The Child Unique Montessori School &

Montessori Elementary School of Alameda (MESA)'s

Destination Imagination: Creativity & Curiosity 2016

Session 3 - SPACE CAMP

Encinal

Pacific

Dear Parents,

Space Camp began with a BANG, with the Big Bang Theory actually...during a circle time discussion. We learned about the universe and how it began to form. We conducted an experiment to test the Big Bang Theory using a balloon and different sizes and colors of pom poms, a pin and a rubber band. The next day we talked about the sun and the earth, (and for older campers), the theory of Pangea (which helps to explain continental drift). More experiments were conducted showing how continents were formed with a big basin filled with water and some flat styrofoam cut into the shapes of continents to show land and water movement. Campers also learned about the earth's rotation, why there is day and night, the many layers of our wonderful planet earth, and of course, the phases of the moon. So spend an evening enjoying the new night sky with your child this weekend!

The shelves are filled with stellar space works that the children love to complete. There is star shape lacing, constellation poking, sifting of moon rocks and a sensory space travel tub. There is an assortment of learning games, such as sorting of earth, moon and sun cards, star numeral counters, and using dice to count stars, as well as Space Rocket Addition using moon rocks! Art and science go hand in hand, and we've created colored rice rockets and colorful paper suns along with star bead necklaces. There has been a good amount of coloring, cutting, arranging and pasting of planets on a long black paper to show the earth's rotation and the solar system, as well as an out of this world spaceship pasting work.

Next week, we will be introducing the solar system, and learning to recognize and identify the rocky planets versus the gas planets. The rocky planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars and the gas planets are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. We will also be talking about the stars and the Space Shuttle.

Campers will continue to explore the many educational language games available to them like the Solar System 3 part cards, and trying to identifying initial sounds of Planet names using the Moveable Alphabet work. They have already had fun tracing and writing planet names and creating a space word book. There are sorting works of rocky planets vs. gas planets using a tri-fold poster board (with velcro tape) too.

FYI: Our field trip to Chabot Space & Science Center is confirmed for Wednesday, July 27th leaving at 9:30am and returning at 2:30pm. Please fill out field trip slips and volunteer to drive!

Thank you!

Dear Summer Parents,

We have decided to send our Enewsletter for all sessions to all of our Summer Parents so that parents of children enrolled in the current camp can see what their children are doing and parents of children enrolled in a different camp can get a good idea of what each of our camps has to offer. If you prefer to be removed from our list please email the Encinal office at thechildunique@yahoo.com.

Equipped 4 Success

Alameda Community School Supply Drive

The Child Unique would like to collect items to donate to the fire station for this cause if there is a parent who like to spearhead with this please email us at thechildunique@yahoo.com. Help Alameda students start the school year with backpacks and the school supplies they need. Shop online at roonga.com/e4s or donate online at AlamedaEducation.org.

If you would like to sign up for any of our camps, please visit our website and go to the "Rates & Calendar" Form page to download, fill out and return a copy of the "Summer Brochure." We look forward to a great summer!