This morning, we used stories and our imaginations to take a trip into outer space.  And we had some help with this thanks to the “NASA @ My Library” program administered through the California State Library and Southern California Library Cooperative.  NASA sent us some fun materials to use and explore!

Books We Shared


Zoom! Zoom! Zoom! I’m Off to the Moon! by Dan Yaccarino
A young astronaut gets in a spaceship to take a trip to the moon and back.


Starry Skies by Samantha Chagollan, illustrations by Nila Aye
Various creatures on earth explore the skies and see constellations on a starry night.


Flannelboard Stories

In today’s flannelboard time, we pretended we were on a space ship travelling far out into space.  We placed images from NASA on the board in order by how far they are away.  We started on the surface of Earth, and got farther and farther away as we traveled.

From Closest to Earth to Farthest:

  • Eagle  (Eagles fly about 2 miles)
  • Jet Airplane (Jets fly at about 6.6 miles)
  • Aurora (These happen in the highest levels of the Earth’s atmosphere – about 100 miles up)
  • Hubble Space Telescope (350 miles above the surface)
  • Moon (240,000 miles from Earth)
  • Sun (93 million miles)
  • Saturn (1 billion miles)
  • Orion Constellation and Nebula (6 trillion miles)
  • Andromeda Galaxy (more than 2 million light-years from Earth)

Added Fun

NASA provided the library with a book Getting a Feel for Lunar Craters that is in braille.  So after reading a little and talking about space and the moon, we all got to “touch” the craggy crater-filled surface of the moon.


 

Movements

We did some fun movements to blast us off into outer space.  Try doing these rhymes and movements together with your child!

Rocket
(can be sung to the tune of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”)

I’m a rocket on the ground (crouch and put arms over head)
Waiting quietly without a sound (put fingers to lips)
Light this fuse on my little toe (touch little toe)
Ready for blast-off?  Here I go!
5-4-3-2-1
BLAST OFF! (jump into air)

If You’re Going to the Moon
(to the tune of “If You’re Happy and You Know It”)

If you’re going to the moon, wear your boots (stomp, stomp)
If you’re going to the moon, wear your boots(stomp, stomp)
If you’re going to the moon, and you want to get there soon 
If you’re going to the moon, wear your boots(stomp, stomp)

Other verses:
– wear your suit (ziiiip!)
– wear your gloves (clap, clap)
– wear your helmet (pat, pat)


Music from CDs

Music always adds to storytime.  Here is a song we shared today:

“Clap Your Hands” from Wiggleworms Love You by Old Town School of Folk Music

“Shake My Sillies Out” from More Singable Songs by Raffi

 


Film We Watched

“Stars! Stars! Stars!” from I’m Dirty!…and More Stories of Adventure and Science, based on the book by Bob Barner.

Simple, rhyming words discuss the planets and things in our solar system.  (Note:  This is an older book that still portrays Pluto as a planet.  For this storytime, I used that as a good talking point to discuss how science is always changing as we learn more and more!)

It’s great to talk about things you watch with your child!  This helps them extend their language!

Here are some suggestions for things to talk about after watching “Stars! Stars! Stars!”:
– Do you have a favorite planet?  Why?
– Look up at the stars and see if you can make your own shapes and constellations


 Continue the Fun

Here are some more books to help you have an out of this world reading time, that are available for check out at your Pasadena Public Library Branch:

  

Our Stars by Anne Rockwell 

The Moon by Cody Crane

On the Moon by Anna Milbourne, illustrated by Benji Davies

Chicken in Space by Adam Lehrhaupt, illustrated by Shahar Kober