Browsed by
Tag: space

Landing on Mars

Landing on Mars

Devotion:

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. Oh give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever. Oh give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his steadfast love endures forever. Psalm 136:1-3

All the students were very excited this morning to tell me the news about the new Mars craft landing on the surface of Mars. Called the Mars Polar Lander this spacecraft is different from the previous machines as it does not move. Instead it will stay in one spot and do research on whether there is water there and whether there is any kind of life. There is lot of information on their website at Phoenix Mars Mission. Here are some of the videos.

If you go to these sites, you can download some images and make your own animotos. We will then put them on the blog if they turn out. Part of their homework tonight is to think of a question to ask the scientists.

We also previewed a new game which is very addicting, challenging and takes a great deal of logic and brains. There are some ads on the site though so please do not click on the ads. The game is called Magic Pen.

The rest of the day went very well. We are continuing with our poetry unit. However, we are just reading some poems now. Today we read a Robert Louis Stevenson poem about going to bed in summer. The students were really able to relate to the poem. We also had a look at the first 10 spelling words for the week. Here are the spelling words:

Read this doc on Scribd: 0-4
A Trip Through Space!

A Trip Through Space!

Devotions:

Pray in the spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. Ephesians 6:18


Just a quick blog entry today. I have been having lots of fun with the WWTelescope. If you haven’t downloaded it yet, please get it as soon as possible! It is a great program and those of the students that have downloaded it, many of them are already creating their own slideshows and presentations using the images available. I’m hoping that Microsoft will add some music soon so I don’t have to look for free, usable music.

icecreamIt was a busy day and it was made harder by the beautiful weather outside. We did get to go out and play some kickball which helped (and I think I got a sunburn because of it). Students had a math test today which was fairly long due to the fact that they also had a review test to go along with it. Tomorrow, students will have their spelling test. We have moved the memory verses to Tuesday as I will not be in the class on Friday. The students will actually have a sub tomorrow even though I will still be in the building. Tomorrow is the Spelling Bee and I will be busy helping out with that event.

Have a great night. I think I will go and get a bowl of ice cream!!!!

Sk . . Sc . . . Schoa . . . School!!

Sk . . Sc . . . Schoa . . . School!!

Today is our qualifying round for the Spelling Bee on Friday. We will select five students from the class to join with the five students from Ms. Starks class. We had lots of things happening yesterday. Poetry in particular is a big push right now as we try to finish all our poems by Friday. We also had our part yesterday to celebrate how hard the students have been working. It was a good time had by all.

logoSome really great news popped up yesterday. It was funny, but just after I wrote about the new space program coming out in late May; lo and behold, if it doesn’t pop up ready to be downloaded yesterday. I am very excited. My wife says I’m like a boy in a candy shop. Anyway, the program looks brilliant and I am going to download at school as soon as I get there. The site is called WWTelescope and it comes to use from Microsoft. It’s also free!

pict

New Space Program Coming!!!

New Space Program Coming!!!

Here is a new program that is coming out that looks really cool. Keep an eye out for it!

WWTelescope Headed for Late May Launch

May 09, 2008 | by Nick Mokey

Microsoft’s Google Sky competitor, dubbed WorldWide Telescope, is almost ready for release, according to Bill Gates.

Google Sky may be widely credited with pushing stargazing software beyond astronomy geeks and into the mainstream, but Microsoft hopes to improve on Google’s formula with its own free celestial application, WorldWide Telescope. Bill Gates spoke more about the upcoming release and gave a more definite release date at a speech in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Friday.

According to PCWorld, Gates told audiences that Google Sky would launch at the end of May, staying within the spring 2008 time period promised on Microsoft’s prelaunch page. In his address, Gates was especially proud of the Microsoft Visual Experience Engine that will power WW Telescope, compiling terabytes worth of data into a seamless view of the night sky. “This is taking data that’s very complex, gathered over many years from many telescopes, and making it accessible,” he said.

Gates was in Indonesia for the Government Leader Forum – Asia, where he also announced a handful of education programs Microsoft would participate in to help deliver technology and education to those in less developed countries.

source: http://news.digitaltrends.com/news-article/16650/wwtelescope-headed-for-late-may-launch

Here is a video about the program:


Left Out In The Cold!

Left Out In The Cold!

Here is a nice video from Bill Nye the Science Guy. I have always enjoyed him and he gives a great explanation as to why Pluto should not be considered a planet anymore.

Can I Please Buy A Vowel?

Can I Please Buy A Vowel?

I am seeing a whole lot of comments tonight which is great. Before I put down the computer for tonight and spend some time with my wonderful wife, I thought I would put a quick blog entry to highlight the new newsletter coming out tomorrow and mention a couple of things going on today. I have added some new links on the side including the cool link to the video of Mercury crossing the Sun. I just think that is so neat; this little planet going across the huge magnificence of the Sun. It certainly gives you another reminder of the awesomeness of God. There is also a link to a new logic game called Blobs. It is very addictive. The students really got into it.

So here is the newsletter for May. You can download it from the Box.net widget on the right. Don’t forget to vote in our new poll!

Friends, Romans, Countrymen Lend Me Your Ears . .

Friends, Romans, Countrymen Lend Me Your Ears . .

