The Space Investigation began from the common interests of two separate classrooms, the Blue Room and the Green Room. The Blue Room became interested in rocket ships which led to an interest in space and planets while the Green Room was quite interested in planes and how they are able to fly. As the classrooms combined to become the Teal Team, the children together took part in a variety of provocations around ideas of space as well as things that can fly, the movement of objects, and scientific ideas surrounding cause and effect. We asked children to tell original stories about space to provoke hypothesis about space, planets and rocket ships and asked them what they hoped to learn about space and the planets in our solar system. From the beginning of March through May we studied each planet for one week, learning a few facts about each one and building it out of a variety of materials found in our school and provided by families. Once the building began, dramatic play soon followed with open ended materials such as blocks and clay. Through dramatic play, children realized they wanted to have costumes and props as well and this provoked yet another building opportunity and added another element to the investigation.

Investigations