"Space oh space

What a really big place...

...You can go if you just pretend"

Children have a natural sense of wonder. 

Science in the classroom provides an opportunity for children to extend this curiosity and create theories as to why/what will happen.

Eliana: We need a rocketship to go to space.

Moshe: You need gravity boots. 

Lochlan: You wouldn't want to go to close to the sun without some really good safety gear.

We have been exploring Space with our imaginations and through art.

We play with "space dough" and "moon dough."

We extend our learning as we pretend.
Morah Katie: If we have a picnic on Earth, what happens to our food?
Emily: Nothing.

Morah Katie: If we have a picnic on the moon, what would happen to our food?
Makayah: It would float away.

Morah Katie: Why?
Clive: There is less gravity on the moon.
Morah Katie: Would we have to bring anything other than a blanket and our picnic basket to our moon picnic?
Moshe: Gravity boots!
Morah Katie: Why?
Evan: We would float away! And we need space suits.
Makayah: To have air.
Morah Katie: Why do we need to bring air?
Clive:  Because there is no oxygen on the moon.
Emily: AND we need to breathe!

We sing songs and pretend to explore Space.

"Climb aboard the space shuttle we're going to the moon!

Hurry, Hurry, we  blast off soon!

Put on your space suit and buckle up tight!

Here comes the count down count with all your might!"

This allowed us to "land" on the moon.

"The Earth spins around,

the Earth spins around,

once a day,

everyday,

the Earth spins around.

The moon goes round the Earth,

the moon goes round the Earth,

once a month,

every month,

the moon goes round the Earth."

We pretended to be the moon and the Earth to understand why we see the moon at night and the sun during the day.

There is no sound in space.
We had a silent space walk from our "space shuttle" classroom to our the "lunar base" playground.

Lochlan: The cucumber seeds look like craters in the moon and the apple slice looks like the moon when it is the banana moon.

Art develops creativity, imagination and self-esteem.
It allows a child to show us their thoughts, beliefs, and understandings of the world.
Through art the child show us the connections they are making.

Children have better retention of a concept when they interact with an activity which reinforces what they are studying.

The most effective learning occurs when the child is doing something they can relate to, participate in, or have a hand’s on experience with.

Art provides the child a way to explore space and express the knowledge s/he is learning.

Evan: The rocks hit it and then bounce off and keep going in space. 

Clive: The moon is a big rock.

Eliana: It has craters on it.

Lochlan: The rocks hitting the moon are called asteroids.

Ozzie: It goes around the Earth every month.

Evan: On it's orbit.