Space Cadets

WORD PLAY: This morning's language arts lesson started with a couple of worksheets where the kids had to fill in missing letters to make words. We've been playing "hangman" a bit as of late and the worksheets were kind of cut from that same cloth. I figure it helps with their spelling.

One of the words Annabelle had to figure out/complete was "teacher." When she figured it out, she said, "Hey Mom, this is what you are in Magnolia Preparatory Academy - a teacher. But nobody else knows that you're a teacher. You're a mom and you are our teacher."

While they were working on their alphabet and spelling stuff, I played songs like the Jackson 5's "ABC" and several tracks from They Might Be Giants' "Here Come the ABCs."

After CJ filled in a letter to finish a list of words, he was supposed to write a sentence using the mystery letter from each word. So for the first go round he'd filled in the letters c-h-a-i-r, and he wrote a sentence: "Someone sat on the chair." On the flipside of that worksheet, the letters he filled in were d-e-s-k. He immediately decided his second sentence would be "Someone sat on the desk." "Very clever," he appraised out loud. "That way I can just look on the other side (of the sheet) for the words" (he'd already spelled).

The kids each also did a couple of alphabetizing exercises. They're both still at the stage where they have to sing the ABCs out loud while doing it, but that's OK, at least they can do it! It's an important skill because knowing how to alphabetize allows you to use a dictionary and encyclopedias and the library - all of which are avenues to so many other answers.

SPACE CASE: It had been awhile since we've done any space-related studies, so this morning I busted out "About Space," a 40-page nonfiction book in the "We Both Read" series. It is designed so that the parent is supposed to read the lefthand page (it's longer and the vocabulary is more challenging), while the child reads the righthand page. Yeah, well, my kids weren't getting off that easy. There was no reason they couldn't read both pages. So CJ got to tackle "my" part, including page 17: "Uranus and Neptune have similar atmospheres composed primarily of hydrogen and helium gases. However, Uranus is unique because of how it is tilted on its axis. It lies almost on its side in relation to the sun. When the sun rises at its north pole, it stays up for 42 Earth years before it sets."

Nothing too heady for a first grader there, no siree.

The book was great - really comprehensive compared to most space-y books for audiences their age. It covered everything from definining a universe, galaxy and solar system to info about each of our solar system's planets, a fair-and-balanced explanation of why Pluto was kicked to the curb planet-status wise, plus info about the moon landing, astronauts and space stations.

Next, we moved over to the computer, where I had a couple of NASA videos cued up. "Ooh, NASA's 'Our World!' " Annabelle enthused as soon as she saw the title screen. The kids know and enjoy all of the videos they've seen in the Our World series.

Today's first video was about how astronauts sleep in space, a topic touched on in the book we just read and something the kids were both very curious about. Next was a film on gravity.

Afterward, it was back to the couch for another book, "One Giant Leap." Though it was non-fiction, but it had the look and tone of a kids' (fiction) picturebook. It introduced readers to a young boy named Neil Armstrong, a lad who loved books and music and, more than anything else, planes and flying. Young Neil, it said, was slow to make friends and a hard worker. Often when he slept, he dreamt that he was holding his breath and floating up over the earth, looking down. Readers learn that Neil went on to realize his dreams - he became a pilot (at 16), a fighter pilot, a test pilot, an astronaut and then the first man to set foot on the moon. It was a great read and offered such a fresh perspective - introducing a heroic American icon/astronaut as a very normal kid in Ohio. I would think it would make many readers think, "Hey, I could do that ..."

I liked that the two books included some common elements/themes, but that they were presented in different ways. I think that helps reinforce the concepts.

MOONWALK: I recently discovered a really cute online tool where you can put yourself or anyone into an astronaut suit and then watch them crump, pop, lock and more on the moon or Mars. I did videos for CJ and Annabelle and they're hysterical (once you follow the link, you have to click on the green "Watch this ..." button).

EVENING ANTICS: Tonight the guys went to Tae Kwon Do and Bee and I did our home work(out). After we finished, while waiting for CeeJ and Christian, Annabelle and I played an online word game, "Wild Word Garden." The challenge was to spell 3, 4, 5 and 6-letter words out of a jumble of six letters. Annabelle mostly watched, but she did chime in with a few word ideas. She also chimed in with a fair amount of criticism. You know, helpful stuff like, "You aren't thinking very fast!!!" Just callin' it like she sees it, no doubt. Can't fault her for that.

Though it was a game, it really was an exercise almost identical to a couple of worksheets the kids completed this morning - but it was a lot more fun (colorful graphics, a timer to add excitement, that sort of thing).

KILLER ON THE LOOSE: In other news, "our" coyote (the one that was in our yard a few weeks back) got a neighbor's dog tonight (and by neighbor, I mean on our street, just one block down). Annabelle cried when she saw it on the news. I explained to her that's just the "Wild Kingdom" at work. The coyote isn't mean or bad, it's just trying to stay alive and following its instincts. The attack happened in the park we frequent several times a week. ...