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Monday, May 20, 2019

José Hernández Lesson Plans, Books, Activities & More




Time for my next pick for MommyMaestra's Summer Reads list! (Last week, I shared the first title.)

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.

This post contains affiliate links.  

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. 

Rocket Puppet Craft by Simple Everyday Mom

PreK through 3rd:




Constellation Worksheets & Lesson by Woo Jr.


Grades 4 through 6:



Spanish Resources:


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.



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