Memoria Press Astronomy

The night sky looms above every evening; but how much do we really know about it? Once the subject of intense study by our ancestors, many modern-day youths know of nothing beyond the moon and the Big Dipper.

Designed as an introductory course for young elementary-aged students, this astronomy program covers constellations, the motion of the earth, and the names of the stars. Organized by each season's sky--Summer-Fall, Winter, and Spring-short paragraphs introduce the basic concepts of astronomy. Constellation paragraphs also feature star charts that show the main stars connected, as well as a separate chart that shows its position in the sky. Students are given boxes of stars and asked to draw and label the constellations in them; exercise questions on the constellation's name, mythical background, and brightest stars are also included.

The solar system is also covered; each planet has a fact page with photo, rotation and orbit information, characteristics, composition, and mythological references; comprehension exercises follow. A cumulative exercise is included in the back that reviews all the content of the previous lessons, including labeling constellations in Latin and English, labeling photos of the planets, completing sentences with word-bank vocab, labeling stars in order of brightness, and other concepts.

Grades 3 & up. 164 pages, softcover.

This teacher's guide accompanies the sold-separately The Book of Astronomy Student Book from Memoria Press. It includes full-size reproductions of the student book pages with the correct answers overlaid in brown (to easily differentiate answers from text). This teacher's book also contains a pronunciation guide, tests and test answer key, and overhead copy masters. 228 pages, softcover.