All Spaced Out!

Our planet Unit study is mainly focused on learning the names and characteristics of the planets and their order from the sun. Yesterday, we learned that the closest planet to the sun is Mercury. It is also the fastest orbiting planet. It gets very hot during the day (for obvious reasons) but gets extremely cold during it's night (More than -200 degrees...brrrrrrrr.) We read a book we got from the library that was part of the same series of books by Picture Window Books and it was called simply "Closest to the Sun". I did a vocal review of what we've learned so far in our study and then I let the kids watch a video of the Messenger (the spacecraft that will explore Mercury around 2011) being launched for test runs. Jack was totally jazzed about all the noise and smoke and action. Probably reminds him of dinnertime at our house :) Click here and watch for yourself. I also found a neat little site that compares the size of the planets to one another. Mercury is nearly half the size that earth is. Oh, and for those of us who always want to lose weight...move to Mercury, trust me on this one. I know it's really hot and their is no atmosphere, but if you can at all figure it out, go and go before the holiday feeding frenzy! Click here to calculate your weight on different planets. I'm going to hang myself out there for you. I weigh 168 lbs on earth...on Mercury? I would only weigh 64 lbs! So, if I've figured correctly, I could be 300 pounds here and when I move to Mercury I'd only be 113 with room to grow! That settles it! I've already picked out my spot on the planet. I'm going to open a coffee shop and gouge myself on pastries!

However, not sure Lillie would make it. She'd only weigh 15 lbs! After we got done with the foolishness, we set down to make our own constellations. Get some black construction paper and some of those cheapy foil star stickers at the Wal-Mart or wherever and let the kiddos stick them on and then draw lines connecting the stars to make a new constellation. Here's the kids with theirs. I had to somehow make a dinosaur out of Jackson's mess, I mean, work. And Lillie had so many stars on her page there was no room to draw lines, but they learned and it was fun. Here they are with their finished products...

I even got in on the action and made a constellation too...guess what it is!!!!

Ahhh... to live on a planet where the coffee flows abundant and you don't have to be a senior citizen to get a cup for free. Where latte's fall from the sky and the desserts are fat free without sacrificing flavor! I know it probably sounds like I suck down coffee all day, or I have an IV bag attached with a double chocolate mocha in it. I only drink one cup a day and if I'm in town, I might spring for a Frappacino or a huge Iced Coffee from McDonald's. I am NOT an addict...

Have a great day!