The Sky People Have Sent Us A Message..

Pumbaa: Hey, Timon, ever wonder what those sparkly dots are up there?
Timon: Pumbaa, I don't wonder; I know.
Pumbaa: Oh. What are they?
Timon: They're fireflies. Fireflies that, uh... got stuck up on that big bluish-black thing.
Pumbaa: Oh, gee. I always thought they were balls of gas burning billions of miles away.
Timon: Pumbaa, with you, everything's gas.

                                                - Walt Disney's The Lion King (1994)

Have you ever felt intrigued about space? Ever thought NASA was one of the coolest organizations ever? Was it ever your life's ambition to be an astronaut when you were 5 or 6?

Well, we want to take you on an adventure through the Milky Way Galaxy. We recently read a book called The Magic School Bus: Lost in the Solar System by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen. In this book, a quirky and unpredictable teacher named Ms. Frizzle decides to take her children on a field trip to the local planetarium, only to find out when they get there it is closed. So on the way back to school, the school bus spontaneously sprouts rockets, blasts off into the sky, and eventually arrives in space. They start their journey with visiting the Moon and the Sun and learning things about them. Then, starting with Mercury, they proceed to visit each planet in our solar system in planetary order. They also visit the asteroid belt (do you know where that is?) and end up losing Ms. Frizzle as she is trying to fix a broken taillight on the bus. Read the book to find out what the children do when they lose their teacher and are alone in space, and if they find her again.


This book follows along well with the CCGPS, S4E2.d, "Demonstrate the relative size and order from the sun of the planets in the solar system." Can you tell us what the order of the planets are?

Have you ever wanted to take a tour in space but did not have access to a space shuttle or rocket? Well we have a much safer and cheaper way, and you don't even have to leave Earth!

The activity we found for this book is creating Planet Tours!
1. We will break the students up into groups
2. Each group will have a different planet to research
3. The students will create posters, brochures, or commercials about their planet
4. Each project should include real facts about the planet.
(Examples from the book: Venus is the second planet from the Sun, Mars has two moons, Neptune is about 50,000 km big, etc.)
5. Students shall also think up possible attractions that you might find on the planet.
(Example: The dodging Venus' sulfuric acid contest)
6. Then students will present their planet tour to the class.

We think this book would be a good choice to teach students about the solar system because it is fun, engaging, and entertaining. It also presents scientific facts and ideas in a child's point of view. Children will also enjoy looking at the pictures and little cartoon inserts that contain facts about the solar system.

ATTENTION BLOG READERS!!!

DO NOT ATTEMPT A TRIP TO OUTER SPACE ON YOUR OWN!

1. Attaching rockets to your vehicle if the planetarium is closed will upset your parents, your insurance agent (Geico does not cover outer space travel! I do not care what the commercials say!), your friends for not taking them with you, or your friends for taking them with you and risking their lives. An ordinary vehicle such as a car or truck cannot travel in outer space, and you cannot become astronauts without switching your major and most likely attending more years of college, along with many years of training.

2. Space travel could make you miss dinner, Monday Night Football, or The Walking Dead.......for the rest of your life!!!! Even if your vehicle could go to outer space, it could never travel through the entire solar system in one day. It took years for The Voyager space probes to do that. By the time you got to Uranus.....you'd be dead anyway.


"On the other hand.........If a red-haired teacher in a funny dress shows up at your school....START PACKING!"


Click here to watch the video based on this book.

                                               This is what happened to Pluto! The ex-planet!

The Raja's Cāvala

Do you like math?

The subject of math is not everyone's favorite field. Math can sometimes have a bad reputation. However, even if you don't like it, math can still be surprising and entertaining! Let's say someone decided to give you a dollar bill and told you they were going to double the amount they were giving you everyday for the next 30 days. Would you think you would be rich on the 30^th day or not? After you read the book One Grain of Rice by Demi you may be highly surprised. This story is a folktale. What in the world is a folktale? This means that there can be many versions of this one story and it can teach community values and social mores. This folktale teaches us how to think, about cleverness, social responsibility, and of course math. Don't worry, this math is fun!

A very long time ago in India, there was a raja who thought he was wise and fair. However, every single year, he kept almost all of his people's rice to himself. Then when a famine came, the raja would not share the rice, and all of the people went hungry. Then one day, a village girl named Rani devised a clever plan. She did a good deed for the raja, and in return the raja lets her choose her reward. Rani asks him for just one grain of rice, doubled everyday for 30 days. Through the amazing and surprising power of doubling, that one little grain of rice becomes more than one billion grains of rice. Rani is able to teach the raja a lesson about what it truly means to be wise and fair.

Are you starting to rethink your answer for the money?

By following the standard, MCC.4.OA.5, which states, “Generate a number or shape pattern that follows a given rule. Identify apparent features of the pattern that were not explicit in the rule itself” can anyone figure out how many grains our rice Rani had after 30 days? (Remember she started with one grain of rice and it doubles every day).

There are many different activities we can do with this book. One activity is have the children create a table to find out how many grains of rice she received after 30 days. We would not recommend having students do this activity if they are below 4th grade. Another good activity would be to have the students act the story out. One person can play the raja, one girl can play Rani, and so on. We will tell the students that for the first day she only asked for one grain of rice but each day the rice would double. From this statement, the students would act out and tell the class how much rice she got each day. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?

So, how much money do you think you will have after 30 days? (Remember you started with a dollar on the first day, and it doubles every day.)

Check out this cool video!

