Star Party Tonight

Ms. Nancy — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 22:07:02 +0000

Since many of you are starting out with astronomy studies this year, I thought I would mention star parties. When I taught in Alaska, star parties were a popular part of the astronomy curriculum. Since in the winter it was dusky by 3:00 and pitch black by 4:30, you didn’t have to stay up late to have a star party. We also lived where there were fewer artificial lights to compete with the heavenly lights. The downside was the cold. We’d stage the star party near a warm house holding popcorn and steaming hot chocolate inside, so you could look for a while and then run inside and get warm.

All of that aside, there is a star party happening tonight at UCI, and you could have one in your backyard if you want to get up at midnight. Tonight there is going to be a total lunar eclipse. There is no better way to talk about an event like this than when it is happening and the kids get to see it. Worried about school tomorrow? If you do school at midnight, they can sleep in tomorrow! You can read all about it here: http://www.ocregister.com/news/moon-says-earth-1822563-color-comes. Also featured in this article is the meteor shower coming on Saturday. If your student does experience either one of these events, make sure you have him write about it the next day! And if all of this just sounds too “out there” for you, schedule a time to visit the Griffith Observatory this year. It has just reopened after a massive refurbishment program.

Another fun resource online is the NASA site: http://www.nasa.gov/. Look at both the “for kids” and “for teachers” pages for ideas for your astronomy study. I’ve also told many of my families about the book “Next Stop Neptune: Experiencing the Solar System.” Near the beginning of the book, the author, Alvin Jenkins, plots out a scaled solar system for you if the sun was the size of a basketball. “At this scale, the solar system is almost a mile and a half across, and all of its planets could be held in the palm of your hand.” One year the Brea co-op did a walk where parents had mapped out the relative distances of the planets from the sun. Those kids had a graphic picture in their heads that came from the ground up.

So…don’t call me early in the morning. I’ll be star partying tonight!

Earth and Sky

Ms. Nancy — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 19:10:32 +0000

Before I left Alaska, two of my students entered the Earth and Sky Young Producer’s competition, which was an international contest where kids could produce a 90 second radio broadcast about anything involving science. While the contest no longer exists (sad…because these two students won $1000), all the performances are archived. This is a great example of a podcast, which is essentially a radio broadcast that is available over the internet. Wouldn’t that be an interesting project for your child? It involves not only writing development but speaking skills. I know our students in the Brea science group are learning amazing facts about the ocean and giving speeches about what they are discovering. Maybe we can get some of these speeches tied together in a readers theater production to put online. Wouldn’t the grandparents in Florida or North Dakota love to hear their grandkids online? salmon.mp3

More examples of winning performances (as well as lots of great science information) is available at www.earthsky.org. Just type in a subject in the search box. If any of you have a performer ready, give me a call and we will get it rolling. It’s amazing how much information can be conveyed in 90 seconds, and it gives kids a great sense of an introduction, body and conclusion.

Ms. Nancy Online » Science

Star Party Tonight

Earth and Sky