Students in Bowling Green elementary schools will “blast off” into space with this year’s 1BookBG program: “Out of this World Space Pioneers.”
On Monday, March 18, and Tuesday, March 19, students in grades K-5 will receive their 1BookBG book and a packet of materials to guide them on mission stops throughout the community, including opportunities to participate in a variety of activities at the Wood County Public Library.
Several Wood County Library activities will be taking place during spring break next week, including multiple opportunities to explore the Star Lab from Toledo’s Imagination Station on Friday, March 29 (reservations required).
Students and families are also invited to hear author Traci Sorrell on Friday, March 22, at BGSU’s Olscamp Hall at 5:30 p.m. or Saturday, March 23, at the Wood County Library at 10 a.m. Sorrell’s book “Classified: The Secret Career of Mary Golda Ross” is the featured title of BGSU’s “In the Round” program featuring Native American authors and artists.
That program, along with the timeliness of the upcoming eclipse, helped the 1BookBG committee decide to focus this year’s titles on biographies of space scientists and information books about space from the “Who Was” and “What are” series of books from Random House publishers.
Thanks to the generous support of the BG community, kindergarten and first grade students are receiving a graphic novel about Neil Armstrong, while fourth grade students will receive his chapter book biography from the series. Fourth grade teachers are also receiving picture and chapter book biographies about John Glenn to share with the class, to connect to their focus on Ohio History in social studies. Second grade students will receive a chapter book biography on Sally Ride, while fifth grade students will receive either “Who Was Galileo?” or “What are Constellations?” Third grade students will receive “What is NASA?” or “Where is our Solar System?”
Look for “mission stop” posters at 17 Bowling Green businesses, where students can help build constellations and bring a ticket back to their school for opportunities to win more books and other STEM related prizes in weekly drawings.
New this year, students will also be able to collect one of 100 trading cards for one featured scientist each week at a specific mission stop location. Students completing their flight logs will dress in colors of the planets each Wednesday.
1BookBG is also excited to have partnered with WBGU/PBS this year, as their education and outreach specialists, Kelly Pheneger and Laural Kirchner, have prepared a variety of eclipse resources for local students and families. They’ve produced a downloadable guidebook, “Sun, Moon & Shadows: Your Ultimate Eclipse Guide and Activity Companion” along with a series of videos that can be accessed at https://www.wbgu.org/solareclipse/.
This year’s program will culminate in the “Astro Expo” event on Tuesday, April 23, at Bowling Green Middle School from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Organized by the BG Schools Eclipse Committee and teacher Melanie Ferguson, and thanks to the support of the BG Schools Foundation and Waggoner Science Fund, a variety of hands-on activities and displays of students’ work will showcase what students have learned about the once in a lifetime solar eclipse event in this community.
