Monday was our final day of work. We started with some lessons from NASAconnects.com
My friend, Kim, from Oregon, is showing her scaled version of the solar system. We will probably make these next year. The next photo is Tim, from South Africa, and Kim working on a roller coaster activity. We had to include a hill, gap, loop, another hill, and end with out the marble falling off the tube. It was a lot of fun.
Our next stop was a biochemical engineering company based in Huntsville. HutsonAlpha Biotechnology created a really cool walking park in the shape of a DNA double helix. They have set it up so that kids can go there and do a geocaching activity where they learn about the different chromosomes. We used an app on our iPhones to do this. You can see Tim and Denise doing this at one of the chromosome stops. The other photo is an overhead shot. I loved it!
My friend, Kim, from Oregon, is showing her scaled version of the solar system. We will probably make these next year. The next photo is Tim, from South Africa, and Kim working on a roller coaster activity. We had to include a hill, gap, loop, another hill, and end with out the marble falling off the tube. It was a lot of fun.
Our next stop was a biochemical engineering company based in Huntsville. HutsonAlpha Biotechnology created a really cool walking park in the shape of a DNA double helix. They have set it up so that kids can go there and do a geocaching activity where they learn about the different chromosomes. We used an app on our iPhones to do this. You can see Tim and Denise doing this at one of the chromosome stops. The other photo is an overhead shot. I loved it!
We had to cool off for a bit after that walk. Huntsville is really hot. We are used to the humidity here in Missouri, but some people were getting overheated. Luckily, lunch was next.
After lunch we talked to Dan Oates. He is one of the administrators at Space Camp. He talked about camps the center offers for hearing impaired, blind, handicapped and even little people. In Missouri, blind students can attend for free. Contact the St. Louis Lighthouse For The Blind if interested.
Homer Hickam was our next speaker. He wrote the book Rocket Boys which was made into the movie October Sky. In the book, Mr. Hickam wrote about his teacher, Miss Riley, who encouraged him to experiment and follow his dreams. He went on to become a rocket engineer with a minor in English. He recently finished a new Sci-Fi series for adolescence and young adults called The Helium Series. It looks really good. He spoke about Miss Riley, who died of cancer at a young age. She would ask him, "Did you do your best?" When he replied that he had she would say, "I think you can do better!"
He reminded us that the teachers we remember are the ones who challenged us and had high expectations.
He gave each one of us a personalized, autographed, hard back of Rocket Boys.
Graduation was next. We all put on our flight suits and went through a very serious ceremony. We recieved our certificates and our 'wings'. These are pinned on my flight suit, which I will keep in the classroom next year.
Right before graduation, I was interviewed by the local paper. Here is the link to the article: http://www.al.com/news/huntsville/index.ssf/2014/06/space_camp_makes_students_out.html
During graduation, astronaut Hute Gibson spoke. He was on 5 Space Shuttle missions. For 4 of them he was the commander. He was also a Top Gun pilot for the Navy. Alabama State Senator, Bill Holtzclaw, also gave an inspiring talk about encouraging our students to dream. Below is a photo of me with Commander Gibson. Behind us is an old, Airstream camper that was used to keep the astronauts quarintined after thier flights during the Apollo years. They had bunks, a kitchen, and a bathroom to share for a few days while scientists made sure they weren't bringing back strange diseases from the moon.
After lunch we talked to Dan Oates. He is one of the administrators at Space Camp. He talked about camps the center offers for hearing impaired, blind, handicapped and even little people. In Missouri, blind students can attend for free. Contact the St. Louis Lighthouse For The Blind if interested.
Homer Hickam was our next speaker. He wrote the book Rocket Boys which was made into the movie October Sky. In the book, Mr. Hickam wrote about his teacher, Miss Riley, who encouraged him to experiment and follow his dreams. He went on to become a rocket engineer with a minor in English. He recently finished a new Sci-Fi series for adolescence and young adults called The Helium Series. It looks really good. He spoke about Miss Riley, who died of cancer at a young age. She would ask him, "Did you do your best?" When he replied that he had she would say, "I think you can do better!"
He reminded us that the teachers we remember are the ones who challenged us and had high expectations.
He gave each one of us a personalized, autographed, hard back of Rocket Boys.
Graduation was next. We all put on our flight suits and went through a very serious ceremony. We recieved our certificates and our 'wings'. These are pinned on my flight suit, which I will keep in the classroom next year.
Right before graduation, I was interviewed by the local paper. Here is the link to the article: http://www.al.com/news/huntsville/index.ssf/2014/06/space_camp_makes_students_out.html
During graduation, astronaut Hute Gibson spoke. He was on 5 Space Shuttle missions. For 4 of them he was the commander. He was also a Top Gun pilot for the Navy. Alabama State Senator, Bill Holtzclaw, also gave an inspiring talk about encouraging our students to dream. Below is a photo of me with Commander Gibson. Behind us is an old, Airstream camper that was used to keep the astronauts quarintined after thier flights during the Apollo years. They had bunks, a kitchen, and a bathroom to share for a few days while scientists made sure they weren't bringing back strange diseases from the moon.
After the ceremony, we went to a fancy dinner right in the middle of the museum. We were all tired, but we had a great time celebrating our success!
Tomorrow I will add more about the final travel day and opportunities Space Camp has to offer for kids, teachers, and families!
Tomorrow I will add more about the final travel day and opportunities Space Camp has to offer for kids, teachers, and families!