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Mathematics

June 15th - 19th

MathematicsJune 15th - 19th

Kindergarten-2nd Grade Task Kindergarten-2nd Grade Task

Comet Picture
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Comets

A comet is a chunk of ice, rock, and gas flying through space. When they get close to the sun, they heat up. We can see their glow and long tails. In this activity, you’ll make your own comet that can fly around the room!

What you need:

  • chopsticks or a popsicle stick
  • ribbon or thin strips of paper
  • scissors
  • glue or tape
  • tin foil
  • ruler
If you have three different colors of ribbon or paper, you can make a very accurate comet. Comets have a nucleus, which is the main body of the comet. They have a coma, which is the glowing part around the nucleus. Then they have two tails: a dust tail and a gas tail.
Comet Image with Coma, Nucleus, Gas Tail, and Dust Tail Labeled

What to do:

*If you do not have the materials listed, draw a comet and measure the lengths of the tail to the nearest inch. Be sure to label your comet.
Image with Step # 1 Supplies
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Step # 1

With help from an adult, cut five pieces of ribbon or paper: two long pieces, two medium pieces, and one short piece.
Image of stick with tied ribbons
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Step # 2

Tie your ribbons around the end of your chopsticks or popsicle stick. If you want the ribbon to be as long as possible, tie the knot close to the edge of the ribbon.
Image of Step # 3
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Step # 3

Cut three pieces of tin foil so they’re roughly square shaped. Hold the ribbon pieces off to one side and gather the tin foil around the end of the stick.
Step 4 Image
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Step # 4

Form the tin foil into a ball while keeping the ribbon tail off to the side.
Step # 5 Image
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Step # 5

Repeat with two more sheets of tin foil. Gather it around and form it into a ball. If you want a bigger comet, add more tin foil!
Image of the comet example
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Step # 6

Use your ruler to measure your comet tails to the nearest inch. What do you notice about the length of each tail?

Step # 7

Hold your comet tightly and run around.


  • What do you notice about the comet tails?
  • Does the length of the tails effect the movement?

Quick Comet Facts

  • No two comets are alike. They differ in size, shape, and what they’re made of.

  • Comet tails are a result of solar wind. Energy and particles from the sun push on the comet. This force pushes dust and gas behind the comet. The ion dust and gas have different weights, so they separate, making two specular tails.

  • Once scientists saw a third tail, which was a smaller tail forming just between the dust and gas tail. They discovered it was made of salt.

  • Comet tails have been discovered to be so long that Voyager 2 passed through one that was thousands of miles away!

This activity was adapted from NASA Space Place.

3rd -5th Grade Task 3rd -5th Grade Task

Image of Spacesuits

SPACESUITS UNLIMITED

In this open-ended problem, you will select a company from which to purchase spacesuits. Decisions will be based on a table that includes company, cost per suit, color, durability, materials, and comfort. You will determine the price per flight, graph the provided information, and write a letter to the client providing evidence for their decisions.

READ THE LETTER BELOW:

Spacesuits Unlimited

2020 Space Odyssey Drive,

Merritt Island, FL

(321) 555-9871


Hello,


Our company, Spacesuits Unlimited, is the main contractor of spacesuits for NASA. We need your help to choose which company to purchase our spacesuits from for the astronauts. I have researched several local spacesuit manufacturing companies and have created a data table that includes the spacesuits' cost, color, durability, materials, and comfort level of the suits for our astronauts that may be useful. I need for your team to come up with a procedure that will help me select the best company for this job.


All of the information your team will need is located on the next page. Please write a letter to me explaining your team's procedure. Include information that tells me how you came up with your decision and describe your process. Please also include in your letter the cost of each spacesuit per flight.


Additionally, it would help us to understand your thinking if you also include on or more graphs of the data. Use your best judgment to decide how to best represent the data.

I look forward to hearing from you soon! I really appreciate your help.


Thank you,


Sal Ride Jr., President

Spacesuits Unlimited

pdf
insert_drive_file
SPACESUITS UNLIMITED-Data Set 1.pdf
PDF SPACESUITS UNLIMITED-Data Set 1
Download
266.9 KB

Next Steps:

Now that you have had a chance to examine Data Set 1, write a letter to Mr. Ride with your choice of spacesuit providers.

Once you have made a decision, use the letter template below to give your answer.

Date: __________________


Dear Mr. Ride,


I have determined that you should use ______________________________ to supply your spacesuits.


I have also determined that the spacesuit providers should be ranked (best to worst) in the following order: ________________________, ________________________, and ________________________.


I ranked _____________________ as the BEST provider to make the spacesuits of because:


My procedure for ranking the spacesuits from best to worst is:


Sincerely,

_______________________________________

YOU HAVE HEARD BACK FROM MR. RIDE WITH A NEW SET OF DATA.

Spacesuits Unlimited

2020 Space Odyssey Drive,

Merritt Island, FL

(321) 555-9871


Hello,


I want to thank you for the fantastic job that you did helping me select a manufacturer to purchase the spacesuits from. The information in your letter was very helpful. Since our first letter, two new companies have moved into our area and would like to compete for the winning bid. We hope that you will help us one more time by using your procedure and the new data table to find out which spacesuit manufacturer is the best.


Then, write us a letter that tells us how you ranked the materials and which one ranked the best and why. Don't forget to also include your clear, detailed procedure and the cost per flight of each spacesuit. If you made any changes to your first procedure, please tell us what changes you made and why.


Finally, please update your graph(s) and include them in your letter.


Thank you again for all of your hard work! Because of your help, we will be able to select the best spacesuit for our next mission in space.


Thank you,


Sal Ride Jr., President

Spacesuits Unlimited

pdf
insert_drive_file
SPACESUITS UNLIMITED-Data Set 2.pdf
PDF SPACESUITS UNLIMITED-Data Set 2
Download
248.2 KB

Next Steps:

Now that you have reviewed the new data, write a response to Spacesuits Unlimited with your new solution.

Date:__________________


Dear Mr. Ride,


Our team, _______________________________, has determined that you should use ______________________________ to supply your spacesuits.

Our team has also determined that the spacesuit providers should be ranked (best to worst) in the following order: ________________________, ________________________, and ________________________.

We ranked _____________________ as the BEST provider to make the spacesuits of because:



Our procedure for ranking the spacesuits from best to worst is:



Sincerely,

_______________________________________

Space Adventure Home
Space Adventure Home
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