It All Started With Hide and Seek

As a child, have you ever imagined a box as a cave or blankets and chairs as a fort? Well, we can say we have done those things. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is about siblings that go into a wardrobe, and they find themselves in the wonderful world of Narnia. Just like the title says, it all started with hide and seek.  If Lucy did not hide in the wardrobe during the game, the siblings would have not found Narnia.  

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a fantasy because it has a lot of magic in it. The White Witch throughout the story is turning animals and magical creatures into stone. Have you ever heard of animals talking? Well in this book, all of the animals talk.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe starts during World War II.  Four children, Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, have to be separated from their mother because of the war.  They are sent to live with Professor Kirke.  When they were playing hide and seek, Lucy hides in an old wardrobe.  When she steps inside the wardrobe, she finds herself in a winter wonderland.  She meets a mysterious creature.  She finds out that the creature is a faun named Tumnus.  He tells her she is in the land called Narnia.  He tells her over tea that he is a reluctant servant of the White Witch who has cursed Narnia with a never ending winter with no Christmas.  When Lucy comes back from Narnia, none of her siblings believe her.  When Lucy enters Narnia again, Edmund follows her.  He meets the White Witch who makes a deal with him for food.  Edmund and Lucy return from Narnia.  Lucy believes that Edmund will help her show that Narnia is real, but Edmund denies it out of spite.  All four of them eventually end up in Narnia.  They meet Mr. Beaver who brings them to his house and tells them the story of Aslan.  Edmund leaves the house to tell the White White that his siblings are in Narnia.  When they discover where Edmund has gone, they quickly leave to meet Aslan at the Stone Table because they know the White Witch is coming for them.  They meet Father Christmas on the way to the Stone Table, and he gives them each a gift.  When they meet Aslan, he promises to save Edmund.  Edmund is saved before the White Witch can kill him.  The White Witch demands that she can kill Edmund because he is a traitor.  Aslan makes a deal with the White Witch.  He is going to take Edmund's place.  After the White Witch kills Aslan, she starts a war with Peter's army.  Aslan is reborn.  Aslan then kills the White Witch and Peter's army defeats her followers.  Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy are crowned the Kings and Queens of Narnia.  They rule Narnia until they are adults.  On a hunting trip, they find themselves going back through the wardrobe and back in England once again. 

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was written by C.S. (Clive Staples) Lewis. This book is a fantasy and also a novel. It was written in 1950 in England. The narrator of this story is anonymous. This story is written in the eyes of a child. The point of view of this story is third person. The narrator is omniscient and knows all about the characters. Wouldn't you like to know all about different people you come in contact with? We sure would. There is a relaxed tone in this novel. World War II is the setting or time, and England and Narnia is the setting or place. Aslan is the protagonist, and the White Witch is the antagonist. Have you ever got into a major conflict? Well just like you, this story has a major conflict. This conflict is Aslan, who is good, defending Narnia against the White Witch, who is evil. There are two major themes in this fantasy. They are redemption and rebirth. 

We believe that this would be a wonderful book for children. This book gets children's imagination flowing. You could have your children read the book and watch the movie. The children can then write about the similarities and differences between the two. 

What would you do if you ended up in a wonderful world of fantasy?

Here is a look at the adventures that will happen in the book....

You Can't Always Get What You Want!

Hey guys! We have a question for you. Have you ever made plans without even making sure it was possible for those plans to come true? We sure have. 

We recently read a story about this milkmaid. She was very poor, but she was also a hard worker. Since she was poor, she of course did not have the money for nice clothes. Since she did not have nice clothes, she felt she could not attract the attention of any of the young men in her village. 
Since she worked so hard, her boss decided to give her a pail of milk to sell at the market. So right away she left for the market. On the way, this girl thought about what she could do with the milk money, "I will buy myself a nice big hen. I will gather the eggs until I have a basket full and then sell them at the market. With that money I will buy a nice new gown for the ball. Then I shall attract all of the attention of the young men at that ball and they will all be fighting for a date with me." As that milkmaid was thinking of this, she twirled around as she imagined wearing her new gown. When she did this the pail of milk, which had been balanced so carefully on her head came crashing down and spilled all over the ground. The dirt then soaked up her dreams in an instant.    
The writer of The Milkmaid and Her Pail was Aesop. Aesop was an Ancient Greek story teller. Today, his works are called Aesop's Fables. His existence on this earth is an uncertainty because none of his written works survived. His fables were passed down by word of mouth through generations until someone decided to publish them. We are glad someone decided to publish them because of the good life lessons they tell.

The Milkmaid and Her Pail is a piece of traditional literature. It is a fable which means that there is a moral in the story. That moral is to teach generations and generations a very good lesson. Since the Milkmaid and Her Pail is a fable, it is also a prose narrative. There is only one motif in this fable. It is a journey. The milkmaid is taking a journey to the market to sell her milk. She is also on a journey to learn a very good life lesson. Can anyone guess what this lesson is? Well if you guessed, "Don't count your chickens before they hatch", you are correct. The Milkmaid and Her Pail has many elements of traditional literature. It has a plot that is very fast moving. The setting is vague; you know that she is walking on some type of road, but you do not know where and when. The theme of this piece would be the moral that you learn in the end. We hope you learned a little bit about the elements of traditional literature in this fable.

In our opinion, this fable would be a good lesson for children to learn. Children are now looking at toys that are coming out in the future and some expect to get the toy the moment it comes out. This fable will teach children that good things come to those who wait. We believe that this would be a good fable to introduce children to in the classroom because it is easy to read and understand. We can also have children write about a time they got their hopes up way ahead of something and then turned out disappointed in the end. 

Remember to never count your chickens before they hatch, or your dreams may go to waste. 

Here is a variation of the story about the milkmaid and her pail