How Does Space Camp Connect To The Curriculum?

At last night’s Space Camp parent information meeting, an excellent question was asked, “How does Space Camp connect to 5th grade curriculum?”

Parents were given a general answer but we wanted to provide more specifics. Listed below are the 5th Grade Level Content Expectations (GLCEs) for science that 5th graders are taught or use while participating in Space Camp activities.  Michigan’s GLCEs (K-8) provide schools, teachers, and parents with information they need to understand what students are expected to know and be able to do at the end of each grade.  You can find this information at: http://www.michigan.gov/mde


5th Grade Science GLCEs that relate to Space Camp:

Science Processes – Inquiry Processes
- S.IP.05.11 Generates scientific questions based on observations, investigations, and research.
- S.IP.05.12 Design and conduct scientific investigations.
- S.IP.05.13 Use tools and equipment appropriate to scientific investigations.
- S.IP.05.14 Use metric measurement devices in investigations.
- S.IP.05.16 Identify pattern in data.


Science Processes – Inquiry Analysis and Communication
- S.IA.05.11 Analyze information from data tables and graphs to answer scientific questions.
- S.IA.05.12 Evaluate data, claims, and personal knowledge through collaborative science discourse.
- S.IA.05.13 Communicate and defend findings of observations and investigations using evidence.
- S.IA.05.14 Draw conclusions from sets of data from multiple trails of scientific investigations.
- S.IA.05.15 Uses multiple sources of information to evaluate strengths and weaknesses of claims, arguments, or data.


Science Processes – Reflection and Social Implications
- S.RS.05.11 Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of claims, arguments, and data.
- S.RS.05.12 Describe limitations in personal and scientific knowledge.
- S.RS.05.13 Identify the need for evidence in making scientific decisions.
- S.RS.05.15 Demonstrate scientific concepts through various illustrations, performances, models, exhibits, and activities.
- S.RS.05.16 Describe how science and technology have advanced because of the contributions of many people throughout history and across cultures.


Physical Science - Forces and Motion
- P.FM.05.21 Distinguish between contact forces and non-contact forces.
- P.FM.05.22 Demonstrate contact and non-contact forces to change the motion of an object.
- P.FM.05.31 Describe what happens when two forces act on an object in the same or opposing directions.
- P.FM.05.32 Describe how constant motion is the result of balanced (zero net) forces.
- P.FM.05.33 Describe how changes in the motion of objects are caused by a non-zero (unbalanced) force.
- P.FM.05.42 Describe the motion of an object in terms of distance, time and direction, as the object move, and in relationship to another object.


Earth Science – Earth in Space and Time
- E.ST.05.21 Describe the motion of planets and moons in terms of rotation on axis and orbits due to gravity.

Physical Science – Energy
- P.EN.06.41 Explain how different forms of energy can be transferred from one place to another by radiation, conduction, and convection.

Fifth graders return from Space Camp

Thank you to our wonderful 5th grade teachers for making the Space Camp experience happen again this year. Kids and parent chaperones alike said it was an amazing experience.

Space Camp Website

The fifth grade Space Camp developments can be followed at:
http://kingschoolspacecamp.blogspot.com/

Check it out!

Sally Foster Orders Due

Please place an order with Sally Foster to help support our King School Space Camp Program!
Extra catalogs are in the office or simply order online! Make checks out to King School Space Camp.

www.sallyfoster.com our account number is 253608 or just remember “King School Space Camp”

We can continue to accept orders through Monday, October 20th!!!

Please Check it Out!
Thanks!
King School 5th Grade Parents, Teachers, and Students

Sally Foster Sale Starts This Week!!

Please help support the King School tradition of sending our 5th graders to Space Camp!

What is Space Camp?

The U.S. Space Camp program uses the excitement of hands-on simulated space exploration to motivate students to pursue more math and science studies in the classroom. Some activities include actually experiencing a simulated space walk, weightlessness, and maneuvering in a spacesuit. Students build and launch their own rockets, and participate in shuttle simulations where each student replicates real space flight activities. For more complete information about Space Camp, visit www.spacecamp.com.


Despite the fact that many 5th grade families financially support most of our expenses, we still need the King Community's help to make Space Camp happen for the whole class.
All students were sent home last Friday with a catalog filled with useful and quality gift wrap, gift items and more. Please consider shopping (and buying) for yourselves as well as passing this opportunity on to family, friends, neighbors and co-workers. Chances are, one of your neighbor's children also enjoyed the wonderful experience of space camp at one time!

Extra catalogs are available in the office if needed.

Any questions, contact Cynthia Gur-Arie at cynthia@gur-arie.com or 734-718-5683.

