Tundra Teaching Activities

PBS has some ideas for activities to teach about the tundra.

As does Scholastic, for example this nifty tundra animal wheel.

Spot the International Space Station

I got to wave hello to some astronauts last night.  Not sure if they saw me but it's the thought that counts I guess.  A few weeks ago I signed up for NASA's Spot the Station alerts and now I get an e-mail giving me a heads up anytime the International Space Station will be visible in my area.  

I wasn't sure what it would look like and was nervous that I would miss it altogether.  I actually stared at a point of light for about a minute and a half ("Is that moving? Maybe it's moving. No, I'M moving.  Stop pacing around self!") before remembering that anything twinkling is a star (see astronomical scintillation).  Once I stopped fixating on the wrong thing I immediately saw a very bright, fast-moving light flying overhead.  It was like a shooting star on steroids- unmistakable and very, very cool. 

NASA has a 79-page printable packet of lesson plans and activities all about the Space Station.

There are also some fun ideas for talking about life in space on Discovery Education's website.