Mrs. Poulin's Blog

Here’s a great idea for extending the learning at home for your students and families.

Check out this link to NASA – International Space Station.   It will take you to an out-of-this-world site!

You can access lots and lots of information here. I have subscribed for a “Spot the Station” email which is delivered to my inbox whenever the orbiting satellite plans to be visible in my specific geographic area.  It really has become interesting to lots of people and you will no doubt hear it come up in conversation soon.

Once I hear about the sighting via email, I check the weather for the evening (or morning) and try to schedule some time to go out in my yard to view it.

What do you actually see?

Surprisingly little but there is something very cool about making that tenuous connection with other people in outer space.  This week, I viewed it twice.

The direction of travel in the sky is described in map directions, ie, NNW or SE.  There is a very short viewing window of time so be early and really look for it. I have viewed it when scheduled for less than a minute and again more than 8 minutes for total possible viewing time.

As it rises from the horizon, it is just a moving light, like a small moving star. As it climbs to it’s maximum height, it becomes brighter and brighter.  It becomes the third brightest object in the sky, after the sun and moon.  The thing really moves! If there are clouds lower in the sky, hang in there and watch for it to emerge higher up.

The directions for rising and setting are clearly laid out as these change at least a bit every orbit. Also, pay attention to the angle it will peak at.  Sometimes, it’s only 20 degrees which is less than the 10:00 position with noon overhead.  More often it is 60-80 degrees which puts it at the 11:00 position or almost straight up in the sky.  Straight up would be 90 degrees.

The website can help you learn about space exploration, who the astronauts are, how long they live there, what their jobs are on board, as well as many other links.

You can even socialize around this and maybe even hold a Star Party. I know one boy in my class who would love a Star Party! He is eager for me to share this with his Mom and Dad.

You can also view the schedule as a spreadsheet of times and angles. This can be kept handy on the fridge for last minute checks. I credit my daughter with finding out the most about the space station and how we can interact. She knows when they sleep and when they tweet up there.

Here’s a link to the UStream video.

And here’s  look at the sightings in the area of our nearest big city, Holyoke.

Ever wonder how spacesuits work? Here’s an interesting video that explains how they work. It does explain what would happen without a spacesuit but you can screen it out if you think it’s too much information.

With the arrival of spring, the science studies abound!  We are studying the needs of all living things and working hands-on in our explorations.

We have a few discussions throughout the year on what makes and keeps our bodies and minds healthy. Every morning we exercise so we understand the need for fitness as part of our wellness. We wash our hands and talk about germs so we can better understand how cleanliness keeps our school attendance at a maximum. Of course nutrition and healthy eating are year round as well.

Now we move on into a study of plants and animals in more detail. We started this last week by having a discussion on what we know about plants. The children were already quite knowledgeable on this.  Then we role played a growing plant and its cycle. We also did that with a water cycle.  {You see I am a logical mathematical thinker myself and I see living things as being part of cycles as well as interwoven with each other.}  We started making some cute books for the bulletin board on the needs of plants.

We have a few house plants in the classroom and they have been looking pretty sick. I put a plant at each table as well as magnifying glasses and the children explored the plants.  We had table discussions, as well as direct questions to the students on what they notice and what they think the plant needs. They were great observers.

Next, we gathered around a plant at a single table where Mrs. Labrie and I cut off the weak stems and dead leaves. We talked about parts of a plant and their needs again as I loosened the plants from their pots.

The first one was quite pot bound. That was great. We talked about how plants in the garden have more room to send out their roots but house plants are limited. They loved seeing the overgrown roots. I aggressively cut off any greenery that was not fresh and green. Then I almost ruthlessly tore off the circling root masses, leaving just the center section of the roots. Much of the soil had fallen off as well in the process and the children spotted a bug in the dirt.

We moved from table to table with the children and we examined each plant with an eye toward making a fresh start.

A couple of children watered the pruned plants for us.  We learned the word “nutrients” earlier that morning while reading about a venus flytrap in Let’s Find Out magazine.

Today, I will give each of the plants some liquid fertilizer. We will also start planting seeds in cups and placing them on the windowsill.

Farmer Fletcher is expected later this week with a delivery of top soil for our raised garden beds outside our windows. We will be thinking about our upcoming direct seeding at the end of the month as well as the transplanting of our indoor seedlings in May.

I hope that we can also get back to the vernal pool for a springtime visit very soon. We just need to have more snow melt on the approach to the pool.

What will we see this time? That will be another scientific study!