It's a New Horizon on Tuesday July 14!

Today we’re not going to talk about parenting, or testing, or school. Today we're going to talk about PLUTO! You know, the tiny non-planet that travels the outer edge of our solar system? I Can Barely Contain My Excitement!  Today is a milestone in America’s aerospace history as NASA completes the last step in the quest to explore each of the planets in our solar system, starting with Venus in 1962. 

The New Horizons spacecraft, about the size of a baby grand piano, has traveled three billion – that's THREE BILLION - miles over the past 9½ years.  Traveling at an astounding pace of 36,000 miles per hour, it’s the fastest spacecraft ever launched, and it carries the most powerful suite of science instruments ever sent on a scouting and reconnaissance mission of a new, unfamiliar world.

New Horizons’ scientific instruments will be going full force as it arrives at its closest point to Pluto, just over 7,700 miles away, at 7:50 a.m. on Tuesday.  Just fourteen minutes later it will pass Pluto’s jumbo moon, Charon. Because the spacecraft will be busy collecting data most of the day, scientists won’t be assured of the mission’s success until Tuesday night when New Horizons “phones home”.  

This is a once-in-a-lifetime exploratory opportunity for NASA scientists, who expect to see craters and possible volcanic remnants on a very active and dynamic world.  Pluto has a jumbo moon named Charon, and four known ‘baby’ moons called Styx, Nix, Hydra and Kerberos.  New Horizons will be on the lookout for others, and will collect extensive data about Pluto and each moon.  Scientists believe a liquid ocean and a rocky core may lie beneath the icy shell that covers Pluto.

NASA’s New Horizons team is hoping its mission will be extended indefinitely as the spacecraft moves toward the edge of the solar system, behind NASA’s Voyagers 1 and 2, and Pioneers 10 and 11.  They look hopefully at Voyager 1 as its example. Originally launched in 1977, the same year "Star Wars" was released, it was originally designed for a four-year mission to Saturn.  Now, 36 years later, the spacecraft is nearly 12 billion miles from Earth, still hurtling away from Earth and deeper into interstellar space. After months of analysis, scientists determined that the spacecraft exited the Milky Way solar system on August 25, 2012.  Data collection continues to this day.

It will likely be Wednesday before New Horizon's close-up photos of Pluto will be released, and late in 2016 before all the data is transmitted to Earth.  It all promises to be very exciting. 

You can click on the link to NASA's web site, below, to learn more. 

NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto

 Be patient, my fellow Earthlings. 

Observe, learn, and be amazed.

Keeping Off the Summer Slide

What’s on your schedule for summer?  The family vacation, camp, trips to the pool . . . and something you didn’t think about, the summer slide. That’s what we call the educational ground children lose during the three-month break from school, especially when it comes to reading.   

According to the authors of a report from the National Summer Learning Association: "A conservative estimate of lost instructional time is approximately two months or roughly 22 percent of the school year . . . It's common for teachers to spend at least a month re-teaching material that students have forgotten over the summer. That month of re-teaching eliminates a month that could have been spent on teaching new information and skills."

Summer learning can erase early reading deficits   

The transition from third to forth grade marks the change from “learning to read” to “reading to learn”.   Summer learning programs have been shown to mitigate summer learning losses in reading and to help children gain needed proficiency in reading skills as they enter the fourth grade. 

The summer before high school is one of the most critical transitions    

The transition from eighth to ninth grade is one of the most pivotal moments in a student’s education.  Students who receive extra support of adults in summer learning programs are more likely to navigate this transition successfully. 

High-quality summer learning programs level the college entry playing field

Evidence shows the need for remedial coursework in two- and four-year colleges has created a sense of urgency around college preparation programs, particularly for first-generation college attendees.  Students who participate in SAT / ACT test preparation courses can increase their scores by 200+ points.  This may be the differentiating factor between winning a one-time $500 scholarship award and a more valuable 4-year scholarship. 

Make sure to put reading on your list of things to do this summer.  Make a weekly trip to the library a fun family event.  Read to your kids, and ask them to read to you.  For more help in preparing for school in the fall, call the Tutoring Club of Jacksonville at 268-8556.