Goodness, where do I begin?! Astronaut Training Camp started out as a tiny idea way back in the summer of 2015. Our 2nd grade team met and said "let's go for it!". So the grant writing began. I knew that this camp needed to have a serious Science TEK base. But I also knew that our goal was to incorporate all core subjects to make this a subject integration camp. I submitted our grant and the waiting game began. Fast forward to October...and we received all of the funds needed to have this awesome five day learning camp for our second graders!
After looking at the campus calendar and deciding what time of year would be best for us to do this we decided on the end of February. With our grant money we were able to order all of the supplies for our lessons as well as our decorations. Setting the environment for the week was one of my top priorities. The students needed to be engaged and excited to come to school every day!
We transformed the 2nd grade pod to make the students feel as if they just entered outer space. We used Christmas lights to create the illusion of stars on the walls and ceilings. We had some amazing parents volunteer to help us with this part!
Each second grader had their picture posted all around the pod wearing an Astronaut helmet.
Every second grader also had their own Astronaut Training Camp Data Collection Notebook. They took this to each of the six learning sessions throughout the week to take notes, record predictions and outcomes, or simply document what they added to their schema!
Then the students were off! Each day of the week the students participated in one "space mission" in the morning and another in the afternoon. This allowed all second graders to be taught a different lesson from each second grade teacher. Each classroom addressed the science topic of Space (covering the 2nd grade science TEK), but then the teacher incorporated another core subject. Mrs. Yorek, Mrs. Johnson, and Mrs. Sigler all incorporated math into their space mission. Myself, Mrs. Mapp, and Mrs. Kortan each incorporated a reading TEK or a writing TEK. By the end of the week all students were also able to use various forms of technology during Astronaut Camp as well; laptops for research, iPads for Augmented Reality, and iPads to create iMotion movies. To top it all off, the Houston Museum of Natural Science brought their Discovery Dome for us (thanks CV PTO!) and we were able to feel as if we were truly experiencing being in outer space. It was so strange and awesome inside the dome to get "up close" with all of the planets and constellations that we had talked about all week!.
On our final project day the students were able to decide how they would like to express what they had learned from camp. Their options were to create a posterboard, Augmented Reality Project, or create a ThingLink Presentation. This day was so interesting to watch because you could just feel the buzz of creativity going around the entire pod. It was so awesome to watch them all just GO!
Want to see more? Below you can see the video created by our district videographer. He recorded on the day that the Houston Museum of Natural Science came out to teach us! I'm already excited for next year's Astronaut Training Camp!
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