Our Planets

Our week began with the making of telescopes.

We were in need of telescopes this week as we looked out into our solar system and studied the planets.

How did we study things that are so beyond the reach of our hands?

We read books, built puzzles and played pretend.

Evan: I am on the blue star.

Ari: I am on the planet with rings.

Morah Katie: That is Saturn.

Evan: Now I am on this planet.

Morah Katie: That is our planet, Earth.

We compared the sizes of spherical fruit, and imagined which planet they would be.

We decided a grape would probably be Mercury because it is so small, 

while the clementine could be Venus.

 However, "cuties" are NOT stinky like Venus, they just both happen to be orange in color.

The watermelon could be Saturn, they both have stripes (or rings) around them.

Sroli:  Earth is green and blue and the apple is red and orange and yellow so it looks more like Mars.

A cantaloupe would be Jupiter, it is so big and contain so many seeds. 

The real Jupiter could fit 1000 Earths inside.

Sroli: But the cantaloupe could be the Sun too because it is SO big and Sun is giant! It is like this big:

As we created a planet collage, we discussed the different planets.

Morah Katie: Which planets would you like to travel to?

Abigail: Not Venus. Venus is stinky, it's air is stinky.

Amelia: We wouldn't want to land on the Sun either, it is TOO hot.

Natan: Jupiter is a gas planet so we can't land. Earth has water and grass.

Abigail: And air to breathe. 

Natan: Earth is where all living things are on, it is so special.

Amelia: Neptune is windy. It's blue spot is a storm.

Abigail: This is the one with the wind storm; it's blue. 

Natan: I have 8 planets.

Morah Katie: You are all very smart astronomers. Tell me about Mercury.
Sroli: Little Mercury is the smallest.
Morah Katie: What should I know about Mars?
Sroli: It has a robot on it.
Judah: It's the Mars rover.
Morah Katie: What about Earth?
Sroli: It has oxygen so we can breathe.
Amelia: And it has a beach.
Morah Katie: What is interesting about Uranus?
Judah: It rotates sideways.
Isaac: Jupiter has a red spot and many moons.
Sroli: The sun is far away from Neptune. It also has rings and moons.
Morah Katie: What is interesting about Venus?
Abigail: It is stinky.
Sroli: The air is bad. It's orange.
Morah Katie: Can you tell me something about Saturn?
Isaac: It has rings around it and moons.
Judah: It's a gas Planet.
Natan: Jupiter is a gas planet too.

Twinkle twinkle little star, Wait! We know what you are!

Morah Katie: What can you tell me about stars?

Sroli: Shooting stars!

Morah Katie: What are shooting stars?

Sroli: Meteorites!

Morah Katie: I agree,  we call meteorites shooting stars. What do we know about stars?

Anton: They live in the night sky.

Sroli: At night stars look just like circles.

Amelia: You can use a telescope to look at stars.

Morah Katie: I'd like to share one more fact with you.  Take a breath in and fill your lungs with air.  We can't see air, it is a gas.  We need this important gas to survive.  Stars are made of different gases. A star is a big fire ball of gas.

Sroli: What are these?
Morah Stephanie: These are constellations. They are group of stars, that form shapes.
Sroli: They are really dark.
Morah Katie: It's the dark night sky.
Abigail: This one looks like a horn.
Morah Stephanie: I agree! It's name is Andromeda.

Ari: The yellow circles are the stars, they are big balls of fiery gas and they are very hot and they are making a shape in the sky.

Amelia: The red star is hot, but not as hot as the blue star. Blue stars are the hottest.

Sroli: Yellow orange stars are not very very very hot.

Morah Katie: Which is hotter blue stars or yellow stars?

Sroli: Blue stars. They are very very very very hot.

Morah Katie: Which is cooler yellow or red stars?

Natan: Red stars are not hot enough. 

Sroli: Red stars are just hot.

Abigail: Our sun is a yellow star.

Isaac: It's the Sun,  it's a big ball of fire.

Morah Katie: It's a star. Our sun in fact is a star. 

Isaac: So that (pointing to the sun model hanging from the ceiling) is a star?

Morah Katie: Yes!

Isaac: And the Sun.

Anton: I see the blue stars, they are the hottest.

