Space, the final frontier...

What an exciting day we had in K1!  All week we were preparing for our visitor, Mr. Aki Hoshide.  Not only is Mr. Hoshide an astronaut who has lived in the international space station, he is also a former student of UWCSEA (it makes me think that maybe one day that could be one of your children!).  We revisited some of our old space discussions, and thought of questions we would ask him.  Here were some of their ideas:
"Is it hot in your special suit and mask?' -Mercer
"Do you have a special place to keep your suit?" -Aidan
"How does the space station stay up in the sky?  Why does it not crash back to Earth?" -Julianna
"How do they get into the space station?" -Lyla
"How does a star die?" -Agnes
"What do they eat?" -Yaana
"How did they build the space station?" -Kai
"How did the Space Station window get a crack in it?" -Laura
"How do they go to the toliet?" -Ben

At Discovery Time the students were invited to make pages for a book we could give him, as a way to say thank you for taking time out of his busy schedule to chat to us, and we also made a "Thank You" card with Ms. Zac's class.  The students were giddy with anticipation for our visitor.

This morning's sign in question

He was wearing a special suit...

It just wasn't this spacesuit!

Listening attentively to his answers

Mr. Hoshide arrived and the students couldn't wait to learn about space.  He reached in the box and randomly selected questions from CaM and MZa students.  We learned that it does get very hot inside the space suits (but they have a cooling system built inside it) and they do have special places to keep their suits.  They must take very good care of them, so they don't get a rip or tear! Mr. Hoshide was a lovely visitor, but all good things must come to an end, and it was time to say good-bye.  What a privilege to have an astronaut come and talk to the class, to inspire us to dream big and reach for the stars...