This month was out of this world!
Fortunately, the universe complied with our studies and this month was filled with cosmic events we got to witness.
Launching our very last unit of the year, we filled up our library with new books.
After some preliminary research, everyone picked their favorite planet of the solar system to study. This would ultimately serve as the planet used for their projects later in the month.
The Saturn team.
The Jupiter team.
The Mercury team.
The mighty solo Venus team.
The Neptune team.
The Mars team.
The Dwarf Planet Pluto team (later to add one more team member).
And the Uranus team.
We imagined we were astronauts...
we painted our solar system...
we put puzzles together...
we played in solar system trays...
we made solar system playdough...
we learned all about star constellations...
and then we made our own star constellations.
We also learned about meteor showers when we were able to watch NASA's footage of the August 12th Perseid meteor shower.
Then, we got to learn about the moon.
And the moon's phases. This would become especially important background knowledge to have when we began to learn about the solar eclipse.
In between all of this extreme learning, we also managed to play...
and splash...
and visit the library.
But, we definitely worked hard this month.
Our very last beach day was celebrated Friday, August 18th. Our trips to the beach will never be forgotten and have absolutely been the highlight of our summer.
Of course Miss Michelle came, too.
Afterwards, we enjoyed a Nico's rolled taco picnic.
Then, we crashed.
On Monday, August 23rd, we all got to watch the solar eclipse. Viewing from NASA's live feed, we watched several webcams across the path of totality. It was amazing to view!
Then, on Tuesday, we invited parents to be our audience as we presented all of our research projects. Everyone got to read aloud their 5-page book about their planet. This included their position from the sun, two facts that were written independently by each student, and a critical thinking question about whether or not they would choose to live on that planet.
We were truly spectacular!
Finally, we finished the presentation with our Planets of the Solar System song.
Now we're ready to take on the galaxy, let alone the world.
Ready or not kindergarten, here we come!
