Planetarium Visits

"And, when he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night,
And pay no worship to the garish sun."
- Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare, 1595

"The stars are the jewels of the night and perchance surpass anything which day has to show."
- Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

Visit the Sandburg Sky Poetry Web page, including CSMS student-authored sky poems.

Sandburg Center for Sky Awareness
A Fairfax County Public Schools Planetarium

Visits to the Sandburg Planetarium

The following guidelines are intended to make visits to the Sandburg Planetarium as smooth and enjoyable as possible while providing an exciting and successful learning experience for all students.

Teachers should accompany students to the planetarium and remain with their class at all times. Except in the case of a genuine emergency, consideration should be given to cancelling/rescheduling planetarium visits if teachers will be absent on the day of the field trip to the planetarium--in a dark roomful of students, there is no substitute for the regular classroom teacher! Further, it is strongly recommended that parents be invited to participate as field trip chaperones (at a ratio of one parent for every 10 students).

Upon entering the planetarium, there is a coat rack on the right. Teachers should remind students to walk, not run in the planetarium. Please ask students to sit in every-other seat (if possible). Encourage students to be active participants while being mindful of the fact that it is a fine line which separates enthusiastic behavior from inappropriate behavior.

Teachers, before your class visits the planetarium, please remind students that absolutely no gum, candy, food, or drink is allowed in the planetarium! Gum chewing/cracking can be distracting and is not allowed.

Students should wear name tags--first names only, large all-capital letters. This will help to facilitate more personal interaction between the planetarium teacher and students.

During each visit to the planetarium, in addition to special programs, we will cover numerous items from the Core Concepts Agenda. Please examine the agenda to get a better sense of the topics which we will cover.

Follow-up the planetarium visit with review and appropriate assessment activities. Send to the planetarium teacher (via PONY or e-mail) additional questions which arise. And of course, please send to the planetarium teacher feedback and/or suggestions for improvement--our motto is, "How can we serve you better?"