Astronomy is our subject of the week and I am gathering resources to make sure I don’t forget anything…

Other Categories and how we use these materials.
Categories – Materials and ToDo lists (MS document)

• Materials Useful for learning Astronomy
• Unit 1 – SolarSystem

Materials Useful for Learning Atronomy

Books:

• The Magic Schoolbus:
  • The Magic School Bus Sees Stars: A Book About Stars by Nancy White and Art Ruiz
  • The Magic School Bus Lost In The Solar System by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen
  • The Magic School Bus Out Of This World: A Book About Space Rocks by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degan
• Rookie Read
  • The Solar System (Rookie Read-About Science: Space Science) by Carmen Bredeson
  • The Moon (Rookie Read-About Science: Space Science) by Carmen Bredeson
  • Looking Through a Telescope (Rookie Read-About Science) by Linda Bullock
  • When You Look Up at the Moon (Rookie Read-About Science) by Allan Fowler
  • So That’s How the Moon Changes Shape (Rookie Read-About Science Series) by Allan Fowler
  • Stars in the Sky (Rookie Read-About Science) by Allan Fowler
  • Liftoff! (Rookie Read-About Science: Space Science) by Carmen Bredeson
  • Getting Ready for Space (Rookie Read-About Science) by Carmen Bredeson
  • Living on a Space Shuttle (Rookie Read-About Science) by Carmen Bredeson
  • Astronauts (Rookie Read-About Science: Space Science) by Carmen Bredeson
• Cat in a Hat:
  • There’s No Place Like Space: All About Our Solar System (Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library) by Tish Rabe and Aristides Ruiz
• Let’s Read and Find out Science Books:
  • Is There Life in Outer Space? (Let’s-Read-and-Find… Science 1) by Franklyn M. Branley and Edward Miller
  • The Planets in Our Solar System (Let’s-Read-and-Find… Science, Stage 2) by Franklyn M. Branley and Kevin O’malley
• I can read about… series:
  • Sun & Other Stars -  (I Can Read About)
    by Richard Harris

Web:

• http://www.cosmos4kids.com/ wonderful, wonderful explanations, very child friendly
• http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/
• Links to other sites with astronomy information http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/explore/astronomy.htm 
• http://missbarbara.net/#solar%20system has an amazing list of online resources
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/playspace/games/jigsaw/launch.html  – Make the solar system.
• http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/solar_system/ This site allows you to build a solar system to scale
• http://www.windows.ucar.edu A good site for the solar system.
• http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/weight/index.html Learn what you would weigh on other solar systems.
• http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html Look at the astronomy picture of the day.
• u>http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/StarChild.html Easy reading for young students interested in the planets.
• http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/nineplanets.html Look here for facts on the planets.
• http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/ This site shows well known parts of each planet and moon as seen by orbiting spacecraft.
• http://www.nasm.si.edu/earthtoday/dynam.htm Learn about the Earth’s atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere and biosphere.
• http://www.psi.edu/projects/planets/planets.html Where did all the planets come from?
• http://www.psi.edu/projects/moon/moon.html Where did the moon come from?
• http://www.superstringtheory.com/cosmo/cosmo1.html Learn how the universe began.
• http://www.scotese.com/earth.htm See how the continents of Earth have changed positions through time.
• GALAXIES:
  • http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/gr/public/gal_home.html Good pictures and explanations.
  • http://zebu.uoregon.edu/disted/ph123/galaxies.html Scroll down to the simple explanations of each galaxy. This site also goes through the process of stars making elements.

DVD: 

• Magic School Bus – Sees Stars, Lost in the Solar System, Out of This World.
• Curious George – flies a rocket

Toy list:

1. Montessori Solar System by Kid Advance 
   I have mixed feelings about this one.  Initially I even wanted to return it: I expected more for the money.  Don’t get me wrong – the idea and quality are really good.  I am annoyed that they painted and arranged the planets not according to their dimensions: Mercury should be the smallest; Mars and Venus should be smaller then Earth, I’d like to see Jupiter just a little bigger…  We can switch some planets around, but Mars is supposed to be a red planet, and Neptune – blue, so we have to either ignore the colors, or the sizes, or both.   You can’t take out Mercury, so we are stuck with a large green Mercury even if we decide to repaint the others.  As we are discussing the sizes of the planets, the gravity, the distances it is pretty hard to overcome the annoyance of saying: “The Earth is bigger then Venus and Mars!  Or it is supposed to be bigger…”    On a bright side – it is sturdy, it lets the kids handle the planets, it allows to trace them around the sun.  When the solar system arrived, we had a playdate.  Both boys spent at least 20 minutes just taking the “planets” for a drive around the sun, shouting planet’s names as they are passing each other. 
2. GeoSafari Motorized Solar System
3. Uncle Milton Solar System In My Room by Uncle Milton 
   This was a gift.  Pros: looks cool, it is really fun to see the planets move.  Interesting to learn with a CD.  Cons: requires batteries that die fast.  Should be hung from the ceiling, so the little ones can’t touch and explore the planets (in a way – it’s good – it wouldn’t be lost).  Nevertheless, occasionally the planets fall on the floor – too much attention, I guess. 

PowerPoint Presentations:

• http://www.childandme.com/encyclopedic-knowledge-astronomy/
• http://theclassicalmommy.com/astronomy.html
• http://theclassicalmommy.com/astronomybyfriends.html

Units:

5. Solar System:
1. Books:
1. The
   Magic School Bus Lost In The Solar System by Joanna
   Cole and Bruce Degen
2. The Solar System (Rookie Read-About Science: Space Science) by Carmen Bredeson
3. There’s No Place Like Space: All About Our Solar System (Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library) by Tish Rabe and Aristides Ruiz
4. The Planets in Our Solar System (Let’s-Read-and-Find… Science, Stage 2) by Franklyn M. Branley and Kevin O’malley
2. DVD:
1. MagicSchoolBus: Lost in Space
3. Toys:
1. Montessori Solar System by Kid Advance
2. GeoSafari Motorized Solar System
3. Uncle Milton Solar System In My Room by Uncle Milton 
   This was a gift.  Pros: looks cool, it is really fun to see the plants move.  Interesting to learn with a CD.  Cons: requires batteries that die fast.  Should be hung from the ceiling, so the little ones can’t touch and explore the planets (in a way – it’s good – it wouldn’t be lost).  Nevertheless, occasionally the planets fall on the floor – too much attention, I guess. 
4. PPT:
1. http://www.childandme.com/encyclopedic-knowledge-astronomy/ Space 1-4, Solar System Quiz
2. http://theclassicalmommy.com/astronomy.html
3. u>http://theclassicalmommy.com/astronomybyfriends.html
5. Web:
1. Solar system game at ScienceWithMe.com: http://www.sciencewithme.com/
2. http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/playspace/games/jigsaw/launch.html
3. http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html Look at the astronomy picture of the day.
6. Hands On Experiments:
1. Science with me Solar System experiment: http://www.sciencewithme.com/experiment_detail.php?id=66
2. Practical Life Activity: “Love your Solar System”
3. Size Matters! Hands on project to explore the relative sizes of the planets and their distance from the sun.
4. Baking cookies with star-shaped and circle-shaped cookie cutters to create our own solar system.  And eat it all in one night!   We also combined the last step with watching Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System DVD.  This is a rare treat in our house – and it was a really yummy hands-on project!

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Related posts:
5. Love your Solar System! – fun way to learn planets
6. Size matters! Exploring relative sizes of the planets
7. New Presentations – Astronomy



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