Evan: Look at my star. It's a big ball of firey gas.

My astronaut is on it.

Matan: That is a guy. 

Morah Katie: An astronaut.

Matan: Astronaut. A rocket ship.

Judah: These are the planets.

Sroli: We have them in our classroom.

Morah Katie: Sroli, did you just draw a 5 pointed star?

Sroli: Yeah, I just did it.

Lunar landing!

We boarded our space shuttle and traveled to the moon this week.
The Gan astronauts discovered many interesting lunar facts.

Morah Katie: Let's see if we can jump off Earth and float out into space. 1, 2, 3 Jump!
   Are we floating?
Kids: NO!
Morah Katie: We are not floating off the Earth because of a force we can't see called Gravity.
There is zero gravity in space.  What do you think will happen when I drop our moon pillow?
Amelia: It will fall.
Morah Katie: Let's try it.

Gravity is working.  Gravity is  felt on the Moon, but it is different on the Moon. It is not as strong as on Earth.
What do you think would happen if I dropped the pillow while we were on the moon?
Natan: It would just float away.

Anton: My astronauts are collecting rocks.

Morah Katie: Are they heavy or light?

Anton: The are light because they are not on Earth.

Morah Katie: What causes that to happen? 

Abigail/Anton: Gravity!

We ran our floating corn experiment again; this time pretending the corn kernels were astronauts.

We placed the corn astronauts in the baking soda space shuttle, added vinegar and the corn experienced zero gravity!

Ari: We would need a space shuttle with a rocket and launch pad to get to the moon. The engines would blast fire and we would fly. 

Evan: I am making my space shuttle which will take me up to the moon.

Natan: Astronauts lay down during the launch and then they sit up. They use buckles or they would float around.

Morah Katie: How is the Moon different then the Earth?
Abigail: Things are lighter because gravity is not as strong. Gravity keeps us on Earth.
Morah Katie: Could we live on the Moon?
Anton: NO, there is no air.
Natan: There is no oxygen.

Evan: We would have to wear gravity boots to keep us on the moon. My astronaut jumped off the moon and his boots fell off.  He floated away. 
Amelia: And we would need oxygen helmets so we can breathe.

Morah Katie: Can things grow on the Moon?
Abigail: No, there are no living things on the moon.
Amelia: It is rock.

Morah Katie: What are those holes on the Moon called?

Sroli: They are craters.

Morah Katie: If the moon is rock, how were the astronauts able to leave their bootprints? 

Natan: Meteoroids.

Morah Katie:  What are meteoroids?

Natan: Small rocks in space that crash all the time into the moon.

Sroli: They made the moon dust by crashing apart.

Morah Katie: What are meteorites?

Isaac: Shooting stars.

Spoil: When the meteoroids come to Earth.

Isaac: Morah Katie is this real Moon dust?

Morah Katie: Isaac what would I need to collect Moon dust?

Isaac:  A space ship and boots.

Morah Katie: I would. Sadly I do not have those things, but I do have my imagination.

Isaac: I do too.

Morah Katie: Does the Moon always look the same?
Amelia: No, every night it gets smaller and then bigger.

Evan: I made half moons.
Sroli: It's the sun that makes the moon light up.
Olivia: The Sun goes to the floor and then it's night. Then it's the moon.

 We created the phases of the moon using delicious cookies.

Morah Stephanie: What is it when the Moon is all white?

Olivia: It's a full moon.

Abigail: I have a full moon and now a half moon!

Morah Katie: If we could walk to the moon, it would take 3000 days to walk from the Earth to the Moon. That is a little longer than 8 years! Judah how old are you?

Judah: 4.

Morah Katie: When we reached the Moon you would be?

Judah: 12 years old!

Natan: Well I am turning 5 in March, so I would be 13 when we got to the Moon.

Morah Katie: That's a good point. You would all either be 11, 12, or 13 years old. You would all be in middle school!

Sroli: 3000 days is a long time, I bet that is like 100 miles!

While on board our space shuttle, 

we traveled out into Space (the Hebrew school classroom with lights off)

and watched the Sun (flashlight) 

light up the Moon  (an orange) 

as it traveled around Earth (Isaac).