What kids know and want to know about the solar system

In class I used a graphic organizer called a KWL chart.  The KWL stands for "What I Know,"  "What I Want to learn," and "What I Learned."  As I was grading their papers certain things stuck out as humorous to me, so I thought I'd share them with you.  

Here are some of the things that the students thought they already knew about the solar system.

The sun is the third planet.

The world goes in circles and the Earth rotates.

Uranus has 25 Earths.

The sun has gas.

Mostly planets get their names from people.

I live on Earth.

Planets are little and big, and stars are big and small.

When the moon and the sun collide they make a weird color.

The planets have gods named after them.

At night the moon changes in to the sun.

Here are the things that the students wanted to know.

Can people live on Earth?

When did the moon get invented?

How many states does Jupiter have?

Why is the name moon that name?

Is the sun really yellow?

Can you use a jet to get to the moon?

Is there another Earth?

Smoke Alarms and Children

I received this video in an email and found it very interesting, so I thought I'd share. It's very eye-opening and scary to think that smoke detectors may not serve the purpose they're intended for.

Come On, Eileen

I may have discovered how to improve a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day... or week... or 3 weeks. I was having lunch at Applebee's on Sunday, and while sitting there the song Come On, Eileen came on and it occurred to me that it's hard to have a bad day for the 4 minutes and 13 seconds that the song is playing. After that things go back to normal, so maybe a playlist of this one hit wonder from Dexy's Midnight Runner's on repeat is in line. It may have something to do with remembering how ridiculous the video is, or maybe it's just the song, but it's a short pick-me-up. Try it out.

Good Morning, Whiplash

Aside from the damage to my car, rolling three and a half times across the median of the interstate is less detrimental to the body than getting hit by a mini van. I can't say I know what it feels like to get hit by a truck, but if it's anything like a Honda Odyssey I don't want any part. Maybe it was the anticipation of what was about to happen during my first accident that prevented me from injury. If that's the case I want to anticipate accidents all the time. I can't ever remember being so sore in my life. It feels as if my head was ripped away from my body and then glued back on. I'm afraid to move too suddenly for fear that it might just fall off. Luckily, I have a good prescription and it works like a charm, aside from the fact that I take it and wake up 6 hours later with no idea what's going on. On the contrary, I've never slept better! Hopefully all the soreness goes away and I can get back normal soon. At least it was a Friday and I got the whole weekend to recover.

Life's a Bitch

It's strange how in a split second a great day can go the other way. Driving home from school today I was in a car accident. Thankfully my car is very safe and it didn't amount to anything too serious. Amid flashbacks of my other accident, I pulled things together enough to get home. I don't really like driving anymore. I don't think that Geico commercial with the Pips is very funny anymore, either. And I don't really have anything to talk about from school, well, nothing that I really want to take the time to type out.