Making Moon Craters!

Just wanted to share a fun, and simple activity my kiddos did in class today after their Solar System test. They made moon craters! They had such a fun time with this activity. They used a pan of flour....oops, I mean moon dust, a large marble......meteor, a yard stick, a ruler, and a recording sheet for this simple activity. Oops...I almost forgot, they also used goggles....didn't want to get any flour dust in their eyes. They were so excited to have a chance to wear them! It's the simple things...:) 

Anywho, the purpose of the activity was to see how a crater forms when a random space object crashes into the moon. They dropped the marble from 12 inches for 3 trials, and then from 24 inches for 3 trials. They had to measure each crater in millimeters or centimeters and record their data on the table I created for them. They worked in small groups and did a great job....except for 2 or 3 who thought they needed to play in the flour....LOL! Kids....gotta love 'em! They thought it was cool that craters and even footprints can stay on the moon for millions of years since their is no weather there to wash or blow them away! Here are a couple pictures of the activity. 

Measuring a crater!

This one went deep in the moon dust...:)

Close-up of a crater.

Bombs....or should I say Meteors Away!

Well, that's all I have to share for today! I hope you all are finding time to squeeze some science in your day! I know it's hard to find the time when you are responsible for all subjects, but science is so fun and the kids love it.....so have fun!

Be Blessed...:)

...

Oreo Moon Phases, a Moon Viewer, & Discovery Education!

Hello all my blog peeps...:) Hope you all are having a fantabulous year! I know I am! I am absolutely loving 5th grade and teaching only one subject....science! We have been learning all about our Solar System for the past couple weeks and today we got to have some fun....not that we haven't had fun on the other days, but today involved food! 

The kids made Oreo Moon phases. Have you ever done this? Here is a picture....from the Internet, because we were so busy I totally forgot to snap some pics! 

 Since I have three blocks....60 students...I had them work in groups of four and assigned two different phases to each student. I didn't want to spend $50 on Oreos and that's about what it would have been to give them each 8 cookies! Not to mention....they don't need 8 cookies each! Anywho, they each made their two phases and then had to assemble them to show the phases in order.....similar to the picture above. They had a blast doing this and they couldn't wait for me to check their work so they could eat them! 

After they finished this project, we started making one of these....see picture below. Again, this is one from the Internet since I forgot to snap pics while we were working!

It's a moon viewer. They are making one to take home with a moon phase calendar so they can track the phases of the moon for a month from home. They are having fun with this project too!

And before we did any of this, we watched this video on Discovery Education. 

www.discoveryeducation.com

Does your school have access to this site? Oh my goodness.....it is AMAZING! They have so many resources...for every subject and/or topic you can imagine! My students took the Discovery Ed science assessment. It is set up similar to the FCAT science test that Florida students have to take in 5th grade. The data can be viewed in so many different ways and everything is color-coded which is great for visual people like me! I love, love, love Discovery Ed! I am new to it and would love for you to share your favorite parts of it if you are a DE user. Please leave me a comment and share!

Be Blessed!

...