As part of our week long celebration of Space, last night year 5 got to take part in Newsham’s first ever Space Camp. Everyone in the year group came back to school at 6 o’clock and made our way to the school hall. That was when we were introduced to the carousel of incredible space themed activities that were going to be taking part in for the rest of the night. Take a look at what we got up to:

Constellation Umbrellas:

We worked in small teams to recreate iconic constellations using strips of white tape.

Challenges of Being an Astronaut:

We attempted to carry out the most basic of every day tasks (with real difficulty!) while trying to replicate the conditions of an astronaut.

Stringed Solar System:

 

Using string, balloons, Plasticine, glue and paint, we created a diorama of the solar system. We then used Ipads to photograph individual elements of the diorama so we could label them. In a different classroom, we then created a digital stop motion animation of the solar system in action.

Rocket Design:

Using one of our favourite stories from year two, ‘Man on the Moon (a day in the life of Bob), we designed our own rocket ships. We labelled our diagrams before splitting into teams and creating a small-scale model for an activity that we carried out back in school today (see the very end!).

Creating our own Constellations:

After discovering some of the myths linked to the constellations, we created our own using silver stars and pens on black card. Our constellations had to be about a person, a place or story which was significant to us.

Till-Roll Solar System:

Using long strips of paper and stickers of various sizes, we created a pocket solar system. Although the planets were not to scale in this model and were positioned in a line rather than at different locations in their orbits, it helped us visualise the huge distances between the Sun and the planets.

Straw Rocket Races:

First, we created a thin paper rocket which would fit around the outside of straw. We attached our rocket to the end of a straw on a milk carton and used Blu-Tac to make sure it was air tight. We then stood on a start line and squeezed our carton as hard as we could to propel the rocket forward. We measured our distances over 5 races then calculated our average scores to see who travelled the furthest overall.

Star-Gazing:

On the school, tents were set up for us to camp out underneath the stars. We were able to use a high powered telescope and binoculars to observe the stars. Mr Jones explained about certain constellations and planets and the origin of their names.

To end our experience, we all got together in the hall and had milk and cookies while using a special Ipad app to locate specific stars and planets. We loved our Space Camp experience and we can’t wait to carry on learning about space this half term!