Free International Space Station Virtual Field Trip

Well staff, field trips are canceled this year. I know many teachers are disappointed about this and it is sad for the kids. Field trips are so much fun and a great educational experience for kids. Me on the other hand, I am not quite as sad.

Field trips stress me out!! There I said it.

Maybe it is the trauma I have experienced I have had from setting them up, dealing with crazy parents, raising funds, getting there and not having tickets, fear of losing a kid and the bus breaking down. I have had my fair share of Field Trips gone wrong. So, to hear the news from admin last year and then again, this year that our field trips were canceled, I faked my sadness, but inside I did a little happy dance.

However, I am all about fun inside the gates of our school or anything we can walk to. I have created numerous Virtual Field Trips for my students the last few years. I don’t have all of them public, but many are.

This one to the International Space Station is a special one. It is completely free, though there are numerous activities included. The only reason it is FREE is because I can’t sell anything using NASA videos. So your gain! I put the time into making this one great because you and your students deserve fun this year and this is simple gift.

So what is it?

The first interview is with an astronaut. He is not up in Space, but he has been there before. He takes the students through a simulated Space Station. This is where the astronauts train. It gives students an idea of what it looks like. The astronaut does speak really quickly though. But if you follow the lesson plans, it addresses this and how to still use it.

The next part is an astronaut that takes us through the International Space Station in Space. It is like a house tour but better! My 1^st grade son saw me putting it together and ended up watching the whole thing with me , (there is a shorter video and a longer video). We discussed as we went through it. At bedtime that night he said it was his favorite part of the day and still remembered a lot of facts from the video.

I have put together various activities to do with both the videos. All these activities are digital if you want to do this activity with your virtual students. These activities can easily be spread out to 4-5 days if you wanted.

The students will walk away with a greater concept of what it is like to live in space. I sure did.

Did you know that when they change their clothes they just throw away that outfit and grab a whole new one? It makes sense since they can’t wash up there, but I still hadn’t thought of that before. What if you really liked that shirt?

This is a great introduction to a unit on Space or Patterns in Nature or you can use it as a treat that you completed a unit.

If your interested in this FREE Unit, go ahead and grab it HERE!