Thank you, Sincerely,
The 5th Graders, Parents & Teachers

Get Ready for Sally Foster Sale! Starts October 1st!

Nothing beats "hands-on experience" which is why the 5th Grade Space Camp trip in May is one of the highlights of the King School Experience! Despite the fact that most of the trip is funded by the 5th grade families, we still rely on partial support by fundraising so that ALL fifth graders can participate.

Next week your student will be bringing home a catalog full of beautiful high-quality Sally Foster wrapping paper, ribbons, gift bags and various gift items to order starting October 1st. All items will be delivered back through the students early in November. We ask that if each family considers purchasing at least two or three of the very reasonably priced items, our campaign is sure to be a success! Of course we love those of you who purchase more, too!!

Please help support us this year so that this very special tradition can continue.

Sincerely,
The King Elementary 5th Grade Students, Parents, and Teachers.

Space Camp Report - Thursday

Hello from Space Camp! This is our last post before returning home.

The last group completed their mission today, and all the students have raved about how much fun they had. Today, all groups also had the chance to compete in robotic competitions! Tonight they will demonstrate their Space Camp knowledge by participating in the Space Bowl, a jeopardy based game! All the chaperones are excited to watch the graduation tonight at 9:30 pm Alabama time, or 10:30 Michigan time! The chaperones also had a little fun of their own, even winning a prize for excellent teamwork in the Area 51 low ropes course! Also, special congratulations to Kim Pitts, the winner of the "Outstanding Parent Camper of the Week" award!! At midnight Michigan time we will be back on the buses as we begin our journey home.

IMPORTANT: We will start the phone chain when we cross the Ohio border into Michigan. We look forward to seeing you upon our return!

Space Camp Report - Wednesday

Space Camp, Day Three

Another glorious day at Space Camp. It was in the high 70’s and sunny. We were up around 7 a.m. again, almost all of the adults and campers were at breakfast together. All students sit with their counselors, but they wave to the adult chaperones and can tell us if there is a problem.

The students were VERY busy again with missions, learning about rockets in rocket park, enjoying “G-Force”, a machine that simulates the force of shooting off into space. Some teams saw another IMAX movie about the history of history of moon exploration called “Magnificent Desolation”. Amazing footage from the Apollo program, plus computer generated images, narrated by Tom Hanks. Other teams will see it on Thursday.

Students continued to work on their robots for the competition tomorrow night.

Everyone appears happy and content.

The adults completed one mission and will do another tomorrow. They did a team building exercise where they had to move their space craft (blocks of wood) from the dead planet to the new planet. We made it!!

Until Thursday, signing off in Huntsville.

Your 14 dedicated chaperones

Space Camp Report - Tuesday

From Dr. M and Mrs. Haddas:

Tuesday, May 20- Our third day at Space Camp.

What an amazingly busy day. Up at 7 a.m.... it is now 7:30 p.m. (8:30 p.m. your time) and the students are still going strong. All teams were involved with programming their robots, climbing the Mars wall, learning about crew systems, and everyone got to hear Jill Long a Colonel in the Air Force, a fighter pilot. She was inspirational.

The blue group, differential (the name they have at Space Camp) did their Endeavor mission today. Everyone else does their mission either on Wednesday or Thursday.

A few photos from today's events show below.

The adult chaperones began their astronaut training too and are exhausted. Good night.

Space Camp Report - Monday

Hey...Just realized 9 p.m. your time is 8 p.m. our time!!! So...

Everyone is doing well today on the first full day of camp. The chaperones tried to stay in the background and let the children bond with their camp counselors.

While roaming the campus, our chaperones have commented on how much the students are engaged and excited about space camp! The orange team members were spotted tackling the rock wall! The black team raved about the time spent on the "Space Shot!" "They go forty-five miles per hour! We could barely move our arms," exclaimed the pink group about the G-Force simulation! The blue team viewed an amazing IMAX movie where they experience life in space! Our purple group had first hand experience of what it would be like to walk on the moon using the 1/6 Gravity Chair. We can't wait to hear about what new things they discover tomorrow.

Your devoted Space Camp chaperones:)

5th Graders Arrive Safely At Space Camp

Good evening,

The fifth graders have arrived safely at Space Camp, and everyone is doing fine this evening. There is no reported homesickness. ;-)

Upon arrrival in Huntsville, the phone chain was activated . . . so we hope you got the "arrived safely" message.

For further updates, check the MLK website! Updates willl be posted each night by 9 PM:

http://king.a2schools.org

Check it out!

Kevin

Still Time to Order Sally Foster!

