PRESCOTT VALLEY
Inside of the improvised observatory, Lake Valley kindergarten and
first-grade students looked at the night sky in search of various constellations.
Surrounded by
complete darkness, the topic kept their attention throughout the entire
45-minute presentation during which they were able to recognize patterns
they usually see at night in the real world.
The Lake Valley
Elementary School celebrated National Space Week with various activities
and events for all kindergarten through fifth-grade students this past
week.
According to Principal
Bev Harvey, it is important for their students to celebrate contributions
that science and technology can make to the betterment of humankind.
Courier/Jo. L. Keener
Students
at Prescott Valley’s Lake Valley Elementary School are provided a rare
treat Friday as the Southwest Brass performs musical selections with
a NASA slide show. The students were able to experience musical themes
from space movie soundtracks and slides at the same time as part of
Space Week.
“Many youngsters
and even adults are unaware that many of the conveniences people take
for granted today were first developed by NASA,” she said.
The solar system
as well as the study of space are a part of the required science curriculum
for the first, third and fifth grade students, she said.
“It was a very
intensified course for the kids,” Harvey said, adding that it involved
every type of learner. “Everybody was tuned in to what we were doing.”
Harvey and a fifth-grade
teacher, Gail Oxford, began planning the activities, which grew to a
point that they were able to devote an entire week to it. Tax-credit
money enabled them to do it, Harvey said.
Leading up to
this week, every teacher conducted lectures about space and the planetary
system, Oxford said.
“It was awesome,”
she said. “Everything that they (teachers) did in class tied into all
these presentations.”
During the celebration
of space week, students participated in various contests, including
creating space-related artwork and writing essays and poetry about the
solar system, the galaxies, and the stars.
On one evening,
the Prescott Astronomy Club hosted “Star Party” during which they set
up a huge telescope for the fifth-graders and their families. They were
able to view the constellations, the moon, Jupiter and Saturn with their
rings clearly showing.
For three days,
Lowell Observatory from Flagstaff shared with students its portable
planetarium that they set up in the gym. Students had the opportunity
to sit inside and observe the night sky while learning about galaxies
and star patterns through lectures conducted by Lowell educators.
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical
University Professor Ron Madler’s power point presentation, however,
evoked the most interest among the students.
His topic about
the solar system and space, which still remains a large mystery to humankind,
was so interesting to the fourth- and fifth-graders that his discussions
required double the time other classes had on this subject.
“I’m going to
talk about our solar system,” he announced to a fourth-grade class.
“We are so lucky that we live in a perfect place.”
He explained to
the youngsters the nature of the inner and outer planetary systems and
compared the sizes of each planet in relation to the sun and the earth.
“The sun is 100
times bigger than Earth,” he said. “Just a storm on the sun is bigger
than any planet in our solar system. Nuclear explosions are happening
in the sun and they create a lot of heat.”
Once solar storms
occur, they can cause power problems on earth, he said.
He also explained
to students the conditions of other planets and a reason the earth is
a perfect place to sustain life.
Water, oxygen
and the perfect temperature of this planet are the three factors that
no other planet in our solar system has to be able to sustain life,
he said.
He also explained
why other planets have too cold or too hot surfaces, and a difference
between comets, meteoroids and interplanetary dust.
The week concluded
with a Space Parade and two assembly programs conducted by the Southwest
Brass band from Phoenix. The band incorporated 100 rarely seen NASA
slides of outer space with powerful music and skits. Their musical trumpet
duos included “Star Wars,” the Jetsons, “E.T.,” “Beauty and the Beast,”
“Superman,” and “Flight of the Bumble Bee.”
The parade “was
an opportunity for them (students) to demonstrate some of the things
they learned all week,” Harvey said. “Kids need to be creative and they
need to demonstrate how they have learned and what they have learned.
And, it is not always written down in a test.
“This (Space Week)
is a tradition that began this year,” Harvey said. “We are planning
to do it every year.”
Contact Mirsada
Buric-Adam at mburicadamprescottaz.com
