Weeks 15 and 16 of school we learned about satellites using Layers of Learning, year 2 unit 9.

We painted comets in space.

We drew the orbit of a comet.

The boys each picked a person or thing to give an oral report on. Cameron picked Sputnik, Fritz chose Jean Mueller, and Adrian picked Edmund Hally.

We made a comet using dry ice, dirt, rocks, and water. (And then the boys had lots of fun with the rest of the dry ice.)

We learned about comets, asteroids, and centaurs.

We demonstrated how meteors leave craters.

We showed how when meteors enter the earth’s atmosphere they heat up due to friction.

We learned about what satellites look like and where they orbit.

Weeks 13 and 14 of school we learned about the Earth and Moon using Layers of Learning, year 2 unit 8.

We made a model of the earth’s layers using play-doh.

We demonstrated how the earth is not quite a sphere, but bulges in the middle.

We demonstrated how the earth wobbles a little bit using a spinning top.

We showed how the earth, moon, and sun make days, seasons, and eclipses. Adrian was the sun, Cameron was the earth, and Fritz was the moon.

We talked about solstices and equinoxes.

We demonstrated that the moon doesn’t give off it’s own light but rather reflects the sun’s light. In a dark room, we shined a flashlight, representing the sun, on a small mirror, representing the moon. Only when the flashing sun was on and aimed at the small mirror moon did it reflect light onto the bathroom mirror.

We watched a video about the first moon landing.