King Families,

You can still order Sally Foster online for a few more days. Just go to www.sallyfoster.com and use our school's account: 253608.

Remember it's a fundraiser to help send all fifth graders to Space Camp this Spring.

Still not sure about ordering Sally Foster's great wrapping paper, candy, gift items and more? Click here to read some very persuasive letters written by King School fifth graders!

Questions? Please contact Cynthia Gur-Arie at cynthia@gur-arie.com.

Order Sally Foster!

If it's fall at King School, it's time to order Sally Foster gift wrap and other great products.

The Sally Foster fundraiser raises money to support King fifth-graders to attend Space Camp in May 2008.

Since 1999, King has had the wonderful tradition of sending all fifth grders to Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama, for a week each spring. While most fifth grade families are able to financially support most of our expenses, fifth graders each year need the whole King Community to help make Space Camp happen for the whole class. When your child is in fifth grade, other King families will support you, too!

Parents recently received a complete Sally Foster packet and order form. You have until Thursday, October 4, to turn in your order. Orders will be available for pick up at school on November 1.

Remember, you can order Sally Foster online. Go to www.sallyfoster.com and use the school's account number 253608.
Sally Foster offers really high quality products and a full 50 percent of the earnings go directly back to King's Space Camp program.

For more information, please contact Cynthia Gur-Arie (cynthia@gur-arie.com) at 718-5683.

Fifth Grade Returns From Space Camp

On Friday, May 26 our fifth graders returned from Space Camp. As I watched students get off the buses, they all had smiling faces but also looked very tired. There were lots of stories being shared with parents about astronaut training, robotics, astronaut missions, the multi-axis trainer, the 1/6 gravity chair, Rocket Park (and the authentic Saturn V rocket), the 5-degrees of freedom chair, and I heard a lot about the MMU (Manned Manuvering Unit). I also heard kids talk quite often about their Habitat experiences which is the name Space Camp gives its dormitory facilities. I think quite a few of our almost middle school students were really enjoying the independence of being in a dorm for a few nights (knowing they'd be back at the safety and security of home in a few nights).

I also want to note the extraordinary initiative, organization, leadership, and dedication of the fifth grade team at MLK. Organizing and taking a group of students on any field trip, let alone a trip 1000 miles from home, requires many extra hours for teachers. By far, Space Camp is no exception. I hope you'll joining me in thanking our teachers.

Space Camp Update--Monday

From MLK School in Huntsville:

Another great day in Alabama, 80+ degrees, sunny, and lots of fun things going on…
After the warm up of last evening, the kids seemed really eager to get rolling today.

Our students were involved with mission training in the shuttle simulators today. We were able to watch some of them on television monitors. They actually practiced a takeoff and initial stages of a mission. They will have more time later this week to hone their skills.

At meals, the students were happy and interacting with their groups. They seemed to be always eager to move on to the next activity. We also heard students saying that their counselors are really cool. Some of the kids are making friends with children from other parts of the country who are at Space Camp this week. The ‘habitats’ or dorms where they stay are working out well.

Today, the way to brighten a face was to ask about Space Shot or G-Force. Several groups had the opportunity to try out these exhilarating rides. They gave the kids the feel of the increased g-forces of a launch and the thrill of a space shot.
The children were very excited about Spaceshot and G-Force. One group said the girls were able to go on three times and the boys only got to have two turns. The girls learned to get off quickly and get back into the line. One girl told us on the Space Shot her heart was left way up high, but it was back now. They are having fun. We wish we were kids again and had had such a fine opportunity.

5th Graders to Space Camp in Alabama

Our fifth graders boarded buses to the U. S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama on Saturday night around 11:45. The buses traveled throughout the night (with a couple of planned stops) and arrived in time for students to begin learning--and enjoying.

This annual fifth grade experience began about ten years ago and explores many of the science concepts students have studied throughout elementary school. Check back to find out more about what our students are doing. Here is our first update:

We're here, safe and sound.

All the kids slept, at least a little. The buses were very quiet until around 6:30. We stopped at the Tennessee border for breakfast at the Visitors' Center. Then we made a second stop near Nashville for a stretch-your-legs, run around for an hour play period. We arrived at 12:30 Huntsville time, 1:30 Ann Arbor time.

It took us awhile to get beds for everyone because some other schools were short of beds. All our kids were taken care of. Then we had our first meal. What a riot... Chicken-Fried Steak. The kids all talked about the weird, brown chicken. I guess we should have taught them about Southern Cuisine.

Back at the Habitat, the kids unpacked and made their beds. Counselors took over after a slide show presentation. We are now off to dinner and an adult orientation. Then everyone is going to get some well-needed sleep.