Strange Science & More

Typed on my iPad and I see that none of the paragraph indentations show. So be sure to read slowly ;-) Do you know how to get an egg in a bottle without cracking it? And if you do get it in, can you get it out - without cracking it? The kids learned about this in a program called Strange Science. And have you heard of special diapers that our astronauts wear to help them take care of special needs during take-off and landing. NASA even made some super improvements to the product that in turn probably benefited your babies. Space exploration has definitely had some positive effects on the rest of us in a trickle-down kind of way. 3-2-1 Blastoff!!! We launched rockets today. There is a launch pad complete with a blast shield located off to the far side of the campus where students are able to launch the rockets that they constructed yesterday. SO exciting to see these take off. And even more fun to retrieve your rocket - if it didn't go in the trees or across the street from the launch pad. It was a great test of the student's ability to follow directions in the construction of their rockets to see how they would soar. Some were very successful with parachutes deploying as they should, allowing the rockets to land safely back on Earth. I can tell that students are really gathering knowledge about past missions and astronauts because now when they go to one of the simulators, they have to answer a question about them in order to get their turn. What a great way to reinforce what is being taught and to insure that they are paying attention. Missions, Missions, Missions... Students were given their assignments for their missions. They have had their training and some of them have completed their missions. One group still has to complete theirs tomorrow. And right along with that, many of them had a chance to experience what it would feel like to walk on the moon with one-sixth of the gravity of Earth using the one-sixth gravity chair. Competition is always good. Teams were pit (or is it pitted) against each other in Space Camp Olympics. This involved a series of games in which students used team work to accomplish tasks. The team that was most successful won. Teamwork is essential in space travel, so that idea has been reinforced throughout the week. Our video this evening was all about the Hubble telescope. Wow! This is such an inadequate ex claymation for what we saw. I cannot even fathom the distances that were covered and the ideas presented that have been discovered by the Hubble with the pictures that it has been able to send back. Many students will definitely be inspired to go onto study more about space and space travel after watching this. Whew, another busy day. I said goodnight to some very tired students. I am sorry for this late night posting. There have been Internet problems here at the hotel. Till tomorrow ...