ISS Docking Simulator!

YOU can practice with the NASA docking simulator!  

Try this link: you can practice docking the SpaceX Crew Dragon to the International Space Station!

#LaunchAmerica - SATURDAY, May 30 12:22 pm Pacific Time

Watch the first launch of the Crew Dragon crew capsule by SpaceX!  

Launch recording at 12:22 pm Pacific time from Cape Canaveral, from the same launch pad that sent Apollo 11 to the moon!  

First commercial crew capsule NOT made by NASA!

First launch of this capsule with a crew!

First launch of humans from American soil since the Space Shuttle program ended in 2011.

First use of new launch suit design!

Falcon 9 landing on the drone barge "I Love You, Too"

Crew Dragon "Endeavor" docking at ISS

Endeavor Crew Hatch Opening to ISS

NASA Astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley

SpaceX new Crew Dragon crew capsule on a Falcon 9 rocket

Fill out the Google Form (questionaire) afterwards. 

Week 11 - "Eggstronaut" Landers!

Mrs. S's Video

Oh, you KNOW you want to!  You KNOW you can come up with an awesome design!  The timing is great - end of May, and it goes with the launch of the Crew Dragon by SpaceX!  (What goes up must come down... how will YOU land the crew safely?)

Option 1: comes from NASA - design a landing system with a PARACHUTE to safely land your "eggstronaut".  History - both the United States and Russia land their capsules with parachute systems.  Goal: land the capsule softly enough to NOT harm the vehicle or the astronauts. This video 21 minutes long, so you can skip it and design your own parachute system. If you ARE interested in watching, it has great suggestions, and tells how the NASA parachutes work.

Option 2:  Design a landing system that uses air cushioning.  Maybe your design uses bubble wrap or foam or something that inflates? That's how the Spirit rover landed on Mars!     

Option 3: Astronaut crew capsules have metal composit exteriors to be durable and protect astronauts from the heat of reentry.  Design a crew capsule with a metal exterior.  Maybe you have a can in your recycle that would work?  Maybe you can mold something from foil?  Treat this like a space capsule.  The crew is strapped into their custom seats, but there is air space all around them.  What is your plan?

Design your lander!  TEST it out!  Modify your design if you need to.  Find a high spot and DROP it!  Then report your results in the Google Form.  

If you have a great photo, sketch, or video clip, you can put it in the Padlet!  

Week 10 - Aerodynamics Week!

Mrs. S. video

This week is about how the design of something can keep it in the air and off the ground!  

So - plans for a paper helicopter, a flying cylinder, paper airplane trials, and other air lift designs are the challenge of the week!  Choose one, or compare several, make one and experiment with the design, or try designing or modifying your own!

Option 1: Choose a plane design.  Or maybe this one?  Or maybe THIS one? Build it. Try it out.  Can you modify it? What if you add a paper clip? What if you slightly bend the ends of the wings? What if you use a different kind of paper?  What if you make a bigger or smaller one?  

Option 2: Make a paper helicopter. 
Try it with a different kind of paper. Try bending the tips of the wings up or down or one of each. What if you used a 3x5 card instead?

Option 3: Build a flying cylinder.  Throw it with a slight twist of your wrist, like a football.  How far can it go?  What if you make another with smaller folds?  Or larger ones?  Can you throw it and hit a target? What if you fold the paper the other direction instead - longways instead of sideways, or sideways instead of longways? How does that work out? What if you make it longer or shorter?

 

Option 4: What in your house can you keep in the air with ONLY your own breath?  Do you have a feather? Maybe a kleenex! How about a cotton ball? Balloon? What else might you have?  What if you use a piece of a straw to blow through - does it work better if you can direct your air that way?  

Let me know how it worked out for you!  Maybe you had a family competition, or maybe somebody in your house has a better design! You can use the Padlet to tell me or show me, or you can click on the document in Google Classroom by the Turn In button and answer the questions.

(You thought science would be dull this week with bad weather keeping us inside... HA!)  (And try not to hit Mom or Dad with your flying objects!)

WEEK 9 - Botany Week!

It's SPRING!  Plants! Flowers! New leaves!  So... it must be BOTANY WEEK!

Option 1:  Art. Study a plant closely.  Draw it!  Make a careful, detailed sketch!  Create a painting of your plant!  Label the parts! (Stem, roots, leaves, flowers, fruit, nut, blossom, bud, limb, branches, cone... whatever fits the plant you chose.) Or - use plant parts to create something like a gift card.

