For parents and educators: the Planetarium

The Planetarium is a free, self-paced reading and writing lesson in the City of Creativity from United By Creativity, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Children meet Dr. Leena Rao, the Planetarium’s felt astronomer, and solve the Mystery of the Unwritten Sky.

What children practice

Telling observation apart from imagination, finding a supporting sentence in an informational passage, creating and naming a constellation, comparing two interpretations of the same stars, and planning, drafting, revising and editing a short narrative for another child. Selected Missouri grade 3 alignments are listed for grown-ups.

Privacy and access

No account or email. Work stays in the child’s browser. Read-aloud and speech input are built in, and the lesson works with a keyboard, mouse or touch, in English, French, Spanish and Luganda.