It’s the beginning of the school year and I’m always excited to re-decorate certain areas of my classroom! This year I’m teaching all earth and space science, and I wanted to add some astronomy decor. I also had a goal of the decor not just being “cute” but also meaningful. I’m excited to share with you what I came up with.
Paper Lantern Stars
There is an awkward space above my desk cabinets that was just collecting dust. I wanted to hang paper lanterns there to represent stars, but I also wanted them to be something students could reference when we got to HR diagrams. So to do this, I ordered white paper lanterns in 5 different sizes from Amazon (affiliate link). I diluted some acrylic paint with water, and painted the lanterns the colors from the HR diagram. (Be sure to paint them in the correct order! Blue being largest, and red being smallest). I tied fishing line to the lanterns and hung them from the ceiling with thumbtacks.
Spectroscopy Bulletin Board
Almost everything we know about space is by analyzing light. And we can learn a lot just by looking at light!
Students will be learning about spectroscopy and how spectral fingerprints can be analyzed. These fingerprints can teach us about what elements are out there, how they are moving, the temperature of the stars, and more. I created this bulletin board that students can reference throughout the unit. You can find it on TpT or on my website.
Solar System Bulletin Board
Want to make a solar system bulletin board? In this kit, you will have cutouts to the sun and planets. To draw the orbital lines, I wrapped a string around a pencil and thumbtacked the loose end of the string near the sun. Unravel the string a few inches, pull it tight, and draw the orbit with pencil. Unravel a couple more inches, pull the string tight, and draw the next orbit. Continue until you have all 8 orbits.
You can find this kit on TpT or on my website.
Free Astronomy Posters
There are quite a few places online where you can download free posters! You will just need to print them yourself, or send them over to Staples or OfficeDepot for printing. Here is a list of some options:
- Space Tourism posters from NASA
- Solar System and Beyond posters from NASA
- Inspirational poster from Nitty Gritty Science
- Earth and Mars Comparison poster
Have fun decorating! Rock on,
