How many of you would be interested in helping me out with this star party on Friday the 18th? Please let me know ASAP... Thanks, Rich --- Amy Packer <APacker@reaganacademy.org> wrote:
Subject: RE: Star Party Date: Tue, 1 May 2007 10:27:14 -0600 From: "Amy Packer" <APacker@reaganacademy.org> To: "Richard Tenney" <retenney@yahoo.com>
Rich,
1. We have 75 students in the 6th grade (3 classes). There are 3 teachers, and I would imagine we'd have 20-25 parents. It's hard to tell. I know not all the students would come, and we could do a head count when we have a date set to get a better idea. So, we could potentially have 100 people, but I would guess only 55-60 kids would come, which would bring us down to about 80 people. If we split the people into 3 groups they could all spend about 20 minutes at a station (see number 3 below), and each station would be dealing with only 20-30 people at a time.
2. An hour would be fine, and if we do it on a Friday night the students won't have school the next day. I plan on having the students meet at the school to carpool up to our location, we could arrive at 9:00.
3. We have supportive parents, I think they'd be willing to carpool up to South Fork. I'd like it dark, I was thinking of putting the kids in 2-3 groups. One group could be at the telescopes, one group looking at constellations (I know enough that I could be in charge of that group), and maybe(?) have a hot chocolate station for the third group provided by the school. I don't know how that would work with the telescopes though, or how much time we should plan for the telescope station. Your suggestions would be valuable.
4. The 18th would work well for us, it's a Friday night so the students don't have to be up early for school the next day.
5. We are a charter school, which means we are public, we are simply a one school district. I can certainly ask parents to donate, but our grade level fund is limited at this time.
I hope I have answered all your questions, please ask if there is anything else you need to know. I appreciate you taking this time to help us out.
Thank you,
Amy Packer
6th Grade Teacher Reagan Academy Springville, UT 84663 (801)489-7828 apacker@reaganacademy.org
-----Original Message----- From: Richard Tenney [mailto:retenney@yahoo.com] Sent: Friday, April 27, 2007 5:54 PM To: Amy Packer Subject: Re: Star Party
Amy,
I would be willing to help, but I need to know the following:
1. How many students (and parents /teachers /helpers/ siblings) do you anticipate coming? I'd need to see how many folks with scopes would be willing to help out. It could be a very long line at one or two scopes!
2. You realize that it doesn't get dark until fairly late (between 9 and 10pm). Are the kids /parents willing to stay up late? I'm thinking about an hour does it for most folks, after that the interest level drops pretty rapidly for most.
3. How dark do you want the sky? It's pretty washed out anywhere in the city; closest reasonably dark site is up South Fork Canyon in Provo canyon, approx. 20 minute drive from Provo/Orem. However, if you want to just look at the moon and the planet Saturn, we could do that from the school. From a darker site we could look at a number of deep-sky objects (galaxies, star clusters, nebula, etc.).
4. Possible dates: Dark sky (no moon) - May 10-18 Cresent Moon - May 21 - 23
5. Is this a public or private school? If private, a modest donation to the Utah Valley Astronomy Assn. would be appreciated (~$100)
Let me know what you have in mind and I'll see what I can come up with.
Regards, Rich
--- Amy Packer <APacker@reaganacademy.org> wrote:
I am a 6th grade teacher in Springville, and we're just finishing up an astronomy unit. I'd like to have a star party for my students but don't know how to go about doing one. Would your association be interested in helping out in this area? (I don't know a good location, and I only have access to one telescope.)
We've studied moon phases as well as constellations and planets, so even if there is a moon I think it would be beneficial to the students.
Any suggestions or guidance you can give would be helpful.
Thank you,
Amy Packer
6th Grade Teacher
Reagan Academy
Springville, UT 84663
(801)489-7828
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