that I was going to need them to sit down on their letter in the circle time room, stay seated and just look. I also let them know I was closing the door and turning the light off for a moment so they could experience the mysterious box that arrived in the room. Everyone did such a nice job!

Morah Amanda: What are we learning about this week?

Mussie: Sky and…

Lizzy: Airplanes and rockets

Mussie: Space.

Morah Amanda: We are now going to turn the light out and everyone needs to stay sitting to see!

Mussie: Stars!

Everyone: Stars!

You could hear the excitement in the children’s voices as they were looking into the black painted box with the glow-in-the-dark stickers inside!

I turned the light back on and was begged to show them again. So we had one more look and then we talked about the box. I explained that they would have the chance to look at it in the rainforest room if they wanted and we discussed how to treat the box.

Drinking like an Astronaut

Morah Amanda: If you were an astronaut in a space ship, you would not do things the same as we do on Earth. You would not be able to just keep your feet on the ground, instead you would be able to float in the air. Have you ever jumped on a trampoline?

Mussie: I jumped on my friends trampoline.

Morah Amanda: On your friend’s? When you were in the air did you feel like you were going to fall right back down or were you in the air for a little bit?

Mussie: Up in the air for a little bit.

Morah Amanda: So when you are an astronaut in a space ship they have to be careful since they can stay in the air. They even eat special foods and do special things to make it easier to eat or drink. Do you know what would happen if you opened the orange juice in space?

Levi: What?

Morah Amanda: It would go up into the air. It won’t stay in the container. They have to drink it a special way. So we are going to try something. Are you ready to drink like an astronaut. We are going to pour the orange juice into the bag.

Class: All of class was laughing

Levi: Into a Ziploc bag!

Morah Amanda: I am going to pour it into three Ziploc bags because how many kids do we have today?

Class: Three.

Morah Amanda: I am going to zip them up. Now look. Is this open? Can orange juice come out of this?

Class: Yeah.

Morah Amanda: But what about this could juice come out of this when it is zipped?

Class: No

Morah Amanda: Ok if we used the regular container, what would happen?

Mussie: It would spill.

Morah Amanda: It wouldn’t spill but it would come out.

Mussie: Why?

Morah Amanda: Because we have gravity on Earth that keeps us down, on the planet. If we didn’t have gravity then we would float on the air. So, what we are going to do is open the bag just a little bit and put the straw in. If they had the open containers they would have to catch the juice when it goes up into the air, and they would need to figure out a way to drink it!

The children all started laughing when they were drinking their juice. They really enjoyed this experience.

A look at next week:

Since we have already discussed automobiles and just finished with planes and spaceships we are going to start traveling by trains and boats. Next week we will be writing words that have to do with trains, putting train cars in numeric order, talking about triangles as we make sail boats, and seeing which items will sink or float.