Mm is for Moon

The second half of our space unit was all about the moon. We focused on the letter "M" and had so many fun projects! I found so much cool and easy stuff online that i couldn't even fit it all in. However, we were able to do a lot outside of just the worksheets and curriculum activities... and, of course, I took pictures of most of it :o)

We read so many fabulous books about space over the 3 weeks of our sun and moon unit that it felt weird to read about any other topics. I learned so much during the moon unit and even found a new 

fascination with the moon. It is so easy to take things like sunlight and the moon for granted, but then when you really think about it everything is so complex and amazing. I mean, really, it is bizarre that everything was put into place exactly where and how it needs to be in order to allow life on this planet. And the fact that the moon gives off no light, but works like a mirror to reflect light for us to have at night is just incredible. I have found myself more and more thankful for this beautiful planet God has given us and that He is the ultimate scientist who created the laws of physics and chemistry that makes it all work so perfectly. Wow. Okay... anyways, these are some of the things that we did. We made M's and m's out of play dough and practiced writing it in dry oatmeal. We learned about the relative size of the moon using small balls of play dough, kept a list of moon facts for our wall, and did space mazes i found online. We learned a lot about astronauts and practiced counting backwards from 10 and then ended it with a "blast off", which is basically Lij throwing his astronaut lego man in the air. I also saw on pinterest that you can use sharpie's on a ceramic plate from the dollar store, then bake it at 300degrees for 30 minutes and its permanent. We did this and he created his own planet with aliens and even named it. We were pretty excited, but it doesnt seem to be baked in enough...
                                                                  
              

One of Elijah's friends was over for a school day so they made cards with the phases of the moon and then played Memory with the cards. Then we took those and turned them into little moon phase books, complete with a few moon facts in the back. I don't have a picture here, but he also has an awesome moon light that hangs on the wall. You can use a remote to make it go through all the phases from new moon to full moon, it waxes and it wains. It was a birthday gift and it fit in perfectly with this unit!

                                     
                                                  
                  One of my favorite projects was learning the moon phases using cookies. :o)  

                                                                                 

We learned about space travel and what all goes in to actually getting to space and then made these rocket ships using a tp roll, foil, and construction paper. I put a round piece of cardboard inside to make a shelf, then used an exacto knife to cut a small door in the ships so that their lego men could participate in space travel.

I really wanted to make an environment box with a space/moon scene and knew that it would mean more to him if he could use his lego's with it, so using a box, bubble wrap, paint, and glitter glue, we made one! He was SO excited and it was such a fun project to do together. 

       
                                        

And the grand finale for our "Space School", as Elijah has been calling it, was to go on a field trip. My husband is in grad school and a friend of ours who is working on her PhD in the planetary side of things invited us to come and see some meteorites she has access to. My sweet boy was so shy and nervous for much of it, but it was obvious he was having much fun! We learned about meteorites and even got to hold them! Then she let him look at thin sections of rocks from Mars! How cool is that?! She taught him how to use the microscope and even let him pick out a thin section to take home. He chose a basalt sample. Some other souvenirs he got included a NASA sticker (which I shamelessly tried to talk him into wanting to put on my car...), a garnet, and a cool NASA poster of a meteorite! Seriously cool! Before we left she also took us to one of the rock rooms at the University, which happened to be near this awesome wall. The signature on the wall is from a real astronaut! We had so much fun and I think I learned almost as much as Elijah did. Thanks again, Arya!

The three rocks here are the meteorites. He was much more excited and interested than he appears! I was especially impressed with the weight of the meteorites. The largest one was quite heavy at 50% metal!

   

I liked the names on these rocks :o)

Outside of school time, we also spent a lot of time outdoors and took advantage of the cooler weather. Two of my favorite things our family does together is little family hikes and hanging out in our hammocks and with the fall weather coming in, it looks like we will be getting to do both even more!

                                         
                                            Oh ya, this week we also taught Yohan how to drive :o)

Fun Day

Today my son slept in. I thought for sure he would be getting up soon after my husband left for school/work, but instead he slept in until 8:50AM! I was thrilled. I decided to reward him with making today really fun. It is probably my job as a stay at home mom of one to help make all of his days fun, but that doesn't always happen. Especially with it being chilly out and my being very pregnant, and only knowing a handful of people in this town who don't work all day.

I definitely play with him and do activities with him, but I feel like at this point much of my time is spent trying to figure out how I will get through the next few (or many) hours until my husband gets home or until bedtime. I know this is normal for stay at home parents, but I am also realizing more and more how numbered our days are of it just being Elijah and I. Very soon we will have another one that will be with us constantly and while those will be special days, I do really want to cherish this one on one time with my eldest. SO back to my being determined and motivated to make today fun.

Almost everything I decided to do was activities I found on Pinterest. If you don't already use it, you should. It's amazing. A major time waster if you let it be, but fabulous and quite useful nonetheless. I spent about 15 minutes looking stuff up and just a few minutes prep time for each one. And then I became Fun Mom :o)

But first, we started our morning with tea time and a bit of watching Green Eggs and Ham.

After taking this picture I realized he needed a hair trim. So we did that and then got on to the more fun stuff. I let him choose what order we went in. First, he chose this project.

It was so easy! Basically you just cut out your shape out of colored construction paper. Then, using a q-tip and baby oil you can "paint"your designs onto the shape. We taped some twine to the backs and then hung them in the window. Unfortunately the sun has yet to shine through said window today, so we are still waiting on the finished product. I have to say though, if you do this, use lots of oil. we kept ours a little thin in most parts and I don't think those will shine through as much.

Next, we did this. My son doesn't have a nerf gun (yet) so instead I gave him a straw and made the object of the game be to blow the lego men off without knocking over the cups. Then he decided to make a second tower and compare knocking over his lego men to his dinosaurs. Turns out dinos are much stronger. This kept him busy long enough for me to do some dishes and make lunch. And now there are lots of little towers around the living room and I kind of love it.

After lunch we kept with the lego theme and printed out this cool coloring sheet. Instead of doing sums with dice, we did more number identification using the cards from this game. Whichever card he picked he got to color once he matched it and could tell me what number it was. He tends to get bored with coloring quickly but he loved this one.

After that, we moved to the other side of the table where I had placed this worksheet and some coins. We talked about the different sizes of the silver coins and how many go into the dollar. He filled in all the spots and found that we only had $2.65...the downside to not planning ahead.

Lastly, we kept the money theme going and went to play in his room. He has been really into setting up "toy stores", which he also calls "a different kind of Target" and has us come buy things. We always just pretend the money part. Today I gave him some coins and I was the shop keeper. Each section cost a different kind of coin. He came in, learned the cost of each item, made some thoughtful purchases, sorted through his money, then paid his bill. We did this probably 10 times and I let him keep part of the change for when he goes to a real store.

After all this it was time for quiet time, which just ended as I am typing this. It has been a fun and educational day but I honestly cannot believe it is only 4PM and I still have a solid 3 hours before my husband comes home! Movie time... :o)