Sunday, September 16, 2012

The Moon


If MUSES had Olympic Games, and only one MUSE could win the gold medal for “universal inspiration for imagination motivation”, the MOON would take the prize.

I would argue that 99.999% of all human beings at one time or another has looked up at the Moon and imagined, WHAT IF…

Our imaginations LOVE the moon because it is so close, yet so far away. Sometimes we pretend that we can see a man’s face in the moon, or we might imagine that the moon is a big hunk of cheese.  My favorite is when Sesame Street’s Cookie Monster flies a rocket to the Moon and finds the Moon to be a huge COOKIE.

But here are some “real” facts:

The Moon is 238,857 miles from Earth. It is the fifth largest moon in our Solar System. Jupiter’s moon, Ganymede, wins the Gold for that category.

It takes 27 Earth days for the Moon to circle Earth. And while it circles, we get to see the sun’s light reflecting from the Moon’s surface. Take a look at this video from the History Channel to learn how this works.

The Moon has no atmosphere, but there is some gravity. The Moon’s gravity actually pulls the tides of Earth’s oceans. WOW! And without Earth’s gravitational pull, the Moon would not belong to Earth. As a matter of fact, without Earth’s gravitational pull we wouldn’t belong to Earth, either. We all depend on Earth’s gravity to keep our feet on the ground. Otherwise, we would float away to Space.

For eons people have dreamt of flying to the moon. And on July 20, 1969, that dream became reality. NASA’s Apollo 11 mission took the first men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, to the Moon.

 “That’s one small step for man. One giant leap for mankind,” said Armstrong after his first step off the Eagle landing module onto the Moon. These legendary first words will never be forgotten. Here is the actual video footage of Armstrong on the Moon. Sadly, Neil Armstrong died recently on August 25.

If you would like to learn about all the Apollo Missions to the moon, take a look at NASA’s Apollo site. You will find that America has a strong interest in moon exploration. Also take a look at this photo of a moon rock from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

With all of that learning, I bet you are in the mood for a snack. How about a Moon Pie? Ever had one? They’ve been one of America’s favorite snack since the early 1900’s. Imagine a graham cracker and marshmallow sandwich dipped in chocolate, banana or vanilla candy. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!

With this new knowledge, what kind of story could you write? Maybe these WHAT IF questions will help you get started.

WHAT IF the moon really was a big hunk of cheese?

WHAT IF the Man in the Moon got angry and it was your main character’s mission to calm him down? Maybe this would be the next Apollo Mission.

WHAT IF your main character found out that the Moon landing was a big hoax.

The possibilities are endless, and please leave your own what if questions in the comment section below. I’d love to see what you come up with.

So, grab a cup of hot cocoa, a pencil and a piece of paper, and let’s begin. With your imagination, we can go anywhere. I look forward to seeing where you take us.

With Imagination,

Professor Watermelon

The word of the day is “gravity”. Here is the definition: the force of attraction by which terrestrial bodies tend to fall toward the center of the Earth.

 

22 comments:

  1. What if the moon was a giant space ship?
    What if the Moon was a gigantic gum ball?
    What if the Moon had ticklish toes?

    Prof. Watermelon

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  2. what if the moon could hould a star?
    what if the moon ate pizzas?
    what if the moon was a spaceship?
    what if the moon was a gumball?
    what if the moon was a big watermelon?

    Ethan Bell

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  3. Mr. Moon

    Once upon a time the moon got blasted by a green ray. the ray was shot by a machine made by Dr. Ray. His machine was supposed to make the moon shrink, instead it made the moon come to life! Dr. Ray didn't know he made the moon come to life but he didn't see the moon shrink so he broke his machine. Meanwhile up in space the moon had named himself Mr. Moon and had started looking for friends! He couldn't see anything alive so he started playing Jacks with a meteoroid and some stars. I bet you're wondering how the moon knows how to play Jacks. Well, the machine also put some human knowledge into the moons head so the moon knew how to play Jacks.So the moon started looking for friends again. Back on Earth Dr. Ray put the finishing touches on his new shrinking machine. He was going to shrink the whole universe! so he blasted a blue ray up into the sky. Suddenly there was a blinding flash and the whole universe came to life! So Mr. Moon got to have lots of friends. His best friends were Mrs. Mercury, Mr. Venus, Mr. Earth, Mrs. Mars, Mr. Jupiter, Mrs. Saturn, Mr. Uranus, Mrs. Neptune and Mr. Pluto! So if you feel the ground bouncing it's just Mr. Earth having fun!

    By Ethan Bell

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    Replies
    1. Ethan! What a great story. I love how you turned all of the planets and the Moon into characters. You are a talented writer, young man! See you next week!

