Hello Everyone!
We had such a fun and exciting week learning about rockets, planets, the sun and our solar system. The Hippos began the week looking at pictures of planets, watching a few short videos, using a globe, exploring a model solar system and singing our planet song! We also saw a video of a rocket taking off!
This week we turned our arch into a rocket. We painted our rocket using red and blue paint. We then cut out American flags, pasted them on the rocket and made our own rockets out of paper towel tubes (fine motor). It was fun to play in our rocket ship with headphones, computer keyboards, calculators and control panels, which we made with a variety of recycled materials (developing relationships, fine motor, making decisions independently, showing persistence, taking turns, using language). We practiced counting backwards from 10 to 1 and shouting BLAST OFF!! After reading books, we recalled facts about the sun and the other planets including Earth and Mars (answering who, what, where, when questions, listening skills). When signing in, the students decided what they liked the best, the moon, the sun or the stars. We then counted the columns and compared the numbers (one to one counting, recognizing and comparing numbers). In addition, we played with galaxy play dough, took turns with a sit and spin (representing the Earth spinning) made our own rockets, painted the sun, made a rocket by tracing our names and counted space pictures then used clothespins to find the correct number. It was sun to make Earth using a ziplock bag with paint and using our fingers to spread the paint (fine motor, meaningful counting, recognizing numbers). The students also enjoyed building rocket ships and other items with our small legos, magnatiles and tangram pieces. We used a pie pan with a sun taped to the middle of it and a ball. The students moved the pie plate so the ball would rotate around the sun. Our study of the solar system will continue next week.
As we read Trip to Mars, we used props from the story. The children answered questions about the story and then used these props (backpacks, flashlights, paper and crayons, pretend food, mop, teddy bear, space suit and gloves) to enhance recall. We also wrote in our Hippo journals about what we would bring if we went to Mars.
All the hippos enjoyed the rocket stomper during gym time. We worked on our jumping and coordination skills. During center time it was fun to make our very own rocket and travel to other planets! As we ended our week we sang our solar system song, counted backwards from 10-0 and shouted BLASTOFF!
Our letter this week was the letter T. During our 2nd Steps unit we practiced looking at facial features of a child who is happy and a child who is sad.
Books We Read This Week
My Book of Planets
Trip to Mars
Me and My Place in Space
There's No Place Like Space
Questions to As Your Child
1. How many planets are there?( 8 - make an 8 with your hands-circle on top and a circle on the bottom.
2. Which planet is the biggest, Jupiter or Earth?
3. How many moons does Earth have?
4. What planet do we live on? (Earth)
5. Is the sun a planet or a star? (star)
6. Do we need an umbrella on Mars? (no-because it does not rain on Mars)
7. What kind of rings does Saturn have? Dusty or icy? (icy)
What you can do at home:
Crouch down and practice counting backwards from 10 and then blasting off like a rocket by jumping into the air.
Reminders:
Monday10/13 and Wednesday 10/15 in the afternoon- Parent Teacher Conferences
Monday 10/20 No School
Wednesday 10/29 Theis Pumpkin Farm field trip-
Thursday 10/30 Wear your costume to school-no masks and wear gym shoes for outside time
Below is our Planet song and pictures of all the fun things we did this week! Thank you so much for sharing your child with us! It is such a joy each day to explore, discover, play and learn together!!
Planet Song (tune to Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star)
Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, are closest to our yellow star.
Next comes Jupiter the king, and Saturn with its icy rings,
Uranus next rolls along and Neptune is the planet that ends our song!!
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| Space puzzles and building rockets. |
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| Look at this cool rocket. |
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| Ready for blastoff. |
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| Using tangrams to make rockets. |
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| We used paint sticks to decorate our rockets. |
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| We are spinning like the earth! |
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| We made the planet Earth using our fingers. |
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| We made the Earth rotate around the sun. |
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| Everyone loved the rocket stomper! |
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| Art party in art class! |
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| Here are our control panels the students made. |
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| Show and Tell |
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| Art fun! |
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| 10, 9, 8.........Blastoff!! |
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| We used milk caps to represent planets when using the playdoh. |
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Everyone contributed to making control panels for our rocket
using recycled materials. |
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| The students played with the props from our book about Mars. |
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| Journal..What would you take to Mars? |
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| Making rockets with little legos. |
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Our sensory table contained black pebbles, letter, the planets,
tongs and cups. The students could use the tongs to fine the planets and letters. |
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| Show and Tell |
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| Show and Tell |
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| Look what we did! |
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| Counting space pictures and finding the correct number. |
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| We made a rocket out of our name. |
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| We painted planets with a friend. |
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We practiced our cutting skills when cutting out flags
for our rocket. |
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| We used yellow and orange paint to make the sun. |
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| It was custodians day so we made a thank you banner for Carmel. |
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The hippos practiced making the letter H
with wooden pieces then on the blackboard. |
