First Grade to the Planetarium

The warm spring has turned into a misted land of soft moss green. It was the perfect day for taking children on a field trip.

Now this just wasn't any field trip...but a well-planned and thought out field trip. My first graders (I introduce the humanities to all ages at school) spent the winter writing in their moon journals. We made them at school, decorated them with stars and stickers and I sent them home with a note about this being a family project. Each night before bed, they were to go outside with a parent and draw, sketch, paint or write about the moon. We studied the phases of the moon, the planets and constellations.

Meanwhile we did a family history study using recipes. We collected these from grandparents, even great-grandparents and turned them into books to sell to earn money for the planetarium. Thus this field trip was born.

We went to Prairie Heights for our field trip, sat in the beautiful planetarium and let the stories of mythology and moon cycles carry us away for an hour. The kids were delighted, and it was evident in their occasional sigh or 'wow.'

We stopped for ice cream on the way home, and that was just as exciting for them.

It is always good when a plan comes together.

Lou Ann