Mars...

I surprised the kids with our new dramatic play setup when they arrived in the morning!

I taped black paper on one entire wall...

 We pretended the cockpit we used for our airplane was now the cockpit for a rocket ship...

 The kids LOVED the rocket ship tent!

 The kids could choose between blue, orange, silver or white astronaut costumes, and an alien hat...

 The table setup...

 Solar system posters on the wall...

 The kids got their own "Captain's Log" and we had a clipboard full of copies of our "Launch Checklist!"

 These are dollar store cookie sheets.  I laminated all of the paper and photos.  I attached magnets on the back of each photo.  They could use the whiteboard markers to write their name under "Astronaut of the Day," and the number of days until the next launch.

 I set out a Rocket Ship rebus reader poster that Mother Goose gave out years ago.  I also laminated badges, set out American flags, and framed photos of different astronaut crews...

 Our space station word wall...

 I also set out our Lakeshore number mats...

 

 We set out the numbers backwards from 10 to 1...

 

 They walked along the numbers as they counted backwards.  After they yelled "BLAST OFF" they got in the rocket ship tent and pretended to take off!

 

 I also set out our revolving star light, and black light!

 

 

Time to play!!!!

 

 

 

 

 J thought it was cool that he was wearing an American flag shirt!

 

 

 Mother Goose projects tie great into our dramatic play setup!

On this day we learned about Mars: The Red Planet!

We started our learning project time assembling stars from a pentagon shape and 5 triangles.

I asked the kids to tell me why they think Mars is red.  They replied with "Because it's hot!"  We looked at our solar system poster and I pointed out that Mars is further away from the sun than Earth.  I asked them if they still felt that was the reason why Mars is red.  Then my oldest kid replied with "Because it is rusty!"

We sat in a circle and passed around our Mars cutout that Mother Goose Time provided.  We sang the song...

"Do you know the red planet?

The red planet?

The red planet?

Do you know the red planet,

Mars, is its name!"

(Sung to the tune of "Do You Know the Muffin Man?")

The person who was holding the Mars when we sang the word "Mars," stood up and circled around like a planet... (We repeated this a few times.)

I asked the kids if they think any animals have gone to outer space.  Most of the kids didn't think so, but I explained that many people and animals have traveled in space including monkeys, dogs, mice, frogs, fish and even spiders!  I introduced the new book we received from Mother Goose Time this month...

I read the book and asked a few of the kids to point out the spaces between words...

I set the book out and encouraged the kids to look through it and see if there are any letters, numbers, or words they recognize...This really is an AWESOME book!  You can purchase a copy on the Mother Goose website!

I explained to the kids exactly what a UFO is.  We also could call a UFO a spaceship or flying saucer.  Unfortunately our UFO's were not quite dry enough to play with today (too much glue I guess)...

We headed outside to play with frisbees instead...

 I talked to the kids about how Mars contains a lot of iron that becomes red over time when it mixes with oxygen.  This is a similar process to rusting metal.  The surface of Mars is very dusty like a desert.  There are even dust storms!  We had our own dust storm with our parachute and red balls!

We also learned that Mars has many mountains and canyons, only much deeper and much higher than the ones on Earth.  I set out our number 17 counting card.  We reviewed the number of the month, and then I encouraged the kids to build a tower/mountain with 17 blocks.  I also encouraged them to build something even taller than that if they could.

P's got good chin action!

 Whoa!

Mars is the RED planet, so we ate all RED things for lunch!  Spaghetti bake, strawberries, raspberries, and beats! Yummy and healthy!

We filled in the missing letters on the planets in our literacy workbooks...

 We cut and paste aliens according to the directions in our math workbooks.  The directions gave positional words (between, under, beside, under, etc.)...

 Our book for the day...this was a good one!  I would considering buying!