The Cresthaven Afterschool Astronomy Club was formed in September of 2004. Cresthaven Elementary School is located in Silver Spring, MD. We have almost 600 students and have classes in grades K through 5. Our student make up is as follows: 37% Hispanic, 30% African American, 19% Caucasian and 12% Asian.
We have had two 6-week sessions this year. In these sessions we have made balloon rockets, have learned about various aspects of the Sun by making "solar cookies" to represent the different parts and actually observing the Sun using our telescope and solar filter! We have also studied comets, learned about the electromagnetic spectrum using UV beads, studied the relative size of the planets and the relative size of our solar system. We have also experimented with the different ways astronomers observe the solar system, plus much more!!! Many thanks to Dorian Janney for the complete syllabus that made these sessions easy to execute and exciting for the students.