Option 2: Collect and Save. Press your plant or plant parts to preserve them.  To press leaves or flowers or small plants, use at least two pieces of cardboard and two pieces of paper - newspaper is fine. Don't use magazine paper - you WANT the paper to absorb some of the moisture.  Layer cardboard, paper, plant, paper, cardboard.  Put something heavy on top.  Leave it to dry for 4-6 days. Carefully take it apart.  Now you can use your plant for art or glue it to a paper to save it as a botany specimen - you just started a plant collection! (Video below, and labeled photo)

Option 3: Photography. Take a photo safari of plants.  See if you can find at least 10 different kinds of plants.  Make sure you find at least one of each: tree, shrub, flower, grass.  Try to find native plants, not ones that came from a plant nursery.  Or - do a photo wildflower collection, or a photo tree collection. 

 

Option 4:  Planting:  It's a bit early to plant new garden plants or flowers outside, but you could start some seeds in soil in a container in the house.  You can use the bottom of a milk carton, or small cans, or the bottom half of plastic bottles.  Add some potting soil or garden dirt.  Plant a few seeds in your dirt, only a tiny bit under the top of the soil, and cover them.  Add some water.  check them each day to see when they come up.  How many leaves at first?   What do the second set of leaves that come out look like?  

Option 5: Yard Survey.  What plants can you find in your own yard?  Make two lists.  Which ones would grow here naturally?  Which ones were chosen and planted on purpose?  Can you put them in categories?  For example, trees, bushes, flowers, vegetables, decorative, native, tall or short, annual (one year only) or long term... or make your own categories.  

Option 6: Dissection.  Find a good flower, and take it apart to see if you can find all the main sections of it.  A big flower like a daffodil or tulip is easiest. (Video below.)

And for those of you who like sharing, there is a Padlet so you can show other students what you did.

Engineer and Build Week - Week 8

This week, your challenge is to build or construct something, try it out, and then make any changes you need to make it better.  



I am giving you a few cool projects, but please feel free to design and build something else! Some of these are easy, and a few are ones you may need parent help with. Choose wisely!  Then let me know what you built! (There is also a Padlet link if you wish to share!)

      NOTE:  If you do not have something you need, what can you substitute?  Look around your house and see what else might do the job!  Here are some useful materials: tape, popcicle sticks, rubber bands, toilet tissue tubes, straws, string, sewing spools, bbq skewers, washers, glue, paper, ... and anything in the recycle bin like cans or plastic bottles or plastic bottle caps is fair game!  

Here are links for: 

• a cotton ball launcher
• popcicle stick catapult
• a scissoring robot arm
• spool tractor                         
• a picker-upper robot arm
• paper rockets 
• plastic bottle bird feeder                                     
• bird feeder from a can

Other fun challenges: 
     - Using only materials in the recycle bin or trash, build a boat that will float! (You pick the size!)
     - Use something out of the recycle as a container and plant a seed!
     - Do you have some wood scraps at your house? Can you build a bird feeder or a bird house?

Outdoor Tahoe Science - Week 7

The weather is warmer - let's get OUTSIDE!  

Here are your options this week. The goal for this week is only to be on your computer long enough to report back in! Choose a TIMS project  from the link below, and choose your grade level. (TIMS is Tahoe Institute for Natural Science.) 

There are five days or themes.  You don't have to do everything - that's a LOT! Just do one project listed for your theme choice.  Then come back here, click on the Document, and report about what you did. You can also attach a photo or a sketch if that helps you to explain! (Click "Add" to also include other pieces.)
     

* Spring Migration - Read through, then do the Animal Survey.  Report your results!
     





* Sensory Adventure - Read through, and do any of the projects along with the questions for that project.
     




* Tahoe Skies - Read through, and do any of the projects along with the questions for that project.

     





* Tahoe Trees - Read through, and do any of the projects along with the questions or tasks for that project.

     




* Tahoe Babies - Read through, and do any of the projects along with the questions or tasks for that project.

Inventions! Week 6 Challenge

What can YOU invent?  

