Winter Camp: Outer Space Day

Date: 1/9/11

We were watching Wall-E as our weekly movie so I figured doing a lesson about Space would be in order.  This was probably my favorite day--and maybe the kids favorite day.  Unfortunately I didn't take many pictures because it was a lot just talking interaction--no real projects. We actually ran out of time for some of the stuff planned....That was a good feeling.

First we talked about the planets.  I basically made a powerpoint with a giant picture of the planet and asked them about it.  "What planet is this?" "Jupiter...that's right."  "What do you know about Jupiter?"  "What is this big red spot?" "That's right, the Big Red Spot." "What is the Big Red Spot?"  And so on and so forth with each planet.  Then I gave them a worksheet with clues about each planet and they had to figure out which planet was which, put them in order, and the first team to do so won.  They said it was pretty easy--which resulted in them getting a couple extra minutes for break.

Every single break the kids had, they all rushed over to the computer and started playing StarCraft.  This is a computer game that is SUPER popular.  It is a military, sci-fi, real time game about keeping the human race alive versus the bad guys--the Zerg.  Seeing how popular it is with my student, I have tentatively put it on my "To Do" list, but I admit that it's kinda at the bottom.

For the next period we learned a little about stars and then moved completely out of science and into astrology.  I had found a worksheet on personalities based on your astrological sign so I modified it to work for my lesson.  We reviewed some personality traits: greedy, kind, sweet, smart, outgoing, shy, etc.  Then the kids had to pick three that described themselves.  Then they learned the traits for each astrological sign.  They found out what sign they were, and had to see if their perception of themselves and the signs perception of themselves matched.  Most half way did.

For the last period, we did Love and Enemy matches based on their astrological sign.  We went through the powerpoint slides again, and instead of focusing on their personality traits, they focused on who they could be friends with and who they were enemies.  They found it really funny when I couldn't be friends with them (Which was really sad because Geminis don't have many friends to begin with and then there weren't any of my friend matches in the class room.)  I was a loner.   They also are at the age where they are just maybe discovering the interest in the opposite sex.  But for the most part, not so much.  So when I would point between two love matches, wiggle my eyebrows, and go, "Ne?"(Korean for "Yes?"), Both --without fail-- would make a funny face, turn to their friends and burst into giggles.  Every time.  It was great.

Then we went to the Love Calculator.  This is a website where you can put in two names and it will generate a probability of a successful relationship between the two.  I started off with me and Brad Pitt--who I have said over and over again in my "Introduction to Maggie" class that he was my favorite actor and that I think he is very handsome.   I had done this the day before and knew that Brad Pitt and I are not destined to have a relationship--only 18% success rate.  Which made the kids peel in laughter.  And, while they were still laughing, I would sneak up on them and put in one of the stronger kids' name and a famous Korean actor/singer.  Granted, putting the name Joker into the system probably doesn't ensure "accurate" results, but it did generate a fabulous result of 98%.  And once I had gotten the ball rolling with that, we went around the class and everyone got matched with a love possibility.

This was the day that students laughed the most.  Mrs Lee came up to me afterwards and said that the students found this class very interesting and lots of fun.  Good job!  That made me smile!