Waving at the International Space Station

As regular readers will know, we are really keen to get our students at Luna into the reading habit, and creating independent thinkers & travellers of the mind. I think it is really important to enjoy what you are reading, and that it means something to you.                                                                                                                I was thrilled we managed a stellar "Eureka" moment last night with a group of extremely chuffed Eigonauts! Having finished their first choice readers (action packed stories) the last one in the bag was "In the Sky". Potentially a bit dull & flat - except we have an incredible resource just outside the front door!                                                                                                                                        During our previous lesson we'd talked about planets & stars, constellations too; we'd spotted Orion easily and noticed the half moon from the car park. Tonight's mission was time critical (and weather). My satellite tracking app told me it'd appear on the southern horizon at 18:32, giving us 8 minutes before the end of class to spot the International Space Station. My girls were watching the countdown while we did a few other tasks, and coordinated with our classmate in Nagano - via Zoom - what we were going to do & how (needed to use my iPad to "take the class for a walk!").                                                                                                                                                                                                            First of all we found Orion again, and tried to spot Gemini. We had watched a short NASA video

constellation identification

explaining the constellations in view in March, but we could not see Castor or Pollux. The moon was hiding brightly, behind BigBoy (restaurant next door) which was also very lit up, making our view west & south somewhat obscured. Next, we realised the buildings in front of us hid the horizon, and from the app we could see the ISS was going to keep fairly low as it tracked westwards over Utsugushigahara.                                                                                            We dashed upstairs and turned all the lights off, stepped onto the roof (safely!) and were immediately able to see the bright white dot moving across the dark sky exactly where the teacher said it would be! The girls realised that if they might be able to see it again in an hour & a half, it must be going very fast indeed! I asked them if they thought the seven astronauts would be waving back ("probably not, it's dinner time" they decided!)...but they kept waving frantically anyway :)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        And that was about all we had time for, though homework is to draw a picture of the night sky (I found them in the waiting room with the lights off, being very diligent, later!). "Happy?" I asked them. Far from it - they were deliriously chuffed to bits...and so, therefore, is the teacher.

Tracking satellites 

The "AHA!" moment :)

Travel to the Stars

I am Kogi Hirabayashi. I’m Japanese. I’m high school student, 17 years old. I live in Nagano prefecture, the place is countryside. I love space and watch the stars. I can see beautiful stars sometimes. It is special time for me.

Our country is no building and no bright lights. Only mountains. So the stars are especially beautiful. I have one younger sister, Miho. When I watched the stars, Miko certainly beside me. I want to become an astronaut. A trip on a spaceship is excited for me. I like to study galaxy and astronomy. Moho likes UFO stories. She wants to read some UFO books. The day was especially bright at night. The stars were all over the sky. I hope to watch a meteor stream and Miho hopes to appear UFO. We are both dreamer. What happen tonight?

Posted for Yoko.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star - graded reader + intergalactic app

Yusuke's Water Planet

Personalising irregular verbs

Another day, another graded reader (I know, I do go on a bit)...

A recent reader leant lots of practice to irregular past tense verbs; cool for teacher, bit of a pain in the neck for the learners "Why are they different?" Erm, well, the Vikings & Anglo-Saxons.....

Imagine you were a spaceman and went to another planet; draw it and describe it. 

Already dark outside, I asked my lads to turn around & look carefully out the window. What could they see - 'stars' a fairly glum response. Yes, but no. That bright one is not a star lads. Your book is called "Red Planet". Any ideas what that particular one is? Penny dropping. Don't believe me? OK, let's check with Star Walk app on my phone. Shock & consternation as the screen shows a live image of what the heavens should be looking like - including constllations, satellites, and...(coming to that) as you move it around. Very cool :)

What planet is red? OK, let's search for Mars. Presto, arrow navigates us to rendez vous with our celestial neighbour, with the cursor exactly over there. Now you believe me?!

Can you see Mars?

OK chaps, what can you see in the sky next week? A "suissei"? You mean a comet? What's it called? OK, let's search for that. Navigated to a spot in the carpet under the board. Oh! Can we see it yet? Why not?! Decent speculation and then a prediction for where it might be next class - come back and find out!

I love this app, as it lends itself to all sorts of searches, besides helping you walk into lamp-posts at night :) I even saw Father Christmas last Christmas Eve!