GRADES K-2 SNOOPY AND NASA Celebrating the Space Station Dear Educator, Program Objectives Gaze at the stars and into the future while honoring • Fuel STEM learning and interest in space the past as you and your • Raise awareness of the 20th anniversary of humans living students join Snoopy — a on the International Space Station and instill enthusiasm for seasoned space traveler space exploration and future NASA endeavors — in celebrating the 20th • Reinforce language arts and STEM skills anniversary of humans living on the International Target Audience Fun Facts about the Space Station! Students Students in grades K-2 and their families International will learn about the Space Station! history of the space How to Use This Program station and what life is H The International Space Station is like for astronauts who Download, photocopy, and distribute the three reproducible celebrating its 20th anniversary of live and work in space. activity sheets to all students, or share the PDFs through your humans living in space on November 2, school’s digital platform if you’re connecting with students 2020. Developed by the remotely. Prepare the materials for each activity and preview H The space station circles the Earth curriculum specialists at videos in advance. Have students share their completed approximately 250 miles above the Young Minds Inspired sheets with their families so that they can do the activities surface. as part of a unique at the bottom of each sheet together. You can also share H As of June 2020, 240 individuals from 19 partnership between the program link with parents to do the activities with their countries have visited the space station. NASA and Peanuts children. Visit ymiclassroom.com/snoopy-iss for standards H The space station is 357 feet from end Worldwide, these easy- alignment. to end. That’s just three feet shorter than to-implement activities an American football field (including the for students in grades Activity 1 end zones). K-2 are standards-based H Up to eight spacecraft can connect to Happy Anniversary, Space Station! the space station at any time. and designed to provide In this activity, students learn fun facts about the space station teachers with engaging H The space station travels about 5 miles and celebrate the 20th anniversary of humans living in space. lessons to complement per second. H their language arts and Materials needed: Pencils, activity sheet, crayons or markers It takes about 90 minutes for the space STEM curricula. The station to orbit the Earth. lessons can be taught Ask students to “twinkle their fingers” (arms in the air, fingers H In a 24-hour period, the space station remotely or in the spread wide and wiggling) if they like looking at the stars at orbits Earth 16 times, which means classroom, and each night. Have they ever seen a star moving? If so, it might have astronauts can see 16 sunrises and activity includes extension been the International Space Station! sunsets in one day. H Astronauts on the space station have suggestions the whole Explain that the International Space Station is a spacecraft family can enjoy. conducted more than 220 spacewalks… designed for humans to live in space for a long time. The and counting! average amount of time an astronaut spends on the space H The space station has hosted more than Please share this program station is six months. Some have made multiple visits and with other K-2 teachers 3,000 scientific investigations from have logged more than 365 days working, eating, exercising, researchers in more than 100 countries. at your school. And let and even playing on the space station. November 2 will mark H Astronauts on the space station must us know your opinion of the 20th anniversary of humans living on the space station. the program by visiting exercise at least two hours per day to ymiclassroom.com/ The people who live and work on the space prevent bone and muscle loss. feedback-snoopy- station are from all over the world. As of iss. We look forward June 2020, 240 people from 19 different to your comments and countries have lived there, most of suggestions. them from the United States and Russia. Three to seven crew members Sincerely, are on board at all times. Even Snoopy has visited the International Space Station! In 2019, a Dr. Dominic Kinsley plush Snoopy doll donned a helmet and Editor in Chief space suit to float around the space station Young Minds Inspired with astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch. And in the first season of Apple TV+’s animated series Snoopy in Space, Snoopy and Woodstock take a trip Questions? Contact YMI toll-free at 1-800-859-8005 or by email at [email protected]. © 2020 YMI, Inc. © 2020 Peanuts Worldwide LLC ©2020 DHX Media Ltd. to the space station and find out what it’s like Part 2: Now tell students that Snoopy didn’t to live in space. just visit the space station in the Apple TV+ series Snoopy in Space; he has also been Earth Calling! Ask students to stand for a “Fun Facts” game. there as a guest of astronaut Mike Massimino. Explain that you will tell them a “fun fact” Astronauts get to bring a few personal items Have your students ever about the space station. They must decide with them to the space station. Mike brought wanted to ask an astronaut if it’s true or false. If they think it’s true, they a plush Snoopy doll with a helmet that his questions about life in space? should “twirl for true”. If they think it’s false, brother had given him as a kid. Celebrate the 20th anniversary they should “flap their arms for false”. Read of humans living in space on the the statements in the “Fun Facts” box on page Ask students to imagine that they are going International Space Station by 1. The fun part of the game comes at the end, to the space station and get to bring one chatting with an astronaut — live when students find out all the facts are true! thing with them. The item must fit into a shoebox. Have them write a description and/ from the space station! Visit nasa. Pass out the activity sheet and help students or draw a picture of their item on the back of gov/iss-downlinks to find out complete the simple cryptogram to reveal a the activity sheet. how students can participate, message from Snoopy to the astronauts on and to see what other the space station. Then have students create Extension Activity: Using what they have students have asked. their own “Happy Anniversary” cards. Older learned about the International Space Station, students may wish to write a personal message ask students whether they would like to travel on the card in addition to coloring it. Younger to and live on the space station, and explain students might draw a picture. Use the cards to why or why not. Older students could write a decorate a classroom bulletin board celebrating short persuasive paragraph that includes facts Pass out the activity sheet and read the the International Space Station, or have from the videos and “Fun Facts” they learned introduction together. Based on your students show their cards to each other online from Activity 1. discussion, do students think they could during a remote video session. do the job of an astronaut? What kinds of things would they have to learn to become Answer: Happy 20th Anniversary! Activity 3 an astronaut? Have students draw a picture Working in Space of themselves as an astronaut in space. Older Extension Activity: Ask students to students may write a sentence or two about brainstorm questions they would like to ask Students learn about what it takes to be an how their personal skills and talents could an astronaut. Then review the information at astronaut and the skills needed to live and help them become an astronaut in the future. nasa.gov/centers/johnson/pdf/569954main_ work on the International Space Station. astronaut%20_FAQ.pdf to see if any of their Materials needed: Pencil, paper, crayons or Extension Activity: Ask students to invent questions have been answered. markers a new tool or resource they think would be useful to astronauts on the space station. It Activity 2 Ask students to think about and share some might be a new food, exercise equipment, Life on the Space Station of the things they’ve learned how to do in the a tool to help with experiments, etc. They past year that they couldn’t do before, such as can draw and/or write about the tool. If you Students will watch a few short videos about reading with ease, counting by twos, writing, have recyclables and/or craft materials in your the everyday life of crew members on the etc. Explain that these are examples of things classroom, have students create a mock-up of space station. Then they will step into Snoopy’s they need to know to do their job as a student. the resource or tool. space boots and imagine what his life was like when he was aboard the space station in the Different jobs require knowing how to do Apple TV+ series Snoopy in Space. different things. Can students name skills that International Space Station a firefighter needs? What about a teacher? Anniversary Events Materials needed: Pencils, activity sheet, Explain that these jobs also require certain une into nasa.gov for special anniversary crayons or markers; access to online videos personality traits such as bravery and patience.