I'm also pretty excited about today's book recommendation because it is an autobiography of someone whose story I've been following for several years.
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A Children's Biography
The Boy Who Touched the Stars, El niño que alcanzó las estrellas (aff) is the true story of José Moreno Hernández, an American engineer and former NASA astronaut. Read about his childhood when he worked alongside his parents as a migrant farmworker and his fascination with space. Your child/student will learn about the important role his 2nd-grade teacher played in his life, encouraging his parents to stay in one place so that José could focus on his education, and how she nurtured his love of astronomy, books, and learning.
José eventually became an electrical engineer, and together with a colleague, developed the first full-field digital mammography imaging system. He continued to pursue his dream of becoming an astronaut. Even though his NASA application was rejected 11 times, he kept applying until he was finally chosen to become an astronaut as a flight engineer on the Space Shuttle Discovery and flew to the International Space Station.
Read this inspirational book to learn what his parents' recipe was for helping him to achieve his dream!
This book is SO well written and presented in a very organized manner. And the fact that it is presented with full text in both English and Spanish is awesome!!
Oh, and the illustrations are excellent, too! Take a look...
Overall, this bilingual picture book should be getting an award. I'm so happy to have read it. I love it. Love it!
The Boy Who Touched the Stars Activities & Crafts
I tried looking up activities created for this book and couldn't find any. So here are a few ideas for activities related to astronauts and space that would be great to do before or after reading this picture book. Or spread the activities out over 5-7 days and make it a space-themed week! I've tried to separate them by age.
PreK through 3rd:
- Design your own constellation book with my easy tutorial.
- Mama Teaches also has these lovely printable constellation cards on her site.
- Simple Everyday Mom has a free printable rocket puppet template. (Easy instructions plus a video tutorial!) She also has an astronaut paper bag puppet craft if you'd like to make more than one puppet.
- You know what's really fascinating? Looking at pictures of galaxies! You know what's even more fascinating? Making your own galaxy in a bottle! Beth Ann Averill has directions on her site for this very clever craft. And she also has this brilliant name rocket craft to help your children learn their own name in a fun spacey kind of way!
- Pocket Homeschool shared this cleverly assembled space traveler craft that your kids can put together with materials most families have in their home.
- Learn about other astronauts! The Waldock Way has this excellent free unit study on Mae Jemison, the first black woman to travel into space.
- Blessed Homeschool has this free printable solar system activity pack with some really fun developmental activities.
- And lastly, the Primary Parade has a remarkable collection of preschooler space activities.
Grades 4 through 6:
- For a deeper dive into space, I also made these constellation worksheets and wrote an in-depth lesson for kids over on WooJr. Or you might enjoy my mini-lesson on the solar system.
- José Hernández had a clear vision and goal to become an astronaut. Nurture this goal planning in your children/students with these printable space-themed Vision Board and Writing Prompts from That Homeschool Family.
- If your children are more into space exploration activities, check out these space exploration unit lessons from Adventures in a Messy Life that look at the crafts astronauts and the space program use.
- This solar system activity with free cootie catcher from Rock Your Homeschool is the coolest activity that your kids will absolutely love. (Psst! Her space unit study is on sale!)
Spanish Resources:
- El Sistema Solar: El espacio, la Tierra y planetas by Ms Herraiz on TpT
- El Espacio Unidad y Centros de Literatura by Bilingual Pre-K World on TpT
- Mateo el astronauta Outer Space Theme Pack Spanish Resources by Mundo de Pepita
- Morning Work in Spanish, Numbers 0-10, 27 activities! (space-themed!) by The Stress Free Spanish Teacher
Craft Kits and Toys
Extend the learning with these space-themed learning toys.
Space Play Dough Kit from PlayAndGrowShop on Etsy
This looks like such a fun set for little hands to play with and a great way to develop fine motor skills!
Solar System Felt Planets from MyLittleFishCo on Etsy
What a great addition to any home school room! When my teens were little we decorated by hanging the planets from our school room ceiling. But I think being able to handle and manipulate them would be even better.
Space Sensory Kit from EllaRoosAcademy on Etsy
Oh my gosh! So much fun! Sensory kits provide hours of fun for little kids. There are so many great space=themed sensory kits, but this may be my favorite one.