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We’re starting a Space Unit Study tomorrow and I wanted to share our plans and what resources we will be using.
Books
We’ll be using the Gather Round Space Unit as our base, and also reading lots of picture books, non fiction and read alouds. Luckily our library had a ton of books for this topic. Here are some of the ones I picked up:
- Welcome to the Museum: Planetarium
- The Planets: The Definitive Visual Guide to Our Solar System
- Life on Mars by Jon Agee
- Zathura by Chris Van Allsburg
- Counting on Katherine by Helaine Becker
- The Planet Hunter: The Story Behind What Happened to Pluto by Elizabeth Rusch
- Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly
- The Darkest Dark by Chris Hadfield
- Mousetronaut by Mark Kelly
- Mousetronaut Goes to Mars by Mark Kelly
- The Moon Book by Gail Gibbons
- Kitten’s First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes
- Meet the Planets by John McGranaghan
- How the Meteorite Got to the Museum by Jessie Hartland
- The Three Little Aliens and the Big Bad Robot by Margaret McNamara
- The Cat in the Hat There’s No Place Like Space by Tish Rabe
- Garbage in Space by Margaret Goldstein
- Solar System by the Numbers by Steve Jenkins
- Zoo in the Sky by Jacqueline Mitton
- Binky the Space Cat by Ashley Spires
- Fly Guy Presents Space by Ted Arnold
- The Planets by Gail Gibbons
- The Planets in Our Solar System by Franklyn M. Branley
- Midnight on the Moon by Mary Pope Osborne
- Magic Tree House Research Guide: Space by Will Osborne & Mary Pope Osborne
- I am Neil Armstrong by Brad Meltzer
- The Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System by Joanna Cole
Games
We always love adding games and we have tons with a Space theme! Here’s what we’ll be playing.
- Astronomy Fluxx
- Professor Noggin’s Outer Space
- Starlink from Blue Orange
- Space Escape from Peaceable Kingdom
- Codermarz
- Planet from Blue Orange
- Sums in Space
- Race through Space from Ravensburger
Music
No Space unit could be complete without listening to The Planets suite by Holst. The Jupiter movement has always been one of my favorite pieces of music to play or listen to. Are you familiar with The Planets? What is your favorite? If you’re not, go listen to at least the Jupiter movement!
Watch
I got a couple DVDs from the library and I’m sure we’ll add some documentaries from CuriosityStream.
Activities
I made a bunch of things that I’m sharing below but we also have a couple of store bought things we’ll be using as well.
- Melissa and Doug Solar System Puzzle
- Solar System Planetarium model
- Solar System Sewing kit
- Space Sticker Book
- Foam Art kit ( this came from the Michael’s clearance section)
Moon Phases 3-Part Cards
These 3-Part Cards show all the moon phases, so they work really well with the Moon Phases printable below or just on their own. They definitely work best when printed on cardstock and laminated.
Phases of the Moon Printable & Cut and Paste
There is a printout of just the phases of the moon. One with more realistic illustrations and one with cartoon illustrations as well as a cut and paste worksheet. For ours, I laminated the worksheet and put velcro dots on the moons so they can be used over and over.
Space 3-Part Cards
This set of 3-Part Cards features planets (including Pluto), the Sun, and the Moon.
Space Cutting Practice
Space Building Cards
These cards have one space themed building task on each card. We are going to use them first with our Wikki Stix, but they could be used with legos, play dough, clay, or any other craft supplies.
Space Counting Mats
These alien counting mats go from zero-twenty. I have these cards laminated for Purpleicious so she can use a dry erase marker to trace the number.
Space Patterns
These pattern worksheets can be used as a cut and paste, or you can cut and laminate them to reuse. I laminated ours and also added some velcro dots so the planets will stick.
I’m excited for us to get started tomorrow!
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