Our Space Inquiry

Our latest inquiry, all about what really is in outer space, began about 6 weeks ago with this image of the children working at the light table which sparked a wonder:

S.Q.:  These are shooting stars.  I wonder how we can catch a shooting star?

And so our inquiry into stars, space and everything else beyond planet Earth began...

I found an incredible story book that I found fitting for our new inquiry...

The book, How to Catch a Star, by Oliver Jeffers shows a picture on the cover of a little boy trying to reach for a star.

Before I read the story to the class, I asked them how they thought we could catch a star.  

S.B.:  Go in a rocket ship and up close to a star.

A.M.:  Zoom into outer space with my astronaut suit.

M.R.:  Keep walking and you'll catch a star.

J.R.:  You land on the moon and wait until a star falls.

Students wanted to learn more about planets and stars and so we visited our school librarian for books.

The children were fascinated by what they saw inside, the many pictures and what we read about, that some of them wanted to draw their new findings.

We always document student wonders and keep these posted so that we can refer back to them as we continue to explore and discover more about outer space.

In one of our books, the children were very interested to learn more about constellations, or "star pictures" as one child called it.

I put up this picture on our Bright Links board of constellations and we discussed as a class how the pictures were made.

The next day I left out this provocation, or invitation for learning, which was to make their own constellations using black construction paper, chalk and then to push pin it so that they could hold it to the light and see "stars".

What fun we had!

Each day, as the children came to school, they continued to wonder about many things...including other planets in our solar system.

Through researching together, we read about the other planet names, how far they are from Earth and how much bigger or smaller they are compared to the sun.

The students wanted to create a planet display with their new knowledge so we assisted them in making paper mache planets and displaying them.

We are finishing the last few planets for our display this week and then they will be added.

Just last Friday I moved our Documentation Wall into the hallway as we made room in our classroom.

The picture came out so blurry!

Here are a few close ups of our Space Documentation Wall when it was posted in our classroom.