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Showing posts with label moon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label moon. Show all posts

Book BAGS: Moon and stars night sky lesson plans for summer story party planner


Book BAGS is a unit lesson plans "meme" I've developed which stands for stands for Book based activities, games and snacks...in short, it's my preschool story party planner with a fancshy new name. Today's Book BAGS theme is moon and stars and night sky. And I can't think of a better book series to use than Frank Asch "Moon Bear." 

Happy Birthday, Moon

Moonbear's Skyfire

Moongame

MoonDance

Mooncake

And other moon-themed stories. Here's the Moonbear list from Thriftbooks. In these stories, Moonbear has lovely adventures with the moon who he thinks of as his best friend. The moon is just doing what moons do (cast shadows, go behind clouds, etc). But Moonbear believes that they're happening just for him. And who knows? Maybe they are. I would like to have the moon as a friend, wouldn't you? 

At any rate, these are perfect summer story party materials. So here's the Book BAGS party planner for Moonbear. These were written especially for my son Jakob who first introduced us to Moonbear (before he was Moonbear in his earlier book "Milk and Cookies." Jakob used, as a tot, to "find the moon" every night with Daddy. They are also for our adult children and grandchildren who keep the ritual alive and who have found that we all see the moon, whether in Louisiana, Michigan, Texas or Cleveland! 

First, select one of the Moonbear books. You could do a different one each night for a fortnight of moon themed lesson plans. If possible, wait till near dark and read the story aloud. Then, activity one, find the moon. Older children can enjoy learning the moon phases while preschool will love pretending on new moon nights, that he's playing hide-n-seek (see Moongame). 

Other craft activities might include drawing the moon on black construction paper with neon or glow-in-the-dark crayons or markers. Provide some fluffy cotton ball clouds for moon to hide behind. Add metallic star stickers. Don't forget to draw yourself and/or Moonbear, outside playing. Older kids might make a moon phases flip book. Use free printable moon coloring pages (Best Coloring Pages for Kids) or these free printable moon activities from Coloring Home. You can get free printable moon lesson plans from NASA, too. 

Have a campout under the stars. Or leave the curtains open so moon can shine in.  Hide the moon (large yellow ball) and find it. Sing "I see the moon and the moon sees me." (Youtube has many song options. Read Moondance and make up your own dances! 

Science activities include discussing the various concepts introduced in the books: light and shadow, moon phases, hibernation, clouds and rain, precipitation. 

For the snack part of the Book BAGS story party, cut circles of white or yellow cheese. Make them into various moon phases waxing/waning crescent or waxing/waning gibbous. Serve with moon crackers (Ritz). Make moon popcorn balls (popcorn and melted marshmallows, like Rice Krispie treats). Lemonade is moon juice. Make Mooncake (snow cones). 

Stay tuned for more Book BAGS! (Picture is me playing Hide and Seek with you!) 







Free Printable Star Charts, Constellation Maps for Astronomy, Earth Science

Hubble Space Telescope celebrates her 25th birthday April 24, which is also Arbor Day. Earth science and astronomy are fascinating subjects to teach kids. Children can enjoy stargazing anywhere and everywhere and it costs nothing. Looking for free printable star charts and constellation patterns to teach kids about space science? Here's a galaxy of astronomy diagrams, star charts, constellations patterns and night sky maps.
SFA Observatory offers free printable star charts divided by region of the sky. Each constellation is labeled with Latin name and star shape. There's a handy guide to help stargazers orient themselves and their telescope for best viewing.
Kids Astronomy has a free printable night sky map and star chart that can be customized by date and time. Kids Astronomy has entire interactive webpage for kids. Look for free printable earth science lessons, night sky activities, star charts and astronomy games. Homeschoolers and teachers, be sure to visit the educator resource page for free printable astronomy coloring pages, solar system vocabulary lessons and space science worksheets.
Sky Maps has free printable night sky maps based on latitude and hemisphere. Each month, users are sent a new edition of the sky maps reflecting the current month's constellations. Classroom, Jr.has printable constellation charts for Sagittarius, Virgo, Scorpio and Libra. Check this website for scads of free Earth Day printables.
NASA Space Place is an interactive astronomy website for children from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Kids can learn to make their own paper-folded star finder. This will help locate major constellations for each month. There are also free printable constellation patterns for each month. Download and print to use as coloring pages, star patterns and star finders, too.
Athropolis offers a collection of links to free kids' astronomy activities, simulation games, printable activities, star names, pronunciation guides and more. Children will love Star Child with a kids-club web design and easy astronomy activities. There are two sites--one for kids under 14 and one for those older than 14
Print a star chart for each student. Encourage them to trace the constellations on tracing paper. This will help them learn the star arrangements. They might use the charts as connect-the-stars activities

Free Printable Earth Science, Solar System Activities, Lessons


There are many reasons to celebrate April. April bids farewell to winter and ushers in spring. Easter and Earth Month are celebrated in April. April 22 is the official Earth Day. Here are environmental science worksheets and lesson plans to explore this "green" month of April.
Maine.gov has a free printable earth science activities. There lessons on different environmental features. Teach them as parts of the body.
Rocks (igneous, metamorphic, sedimentary). Rocks are the bones of our planet.
Minerals (quartz, silica sand, crystals, MOS Hardness Scale, cleavage, color, mineral identification). Minerals are earth's tendons.
Water (ground water, aquifers, watershed, water cycle, precipitation, percolation, wetlands, acid rain, bodies of water, oceanography, polar ice caps). Water is our earth's lifeblood.
Soil (structure, layers, decomposition, fossils, fossil fuels, composting). Soil is the muscular system.
Geophysics (geology, plate tectonics, magnets, earthquakes, volcanoes, the Ring of Fire, thermodynamics, geysers). Geophysics is the endocrine system. Given the recent earthquake, tsunami and nuclear reactor meltdown in Japan, these lessons are even more vital and significant.
Ecology (land use, deforestation, slash and burn farming, fallow periods, water testing, soil evaluation). Think of ecology like health. Caring for the earth is like caring for our bodies. What we put into or do to our bodies heal and sustains or hurts and destroys. Likewise, what we do to our earth either helps or harms it. Environmental groups are like the earth's physicians.
This booklet provides hands-on activities, games, simulations, map reading exercises, field trips, treasure and scavenger hunts, experiments and extensions for social studies, reading and math. It gives interactive practice applications for Point-Slope formula (y=mx+b). That's helpful for S.T.E.M. (science, technology, engineering, math) connections. In keeping with earth month, don't waste paper printing. Use recycled paper or scraps from your recycling bin. Print with biodegradable ink.

For more printable science lessons, visit my blogs Free Printable Lesson Plans and Free Lesson Plans 4U and Science Experiments and Chemistry Lessons.