Space Unit Study

We blasted off on our study of outer space the second week of June, and just landed back here on earth a couple days ago.  We learned lots and had fun doing so while we explored the solar system, stars, our Earth and more.

We used the following books:

• Postcards from Pluto
• Excerpts from Apologia Astronomy
• Explore the Solar System
• Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System
• Magic School Bus Gets Lost in Space DVD
• Janice Van Cleave’s Constellations for Every Kid

Out of all the books mentioned above, my favorite by far was, Explore the Solar System, by Anita Yasuda.  It was informational, but written on a younger child’s level of understanding and full of simple, but super fun projects. 

Joe completed notebook pages for his lapjournal.  Here are several of my favorites.

This project below was created by looking at constellations, picking a few favorites and using a hole punch to make them on a sheet of paper. He colored a page for each of the planets. He completed a page about the sun, day and night. We blew up balloons in varying colors and sizes to represent all of the planets.  We hung them in the order that they are in location to the sun.  This was very fun and one of Joe and Jack’s favorites.  Hanna enjoyed it too and got in on detailing some of our planets.  After we did this Joe had no problem remembering all of the planet’s names and their correct order. We made S’mores in a solar oven using a pizza box, tin foil, an aluminum pan and a ziploc bag.  Fun and yummy! We talked about the layers of our Earth in detail, and used models made made of play doh for visual learning.  Hanna made our Earth models and did a great job!  Joe made a foil picture of our solar system using tin foil, sharpie markers, glue, star stickers and black cardstock.  I love how shiny the planets are. I put together a space sensory bin with moon sand, glow in the dark stars and a a space toob for the boys.  This was played with lots over the last few weeks! We really did enjoy this study from start to finish!

For the month of July we will be rowing two books from Before Five in a Row to go along with our ocean study, before moving on to Five in a Row in the Fall.

I am linking this post to Preschool Corner and 5K Too! @ Homeschool Creations, and Science Sunday at Adventures in Mommydom.

All of our Space Unit Resources can be found here, http://bit.ly/iwCVsj,  on my Pinterest board.  Printables are from Homeschool Share and the Evan Moor Great Science Resource Book.