      Delete
  4. What if the moon was made of cheese?
    What if the moon was a foot away?
    What if the moon had feet?
    What if the moon was a melon?
    what if the moon was 1 inch?
    What if the moon could do the cupid shuffle?
    What if the moon could sing?
    What if the moon could play baseball?
    What if the moon could play basketball?
    What if the moon had recess?
    What if the moon could play golf?
    What if the moon could swim?
    What if the moon could run?
    What if the moon could do karate?
    What if the moon had hands?
    What if the moon had babies?
    What if the moon had eyes?
    What if Saturn is the moon's friend?
    What if the moon could write?
    What if the moon drank Sprite?
    What if the moon could drink diet Sprite?
    What if the moon had hair?
    What if the moon played football?
    What if the moon could play tennis?
    What if the moon had a phone?
    What if the moon could drive a motorcycle?
    What if the moon lived in a house?
    What if the moon at chicken?
    What if the moon ate paper?
    What if the moon watched TV?
    What if the moon caused earthquakes?
    What if the moon celebrated Christmas?
    What if the moon lived on the beach?
    What if the moon played music?
    What if there was moon sized pancakes?
    What if the moon is just a golf ball?
    What if the moon was a banana?
    What if the moon was a boomerang?
    What if the moon was a chocolate banana?


    jack hufford

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  5. What if the moon was a soccer ball?
    What if the moon had super powers?
    What if the moon had wore glasses?
    What if the moon was a spider?
    What if the moon was a bomb?
    What if the moon didn't like any foods?
    What if the moon was where aliens lived?
    What if the moon snowboarded

    ReplyDelete
  6. What if the moon had feet?
    What if the moon was a singer?
    What if the moon was a secret agent?
    What if the moon was invisible during summers?
    What if the moon liked banana splits?
    What if the moon was friends with Prof. Watermelon?
    What if the moon was a witch?
    What if the moon had roller coasters on him?

    ReplyDelete
  7. What if the moon was square?
    What if the moon had spikes on it?
    What if the moon was a maze?
    What if the moon was a baseball?
    What if the moon was a basketball?
    What if the moon was a Xbox?
    What if the moon was a elephant?
    What if the moon was a who down in who ville?

    ReplyDelete
  8. What if the moon was pink?
    What if the moon drank a potion and turned into a cheeseburger?
    What if the moon was jello?
    What if the moon was made out of gold?
    What if the moon had an evil twin?
    What if the moon had a Ferrari?
    What if the moon was a spaghetti meatball?

    ReplyDelete
  9. what if the moon liked to play with stars?
    what if the moon was a god?
    what if the moon liked to play Basketball?
    what if the moon secretly played with black holes?
    what if there was three moons?

    Ethan Bell

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  10. Sry didn't put my name on



    Ryan

    ReplyDelete
  11. The Soccer Moon

    Once there was a moon. Now I am not talking about the one that stands there in your sky. I'm talking about a moon that could walk and talk and all of that. One day the moon came across a sign that said SOCCER TEAM NEED PLAYER THE ROARING RHINOS. Now he said "Oh what a wonderful idea I will tryout soccer and I will try my hardest." He went to the place that it said on the sign. He went and the coach came up and said "Hey are you ready to play soccer!" And the moon said "Yes coach!" Then the coach asked "What's your name?" And the moon said "Moon." The coach then said "An unusual name but ok welcome to the team." The moon said "Awesome!" Then the coach said "Ok so moon that sign is pretty old and so we have already started but we are having one more game and this is going to be the championship game I want you to try your hardest. Alright?" And the moon replyed "Yes Coach!" So the team had practiced passing to each other. Moon was nailing the passes left and right he was doing great speed and great accuracy. Then during water break the coach was impressed and he comed up to him and said "Have you ever had experience on a team?" And the Moon said back "Nope it is my first time playing" And then the coach walked away then they did shooting and other sorts of drills and then the practice was finished. The moon was excited because the game was tommorow and then the moon went home got in bed and visualized himself scoring a goal.... The next day he woke up and he was really excited he got his soccer gear on and went to the field. He went to his team and when he came he started announcing the line-up. "Ok George I want you as Center Defense. Harold I want you as Left defense. Thomas I want you as right defense. Bob I want you as right mid field. Steve I want you as Left Mid field. Then Ryan and Moon are the fowards. So we started the game and Ryan passed it to Moon and Moon passed it to Ryan and Ryan passed it to Bob and Bob shot and SCORED!!!! So that was the first goal but when the first half ended it was 2-2 tie. The coach said "You guys are playing well out there just keep it up and we might win." So they went out on the field and they scored another goal. But out of nowhere a kid from the other team scores. There was only 5 minutes left in the game and the last minute was amazing. So Moon did not give up because he wanted to win so he got the ball and there was 5 seconds left he beat one guy 4.... he beat another one 3.... he beat another one! 2.... he beat the last guy and he was in front of the goalie 1.... he shot and he ......... SCORED!!!!!!!!!!!!! He was going down the field celebrating and his teammates hugged him and he was so happy. After that day he always remembers and is still playing today. The End

    By Ryan Thain

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  12. Marvin the moon cow

    A long time ago when the cows ruled the Earth, there was a cow named Marvin. He had a big brain full of imagination. One day Marvin looked up and said "I am going to go to the moon someday!" Everybody thought Marvin was crazy. Except for his parents and his little sister. When Marvin was older he made a spaceship out of hay. He lit the hay with fire and he went blasting of the moon! I this sounds kind of crazy but that is what happened to his piece of hay. back then cavemen were alive and they saw Marvin the cow bouncing on the moon. That story got passed on and on and thats how the line in the song called "hey diddle diddle" came to life.

