Many Moons

 

This story dates back to last year, when FDK teachers were asked to "rethink" traditional calendar. I've been tucking ideas away ever since, and was inspired at the beginning of this month to look at the phases of the moon for the duration of December. We have overheard the children talking about the recent Rosetta Mission and pictures from the comet at snack time. This had us thinking that a study of space was imminent. Hence, the moon phases have been incorporated into calendar.

Each day this week, we've been pulling up a website that shows the moon phase, and the children have had many questions. We watched the age old video of Neil Armstrong landing on the moon. It's been fascinating! And the children were thrilled one day this week, when they noticed the moon while walking to the buses. "It looks the same as our calendar!"

 

There was much anticipation on Friday, as the waxing Gibbous moon approached a full moon. We pulled up the website, and while we were talking, something on the screen caught our eye. Numbers were changing. We hadn't noticed this before, but the distance to the moon was changing! Before our very eyes, the children were calling out the number in the ones column as it increased. In very little time, the moon had travelled the distance equivalent to the distance between our school and Metcalfe. This created quite a buzz!

 

We started recording the buzz on chart paper. Their comments are brilliant! Never underestimate the mind of a four year old! And then they started story telling - how they would bring the moon back, and why the moon was travelling. The adults in the room were staring at each other in disbelief - what just happened?!? We had to find a way to let the children tell their stories.

 

We quickly printed up some earth and moon pictures and looked at what the earth looks like from space. The children had opportunity to practice their cutting skills (curved line).

 

 

Stories were told.

"The magnet attached to the rope is bringing the moon back."

 

We had pulled up a video that showed the orbit of the moon, and one observant little scientist noted, "So that means, the earth is spinning faster than the moon!"

 

"The moon is spinning really fast."

 

Earlier in the week, one of the read alouds was a non-fiction text on space and the planets. Recognizing that their attention spans have not fully developed to the point that they can remain focused on the carpet for a great length of time, the plan was to look at the table of contents and let them choose the parts they were interested in. They were so focused and eager to learn more! They read that earth has one moon, some planets have none, and some have more than one. The picture below shows the many moons in space.

"My bridge is bringing the moon closer to the earth."

 

Before the children left for the day, two children asked us, "Can we build a rocket next week?" I'm now off to visit a local furniture store - a big box will no doubt be transformed into something very elaborate in the days ahead.

 

Thanks for visiting the atelier.