Sky Watchers

Our study of the solar system will center around the objects in the sky that we can actually see; sun, moon, and stars. We began by learning about the largest star . . . the sun! After reading a great book by Frank Asch called Bear Shadow we decided to experiment with our own shadows. First thing in the morning when the sun was low in the sky we traced around our shadows with chalk and then measured them. After recess we went back to our shadows when the sun was high in the sky and retraced our shadows and measured them. To everyone's amazement we had all shrunk considerably!
Stay tuned for more Sky Watching as we chart the phases of the moon and create our own pieces of the surface of the moon.

How cold is the water around Antarctica?

The children had fun learning how to read a thermometer beginning with warm water simulating that found around the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida Gulf coast at a balmy 65 degrees. They slowly added cooler water as we moved to the Atlantic Ocean off the eastern Florida coast and the Pacific Ocean off the northern California coast. We continued to cool our water as we went to the Pacific Ocean off the Oregon and Washington coast and then a little closer to home in the Atlantic Ocean off the New England coast. Then we plunged into the ice cold water and brought our temperature down to 30 degrees in the Antarctic Ocean. It was amazing to watch and listen to them grasp the understanding of counting by 2's on the thermometer - counting backwards by 2's at that. One would have thought we actually took a field trip to Antarctica!