#1363. Aliens

Reading/Writing, level: Elementary
Posted Mon Oct 25 14:17:49 PDT 1999 by Cora Carfagno (ccarfagno@aol.com).
Norristown, Norristown, USA
Materials Required: paper mache/paper/crayons/scissors
Activity Time: 2 weeks with assistance from special area tea
Concepts Taught: New discoveries in Outer Space

Students choose a planet that has not already been discovered. They must create all the information about their discovery. The information can explain the location of their planets,temperature, inhabitants, food source, climate, and anything else they would like to include.
All of the children build their new planets with the help of the art teacher. We created theme songs about each planet with the help of our music teacher. All of the planets are then displayed around the classroom in anticipation of BLASTOFF DAY.
The first leg of the mission,to visit all the newly discovered planets,can be conducted by the teacher.
First, we made a space ship(20' long)that hung from the ceiling in the classroom. We drew port holes along the side of the ship and each child drew a self portrait. We named our ship and had a large send off party.
We then boarded a large space ship that we had built from 5 large refrigerator boxes. We all dressed in asbestos coveralls that had been donated by a friend's brother.
We landed at all of the new planets and the children were able to give their oral reports on the surface of their very own discovery.
We even had the children help in "building" the control panels on the inside of the space shuttle.