A Look Back at Week 2

I really LOVE working at the Planetarium. The groups of kids that come in every day are always so excited and engaged in the shows that we provide. One little girl was so happy afterward, she thanked me by running up and giving me a hug. The only thing I enjoy more than seeing their enthusiasm is listening to them shout out answers when we do the "Planets in the House" show. This show is not prerecorded like most of the ones we have so one of the assistants has to narrate it. Today in particular, we had a super smart bunch of first graders who surprised me with how much previous knowledge they had. For example:

Jim the assistant: "Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system, in fact it is so large, does anyone know how many Earth's we could fit inside Jupiter?" ....(The answer is 1000)

1st grade girl: "Well ....I know that it could probably fit all of the planets in our solar system inside of it...so maybe....1000 Earths?!"

Needless to say, both Jim and I were speechless and way impressed she got the answer, but also by her critical thinking skills!

Also, my mentor showed me an outline of topics that the Planetarium needs to develop shows for this year. The purpose of these shows are to act as a component to FCAT preparation, and will be based off of different standards for each grade level (K-12). I may abandon my original idea for a project, to work on some of these instead.

A Look Back at Week 1

After the first week back, I have realized that this is going to be the busiest summer of my life! I have so much reading and writing to do for my two classes. I have to cram all of the classwork into my weekends because during the week I have my internship at the planetarium everyday, followed by working on fiber optic research in the astronomy department, volunteering at freshman preview to promote my dance company Floridance, and in about a month I start teaching at a dance studio a few days a week.

Are any of you guys this busy? or busier?! I could use a venting buddy, lol. 

So yeah, I really like the planetarium so far. The younger groups of kids that come in get so excited, its adorable! And, for my project I might be able to create my own original show... I am starting to think about ideas...It doesn't necessarily have to be about Astronomy either...It can be about the weather, the ocean, geology, etc....let me know if you guys have any suggestions! Especially if we do the field trip thing and you want to see something specific!

Intro

Hi everyone, my name is Dina Zinni. I am an Astronomy major at UF and I'll be doing my summer internship at the Kika Silva Planetarium at Santa Fe. I am so excited and can't wait to share my experience with you all!