Some months ago, Raghav spent days exploring the solar system and Universe. We found an exciting website that he liked very much. You can check it out here.
He spent days checking out the website on his own - finding out facts about the planets, playing games, building rockets and laughing at the space jokes! And then, he decided that he wanted to paint the solar system! That was a surprise to me as he had not shown much interest in painting before. But this time, he was a man on a mission! He told me that he wanted to paint one or two planets every day and planned his whole week that way. Our outings, eating times and other chores were all worked out around his plan, for he did not want to budge till he had finished what he had set out to do every day. On many days, he would wake up in the morning and go straight to his easel to paint and be lost in that for an hour or more sometimes! It was fun to watch him enjoy what he was doing and creating.....and even more fun to listen to him weave a story about each one while he was painting, with all the facts and other things rolled into it! He kept talking about each one's core, how hot or cold they were, how Uranus also had rings like Saturn and so on. In his paintings, he was particular about some of those things too - like the rings of Uranus, the Giant spot on Jupiter (which was a storm - so he would change his tone of voice and his stroke accordingly!), the clouds over the Earth, and the solar flares and sun spots on the sun! He was also very upset that Pluto was no longer considered a planet and insisted that it was part of the family - at least his family!
Here are his paintings and creations of the solar system in different ways -
Here is his own representation of the solar system using some sponge pieces and other odds and ends!
And here is the model he designed and created all on his own from air drying clay and wire for orbits! He asked for help to bend the wire, which I did. I loved the way in which he added a key ring as the ring for Saturn! He also took care while making this and painting each planet, that they were proportionate in size......he thought about that a lot while rolling out each ball.
We also explored the Nasa website and discovered that there is a mission to Pluto. He keeps checking on that now and then to find out where the probe is currently. You can check it out here.
When we made a trip to the library, he would ask me to look out for books on the solar system and
pore over them when we got home - correlating all the information. And that is also when his interest for the programme on CBeebies started - Lunar Jim! It was simply amazing for me to see how a natural webbing was happening in his learning, when he followed his inner curriculum.
He spent days checking out the website on his own - finding out facts about the planets, playing games, building rockets and laughing at the space jokes! And then, he decided that he wanted to paint the solar system! That was a surprise to me as he had not shown much interest in painting before. But this time, he was a man on a mission! He told me that he wanted to paint one or two planets every day and planned his whole week that way. Our outings, eating times and other chores were all worked out around his plan, for he did not want to budge till he had finished what he had set out to do every day. On many days, he would wake up in the morning and go straight to his easel to paint and be lost in that for an hour or more sometimes! It was fun to watch him enjoy what he was doing and creating.....and even more fun to listen to him weave a story about each one while he was painting, with all the facts and other things rolled into it! He kept talking about each one's core, how hot or cold they were, how Uranus also had rings like Saturn and so on. In his paintings, he was particular about some of those things too - like the rings of Uranus, the Giant spot on Jupiter (which was a storm - so he would change his tone of voice and his stroke accordingly!), the clouds over the Earth, and the solar flares and sun spots on the sun! He was also very upset that Pluto was no longer considered a planet and insisted that it was part of the family - at least his family!
Here are his paintings and creations of the solar system in different ways -
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| Mercury |
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| Venus |
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| Earth |
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| Mars |
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| Saturn |
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| Jupiter |
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| Uranus |
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| Neptune |
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| Pluto |
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| The Sun |
Here is his own representation of the solar system using some sponge pieces and other odds and ends!
 |
| His representation of the solar system |
And here is the model he designed and created all on his own from air drying clay and wire for orbits! He asked for help to bend the wire, which I did. I loved the way in which he added a key ring as the ring for Saturn! He also took care while making this and painting each planet, that they were proportionate in size......he thought about that a lot while rolling out each ball.
 |
| His solar system model |
We also explored the Nasa website and discovered that there is a mission to Pluto. He keeps checking on that now and then to find out where the probe is currently. You can check it out here.
When we made a trip to the library, he would ask me to look out for books on the solar system and
pore over them when we got home - correlating all the information. And that is also when his interest for the programme on CBeebies started - Lunar Jim! It was simply amazing for me to see how a natural webbing was happening in his learning, when he followed his inner curriculum.
My learnings from my son
- I realised that he would not stop with an area that he was exploring, until he felt that he was done
- He read and assimilated the facts and the information on his own. He went back on his own to check on stuff he had forgotten or was not sure, and came back to me and shared what he had discovered
- He created his own objectives, plan and ways and means of understanding and assimilating the information. He followed his inner curriculum.
- He only needed an audience most times!
loved this so much!! glad you are sharing pictures as well. Love, Hema
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