Just because you are a kid doesn't mean you can't have amazing ideas.  Here's your chance to come up with something cool!  Here are some links and some videos to inspire you and give you some ideas.  
Amazing Kid Inventions!      Brilliant Kid Inventors!    3 Kid Inventions and Baby   
Your task:  Invent something!   Draw it, or describe it, or build a prototype model out of stuff you have at home (raid the recycle!).   Tell me THREE things.  
                        1) WHAT was the problem you are solving or making easier?  
                        2) WHO would use your invention?
                        3) What is your INVENTION?
 Use any of the ways below to send me your great idea!                    
     *You can turn it in by writing on the document above the Turn In in your Google Classroom, and describe your great idea.  
     * You can sketch out your idea and turn it in ("+" by the Turn In in Google Classroom for attachments).
     * Even better - you can build a model of what you are thinking!  Explain it! (Write to me and show me or tell me what you did!)
     *Use Google Draw to show me - that is easy to attach. 
     * Send me a photo or a short video by email or Classroom!
     *Collaborate online or on the phone (with your parents permission) and do something together! (But both of you need to turn in your thoughts so your teacher will see you both did it.)
     *Put it on a Padlet!

Enjoy!  Be brilliant!  I can't wait to see how you are going to change the world!

Space Week! - Week 5 Challenge

This time, you some cool space options!  You may choose 1, 2, or all of them. You decide.  You do NOT have to do all of these.  Just go look, choose one, then tell me what you checked out. There are videos, an art project, and a mission design project.

FIRST: Jessica Meir, NASA astronaut, had one last interview before she came back to Earth.  She was on on Late Night with Stephen Colbert.  It was a fun interview!






SECOND: Astronauts Jessica, Oleg and Drew are coming  back to Earth Thursday-Friday, April 16-17. 

• Watch the crew turn over command to Crew #63 (link below)
• Crew #62 (Jessica, Drew and Oleg) will say their goodbyes on NASA TV, close the hatch to the crew module, undock and land back on Earth. Here is the NASA short version.
• Do some research about one of the astronauts. Which would you like to meet?

THIRD:  Imagine you're an astronaut! This link  gets you to information, photos and videos about living in space.  Check it out!  







FOURTH:  Check out the ISS live feed - the same feed we get to see on our ISS-Above in the classroom.  (HDEV - High Definition Earth Viewing)  Watch it for a bit and tell me what you saw - where did it fly over? (This one is dark when it's on the nighttime side of the Earth.)

FIFTH:  NASA has a Mission Challenge for students - all different age categories! Design a space mission and also design the perfect space vehicle to do it with, and put it all down on paper!  

• Watch the video on the website, and then check out the directions and links.
• You make up a mission (where are you going?), design the Mission (why are you going?) and then design the space craft to do the job.  If you love your design, submit it to the contest! Or, you can email it to me.

Sixth: Space Art Project: You can submit art that you create, and it might end up on a specially made art space suit!    

I can't wait to hear what you checked out!  Have a Spacey Week!
~Mrs. Scheibner

Wildlife Webcams and Observations - Week 4 Challenge

Hi, Scientists!  (Have I told you how much I MISS you and getting to hear your great thoughts in PERSON??)

For this challenge, I want you to practice your observation skills.  

Go visit one of the online webcams linked in the document below.  View the animal(s) through the camera of your choice.  Please watch for between 5 and 10 minutes.

Or - observe wild animals in your own yard, your neighborhood, or on a hike!  
Answer the "question" in your Google Classroom by telling me WHICH webcam/animal, WHAT were they doing, and one interesting thing you noticed. (Remember, that is THREE things to actually answer!)

So: what do you want to observe?  Here are some links to help you find something great to watch:

• A collection of animal webcams  https://sportsmansparadiseonline.com/
• Bella the Hummingbird, some zoo cams, lots of wildlife and fish cams
• The Decorah Eagles (with links to other raptor webcams)  https://www.raptorresource.org/birdcams/decorah-eagles/
• Goes to Decorah eagles, but in the Watch Birds tab has links to other raptors you can watch - falcons, eagles, kestrals, etc.
• Monterey Bay Aquarium webcams https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/live-cams
• multiple cameras: aviary, kelp forest, coral reef, jelly cam, moon jellies, sea otter cam, Monterey Bay, open sea, penguins, and shark cam.
• Cornell University bird webcams https://www.allaboutbirds.org/cams/all-cams/ 
• Petrals, ospreys, feeders, albatros, red tailed hawks are all on right now

OPTIONAL: You can ALSO put your observation on a Padlet!  There is a second Padlet just for the Decorah Eagles. That way, everyone can collect data about that webcam animals.  You can read what other people have noticed.  Sharing information is how scientists can collect more data and learn more than they might have by themselves.  (Try a screen shot and add that!  Ask a question about somebody else's Padlet observation!)