Grade 6: Astronomy Block (so far)

Constellations Cards

Constellations Cards Up Close

Back of Constellations Cards

MLB Page

We've begun our Astronomy block by learning about the constellations, well some of them at least.  I borrowed the idea (I think from Pepper and Pine on youtube) to create Constellations Cards to help us learn the constellations. I found the free printable online (sorry, I don't have a link) with 18 constellations and info about each. We plan to learn 2 a day (approx. 4 days a week) for 9 days. Each day we learn a brief description of the 2 daily constellations, their mythology and when/where they can be seen. Then we draw those 2 constellations into our MLB.

We made the cards by taking 3 sheets of thick watercolor paper and, using watercolor paints, swirling a combination of shades of blues and purples/pinks to create a sort of "night sky/nebulae-ish?" effect. When dry, we cut each sheet into 6 rectangles and then glued on the constellations. When we're totally done with the 9 days of learning, we'll hole-punch the corners to create a flip book to have as a keepsake, and to refer to when stargazing during the year.

I am doing this portion of our Astronomy block with both DS11 and DD9. When the Astronomy lessons start getting a bit more in-depth and complex, they will be mostly for my gr. 6 guy, although (as always) my littler one is more than happy to sit in whenever she feels like it, but the expectation will not be for her to do all of the work that my son will be doing for this block.

One thing that I love about starting off this way is that it is a fun intro to Astronomy without being too heavy-handed (if you will). It is project-based at first, and then slowly gets into some MLB work, but only a little each day. It's a great way to get the kids back into putting info/drawings into their MLB after the long summer break. The lessons have been pretty short: about 10 minutes for the lesson/story about the constellations, and then about 10 minutes for them to draw them into their MLB's. Done and done. Each day, I flip through all of the cards we've studied so far and quiz them to see if they can remember the names of them. Informative and fun. Perfect.

I hope your "school year" is starting off as fun as ours is!