Outer Space

Welcome back Science Fun Friends!

This week we begin our unit on space. We will learn what a solar system is and look at the planets in our solar system. We will learn there are comets, meteors and asteroids in space.

Comets are like large dirty snowballs--water, gases, bits of rock. As they travel, the ice melts and that is the white vapor tail we see. Meteors are small rocks pulled into earth's atmosphere by our gravity. As they enter, they burn and cause streaks in the night sky. Asteroids are the largest space rocks. Most of the 3,000 known asteroids in our solar system are orbiting the sun and scientists see them as they pass our planet.

We will "shoot rockets into space" today (film canisters and Alka Seltzer) and create our own comets and meteors to fly across the room. Lots of fun!

Books we read:
The Cat in the Hat--No Place Like Space
The Golden Book of Comets, Meteors and Asteroids

Next Week: Space--Stars and Constellations