Write a commentStudents in Sandy McCann’s first-grade classroom at Leighton Elementary School were over-the-moon with a recent hands-on learning activity.
As a culmination activity to the students’ academic unit on astronomy, they created moons with craters out of handmade clay and a rocket that launches using student power. During the first grade Listening and Learning domain of astronomy, the students learned that gravity keeps them on Earth while in outer space gravity varies. The young, aspiring astronomers also studied the phases of the moon, all about astronauts, the first moon landing, and the space race between the United States of American and the country formerly known as the USSR.
McCann said her students were thrilled to learn about the various constellations, such as Orion, the hunter, and the Big and Little Dippers. They also discussed why Pluto is not considered a planet, so now there are eight planets. Students also learned that our sun is the center of our universe and our closest star.
