The first grade Fall expedition was focused on observing patterns with the sun, moon, and stars; and answering the question what makes day and night? We kicked off this expedition with a study of fictional and traditional stories about the sun, moon, and stars, as we pondered the questions about why authors write stories about space.  This helped students make connections between literature and their own observations and schema about the world around them, and also to support students in formulating their own questions.  With minds full of observations and questions we began to build skills of researchers and blast off into a study of non-fiction texts.  Students used a variety of complex, informational texts to help answer their questions and gain more knowledge to support their observations. Students participated in a variety of hands-on activities to bring to life what they were reading in texts. To culminate their learning students explored color through learning painting techniques and painting a variety of “sky colors,”  They also wrote poems titled “What the Sun Sees” and “What the Moon Sees” to share their learning about the sun and the moon. Featured are our “What the Moon Sees” poems with accompanying night sky color paintings.