Tuna Sandwiches Make Tongues Excited

I'd like to give a special shout out to Felix Baumgartner for making my job extra easy today. Because of his recent jump from the edge of space, we had fun talking about the layers of the atmosphere. First, we ironed out the basics. We started from the bottom (on the edge of Earth) and worked our way out to space. Using a handy little guide I found here. We talked about what happens in each layer: clouds, meteors, northern lights, satellites, etc. Thanks to a colleague's suggestion, I taught my kids the mnemonic device: Tuna (Troposphere), Sandwiches (Stratosphere), Make (Mesosphere), Tongues (Thermosphere), Excited (Exosphere). Once we had figured out how each layer worked, we moved on to discuss Mr. Baumgartner. The exciting part!

Along with the little images included on the printable, I had each student sketch a little stick figure and write FELIX'S SPACE JUMP in the box. I told them predict where they thought Felix jumped from. I warned them not to glue just yet because I would reveal the correct answer later. The student below got a little excited and glued too soon. If you look closely, you can see the "NOT" on the Felix hanging out in the Exosphere. 

Oh, Tuna. 

Thanks to the power of the world wide web, I was able to show my students incredible footage of Baumgartner's previous missions (incredible!!) and the unforgettable space jump.  Below are the videos I used from YouTube. 

Download a Copy Here!

Thanks to Krissy Venosdale for making this awesome poster for classrooms. Check out her incredibly inspirational blog here.  I downloaded one and have had it hanging up since the jump. You should too!!

I, again, must thank Felix. You made my Monday very exciting and kept my students completly captivated by your daredevil stunts. Keep it up, Felix! We're all rooting for you!