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  13. Marvin the moon cow was by Ethan Bell! :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. What if the moon was a bowling ball?
    What if the moon had less gravity?
    What if the moon had more gravity?

    More to come.....

    - Amar

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  15. What if the moon was an angry bird?
    What if the moon was darth vader?
    What if the moon was a fish?
    What if the moon gave money to the homeless?
    What if the moon had a iPhone?
    What if the moon had a time machine?
    What if the moon was friends with king tut?
    Ryan Thain

    ReplyDelete
  16. What if the moon was asteroids?
    What if the moon was an angry bird?
    What if the moon watched TV?
    What if the moon had a baby?
    What if the moon had a pet dog?
    What if the moon was really the earth?
    What if the moon had a pet earth?
    What if the moon had a computer?
    What if the moon got married to Jupiter?
    What if the moon was homeless?
    What if the moon was a writer?
    What if the moon had a facebook account?
    What if the moon went swimming?
    What if the moon was one inch?

    ReplyDelete
  17. What if the moon turned into a steering wheel?
    What if the moon turned into a sticker?
    What if the moon turned into a giant doorknob?
    What if the moon turned into a lid?
    What if the moon turned into a pumpkin?
    What if the moon turned into a chicken?
    What if the moon turned into everything?
    What if the moon turned into a clock?
    What if the moon turned into a period?
    What if the moon was square?

    Amar Kumar

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  18. What if the moon ate bananas?
    What if the moon liked to play cards?
    What if the moon was a big blow up toy?
    What if the moon could gamble?
    What if the moon was a big spaceship?

    Ethan Bell

    ReplyDelete
  19. What if the moon was a big golf ball?
    What if the moon could bounce like a ball?
    What if the moon had a moon face on it?
    What if the moon knew how to juggle?
    What if the moon could fly?
    What if the moon had clothes and socks and shoes?
    What if the moon had it's own moon house?
    What if the moon was friends with the stars?

    By Celeste

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  20. Many millions of years ago, Sleazy and his evil gang of Space Grizzlies ruled the universe. They made a deal with the good guys – the Red Dragons – whoever wins the relay running race at the Milky Way Amphitheatre will rule the Universe for the next million years.

    Ten thousand Space people including planets, stars, asteroids and meteors came to see the race. Supporters of Space Grizzlies came in scary looking spaceships. The Red Dragon fans came in beautiful square, diamond and trapezoidal spaceships. When Sleazy entered the stadium, he tried to bring in some guns but the security guards said, ‘No weapons, please.’

    Ready-Set-Go – the race started. The bad guys tried to cheat by flying low instead of running and using a hidden Zoomer. The TV cameras caught them and the team got a yellow card. They re-started the race. Usain Bolt, the Olympic champion gave the Red Dragons a lead but the next few Space Grizzly runners shot ahead. The final runner for the Red Dragons was the Moon – he ran super-fast and completed his rotation around the earth in 6 days instead of 27. The good guys had won!

    - Amar

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  21. Im going to the moon someday thought Maria Ross as she was reading a book about the moon. The whole reason why she wanted to go to the moon was because her older brother said that if a girl her age went to the moon they would be in the newspaper or maybe even on T.V.maria always wanted to be famous and she might just have her chance now. There is lots of reasons she wanted to be famous but it was mostly because she wanted to show her arch enemy who is boss and that her parents be happy with her they were never happy with her but this was her chance to make everything different.As Maria was day dreaming of this wonderful dream a villian in space was ready to zap the moon with this machine that makes the moon sour towards earth he was about to operate it but then a space shuttle came souring toward the moon so the vilian waited for it to land . Then suddenly out of the shuttle stepped Marias long lost brother he was sent on a mission to stop you know who not like in harry potter but the bad guy along with him he brought a ray that if you zap someone they will lose there memory when Maria's long lost acteivated it accidentally hit the moon instead of the villian. When the villian was about to activate his ray, the moon started talking like crazy, opened up his gigantic mouth and opened up the ray and the villian When the moon kept talking marias long lost brother was determined to go home because that was a very noisy moon. When he flew back home he was in the newspaper along with his whole family. Maria was finally happy that she was famous.

    Lauren Braunstein

    ReplyDelete