planets and space and stars... oh my!

This week we studied all about stars and constellations. All week our crafts and reading had to do with the stars and the legends behind their names. (Very interesting, by the way.)These are our homemade pictures of Leo, Scorpius and Orion. As we were drawing the lines in between the stars, I said to the kids, "Now you know, when you look in the sky all you see is the stars, and you have to connect them in your mind to see their picture." They looked at me like I was the dumbest person ever. Luke said, "Duh, mom." That made me laugh out loud.. although a scolding would have been appropriate. "Don't talk to your mother like that- you little.."
I also had the boys create their own constellation. They drew out pictures by connecting stars, named them and told a story about them. It was so much fun (and a really easy project.. all you need is a paper and pencil.) Ben's was so intense... a tiger named 'Zareous' who was protecting his dying family.. whoa. Luke's was a big circle (all the outside stars connected) and he called it 'Blue Lake' with not much of a story. Once he heard Ben's idea, he made his a more complicated.. and drew a mountain range and named it "Three Big Mountains." I guess he's a nature-lover.

So, all week we were preparing for the field trip to the planetarium.. and got the boys really pumped up to see the constellation film on their dome screen. And for the record, it was a total bust. It was tailored for young children (based on a cat going to the moon) but it was so lame. As we were leaving, Ben said, "I don't think those people did a very good job at their planetarium. It was kinda boring." true dat. Next time we'll just rent Contact with Jodi Foster and call it good.I was so happy that Daddy could join us (but Aaron was not as happy...)Because it was so disappointing, we told the kids they could get anything they wanted at the gift shop. They had some expensive things in there, but Luke chose a 50 cent slinky.. but you aren't hearing me complain about it.