What a busy day of learning today!!!! Today we started a new poem called “Apologies”. Students brainstormed a variety of inanimate objects, then though out apologies for how they have used them. Whether it was sharpening a pencil or kicking soccer balls, students had a great time thinking up apologies for their actions! We did a sample poem together, which you can see below:

Read this doc on Scribd: i’m sorry

Students also finished studying the eight times tables, which are the last times tables the students had to learn. Actually, the only 8 times fact we had to learn was 8×8 as we had already learned all the other times tables and could apply those to learning the 8 times tables. For example, students already knew 2×8 so they also knew 8×2. After this, students will be working on multiplying multiple digits (ex. 28×2).

In social, we started a new project called “A Tribute To . . .” We have been learning about about everyday services and emergency services in class. Using that information we picked an emergency service to write a tribute about. We will take those tributes, add music and pictures to it and create a voicethread to add to our blog.

Finally, in science we have been making some fantastic discoveries. First students discovered that the Sun is huge compared to the Earth and Moon and that the moon is actually tiny compared to the Sun and Earth. We then then solved a mystery. WE have been wondering how it is possible for the moon to cover the sun during a solar eclipse if the Sun is so big. Using a couple of examples, (including one of the boys standing on a counter!) students discovered that the farther away something is from us, the smaller it looks. So the sun appears to be the same size as the moon because it is so far away!! Next week, I will show the students a neat website that shows what the sun looks like from different planets!!!!

I have included the spelling letter in the box.net widget on the side. As well, I am working hard to get the May newsletter ready. Look for it coming soon!!!!

Science Homework!

Science Homework!

moon1You might have been a little confused with last nights homework. I can just imagine the puzzlement as your child told you, just before bed I imagine, that they had to go outside to see if they could see the moon.

During science class, we had a great discussion on the moon. Using Stellarium, we tracked what was in the sky at that moment (about 1:00pm). We found that the moon was in the south.As we sped up time on the program, we discovered that, if the program was correct, we would not be able to see the moon at night

moon2as it would be under the horizon. We decided to see if the program was accurate. That is why you’re child needed to go outside just before bed. It wasn’t to try and stay up longer, I promise!!!

Anyway, I don’t know what you found out but when I tried at about 9:00, I could not see the moon in the sky. I am very interested to see what the students found out today.

Space: The Final Grade 3 Frontier

Space: The Final Grade 3 Frontier

The grade 3’s began their space unit today. They started with a very exciting activity: a quiz! Actually, it was only a questionnaire. I handed it out to students so that we could begin to see what sort of things they already know about this thing we call space and whether the things they know are actually accurate. This idea might be a good conversation starter for you with your child. For example, one of the questions on the questionnaire was: “Why does the sun look the same size as the moon? Explain your answer and describe the size of each and their distance from us.”

I also got a chance to show the students a number of the websites and programs we will be using as a class. I mentioned this to them as they might like to download or bookmark the sites themselves. All the programs and sites are free to use. I will also try to put them on the links part of the page but I can so far only put so many sites as it is limited to only ten. Here is the list:

Space

Celestia – http://www.shatters.net/celestia/index.html

Premier Planets – http://www.premierplanets.com/

Interactive Universe

http://www.history.com/genericContent.do?id=54499

SkyOrb – http://www.realtech-vr.com/skyorb/download.html

Stellarium – http://www.stellarium.org/

Wikisky – http://www.wikisky.org/

Virtual Journey – http://library.thinkquest.org/28327/main/cockpit.html

Interactive Space – http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/solar-system

Download some of them and spend some time with your child enjoying the awesome wonder that is our Universe!

A Whole New Term and Whole New Spelling Words! Werd, dude!

A Whole New Term and Whole New Spelling Words! Werd, dude!

Well, I hope you all had a wonderful Spring Break. My wife and I enjoyed our time together and especially enjoyed our trip to New York. All the sights and sounds! It was amazing! If you ever have a chance to go, take it! New York is an amazing city and very safe. My wife and I went to a lot of galleries and art museums. We also saw three shows including The Little Mermaid. Here are some excerpts:

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/3RdrQy0j39E" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/2DUXVAg7oWg" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

In class today, we started our look at fractions relating the use of fractions to scores on tests and pieces of pie. The students are picking it up very quickly which I am pleased to see. In social today, we did a quick review of aboriginal communities in B.C. We will be adding the aboriginal community that is local to our map of the physical features of British Columbia. One of the questions we will be asking is why they think our local aboriginal group decided to settle in this area of the province.

We will be starting our new unit on space tomorrow with a little quiz to find out what students already know about the solar system. It should be very interesting to see the information the students have already learned and synthesized about this unit. It will also be interesting to see what misconceptions about the universe the students have. I think it will be a great unit, especially with all the great interactive materials for the smartboard that are available.


Here is the spelling list for this week:cheap cheerfulhonest freshcheap    cheerful

honest fresh

rough wise

wide plain

actual sure

dependent delight

future choice

least young

pair faith

always steal


Finally, I showed this video to the students this morning and they got a huge kick out of it. I won’t give the secret away (and kids, if you are watching this with your parents, don’t tell them the secret either).[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ahg6qcgoay4" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]This is what some kids experience in class all the time! How do we teach our kids to focus amongst all the distractions of life?

Subscribe By Email

Get every new post delivered right to your inbox.

This form is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Skip to toolbar