Our AMAAAAAAZING Earth, Moon, and Sun

I know.  It has been, well, forever since I blogged about my classroom.  It appears that blogger is blocked at my school now, so with the little ones at home, my home-blogging has been nil. 

I am, however, very excited about what we are doing right now in 6th grade science! 

I love love LOVE teaching about our amazing Earth, Sun, and Moon systems.  Students have been learning about WHY we have different seasons (most of us on Earth, anyway), WHY we have night and day, and WHY we see phases of the Moon. 

One of the things we watched to help students understand night and day and the seasons is Study Jams.  I like Study Jams, but I did NOT like that this particular video tells that we are CLOSER to the sun in summer, when, in fact we are further away.  I know they probably meant that we are TILTED closer to the sun in Summer, but this already confuses kids, so I had to clarify.  Here is the site for the video:

http://studyjams.scholastic.com/studyjams/jams/science/solar-system/day-on-earth.htm

Another interactive video I LOVE to show is this one:  http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/ess05.sci.ess.eiu.seasonsgame/  (Teachers domain is FREE.  You have to register to view more than 6 items, I think, or you can see less per sessions as a guest.)

This one above is very elementary, and my kids joke about "Max" and the way he is animated, but it is a GREAT learning tool.  I just joke along with them.  Ah, middle school.

For Moon phases, I showed this video on You Tube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXseTWTZlks

I also showed these when we were learning about eclipses:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lHb5ruGUyw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dk--lPAi04

I encouraged students who have iPods, iPads, tablets, or smart phones to download a free app for Moon Phases, so they can see the moon phases every day.  Most students have one of these devices in their home that they can use, and they get very excited when they can connect what we are learning with their "fun" at home!  Unfortunately, we don't have access for all students to use these at school, and my hall is not wired wirelessly yet, but there are other ways to use technology and get kids excited about what they are learning. 

Next week, we will be watching Apollo 13, and students will be able to see what space travel has been like for astronauts.  I like for them to see the travel through the atmosphere, close-ups of the Moon, and to think about how far we have come in space travel and why it is important for our future.  Of course, I will be stopping the movie OFTEN to ask questions and make statements.  Kids love that!