Courtney Sexton, a writer and researcher based in Washington, DC, studies human-animal interactions. If you would like to share, please share a link to my blog or to the page that hosts these files. We are starting our book activity series with a classic book that is recommended as a must-have book! Smithsonian Institution. Advertising Notice But at the very top, high above everything else, the undisputed favorite bedtime story in our home is ‘Goodnight Moon’ by Margaret Wise Brown. Arcand and her team are just beginning to experiment with holograms as a form of data visualization, which, she says, could be particularly useful because virtual and mixed reality models depend on wearing headsets, which, especially in the age of COVID, can raise health and accessibility issues. Although my son is two these weekly activities can be done with toddlers as young as one year old all the way to preschoolers. preschooler when studying Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. Privacy Statement .” begins the story, setting young readers in a room inspired by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory that houses a giant antique refractor telescope. I can think of a few that are up there on the list. We are gearing up to start our Goodnight Moon unit. The story goes on to introduce children to some of the more modern tools that astronomers use, like accelerometers, micrometers and satellites, teaching them about astronomical objects like comets and exomoons. She does this using various techniques, such as creating color maps that articulate different energy levels, for example. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. Arcand’s visuals enable us to make sense of the vast universe. Free COMPLETE Goodnight Moon unit sample for Before Five in a Row! She released, along with co-author Lisa Smith, An Alien Helped Me with My Homework in February, and this summer, her latest, Goodnight Exomoon made its debut. Do your children have a favorite bedtime story? ! “In the great telescope room there was a telephone, an atmospheric balloon, and a picture of a satellite flying by the moon. NASA's Kepler and TESS telescopes have detected nearly 4,000 exoplanets since 2009, but until about a year and a half ago, had never described an exomoon. “To explore from a research standpoint what can you learn from this data if you're experiencing it in a multimodal way [is interesting],” says Arcand. Vote Now! All printables for this can be found at 2 Teaching Mommies (Space unit), Homeschool Creations, and Homeschool Share . :) But when all was said and done, we had a lot of fun together and could have done much more! Scientists Cloned an Endangered Wild Horse Using the Decades-Old Frozen Cells of a Stallion, The Meaning Behind Six Objects on Día de los Muertos Altars. This is a single line tracer worksheet to go along with "Goodnight Moon" by Margaret Wise Brown. By taking objects in space and assigning different sounds to the different data elements Chandra provides—coding brightness levels or chemical components to different sonic tones, for example—Arcand can create immersive soundscapes that are not visual, but still engage audiences with multi-sensory tools. Today we start our new homeschooling journey at home. When not penning parodies, Arcand spends her time making complex concepts and theories more accessible to a variety of audiences, from fellow researchers, to students to the general public. Good night … An “astronomical parody,” Goodnight Exomoon takes the classic children’s book Goodnight Moon and explores planetary science in a way that is relatable for the very young. Data sonification, or creating audio out of astrophysical information, is another way Arcand is exploring accessibility. At the time, exomoons, or extrasolar moons—those moons that orbit a planet outside of our own solar system, or exoplanets—were something astrophysicists knew about, but had never captured data from. We are going through the letter ‘M’ with my preschooler, and one of our activities is to read Goodnight Moon and also explore a sensory bin. Arcand hopes the book will be a delight for “space geeks,” like herself, but also that it will inspire children and especially young girls to see the field of science as one that is approachable. See more ideas about Moon activities, Goodnight moon activities, Good night moon. or Then, in 2018, scientists found what they believed was the first exomoon orbiting the exoplanet known as Kepler-1625b. Don't miss the rest of my Literature Based Printables and other Early Learning Printables. Give a Gift. “We knew that this field would be burgeoning at some point, but I didn't think exomoons were going to be on the horizon quite so soon.