Activities
Overview
For this unit, the teacher needs to transform their classroom into space. This will provide excitement and interest before the unit begins. The teacher can use stickers, posters, or hanging ornaments of the stars, planets, and moons to decorate their classroom. Students will explore the planets of the solar system, our Sun, and the moons in our galaxy with the use of collaborative learning and computer technology. Students will utilize their laptops to engage in a 3D model of the solar system bodies while constructing their questions and completing a scavenger hunt. While students are conducting their research, they will record facts about the planet and create a poster presentation about a specific planet. The students will create a scale model of the solar system and the distance between the planets and the sun. My students will use toilet paper, play-doh, markers, toothpicks glue, and tape. The students will use math calculations to create their scale key with the use of toothpicks.
First, we will learn about the planets in the solar system and learn the order of the planets from the distance of the sun. Students will be introduced to a mnemonic, which will help students remember the order. The most utilized is “My Very Energetic Mother Just Served Us Nachos”. However, students will have the opportunity to create their own mnemonic. Students will engage in a planetary scavenger walk. Students will observe posters of the planet, Earth’s moon, and the Sun. Students will construct any questions they may have about the planet or write down any information they want to share. The class will have a group discussion about the questions and students will have the task of finding the answers to the questions, albeit rational questions. The students will explore a 3D model simulation of the planets and record specific facts about their assigned planet. With the use of their data collected, they will create a poster presentation of a planet and present it to the class. Students will outline the type of planet, its surface composition, its atmosphere, and any interesting facts they discover. Students will also learn about the distance from the sun for each planet. The culminating project will be the students creating a scale model of the planets according to the distance from the sun, while also using clay to create the planets of the solar system to scale.
Day 1: Students will watch a YouTube video introducing the planets in the solar system. Students will be introduced to a mnemonic to help them remember the order of the planets from the distance of the Sun.
Day 2: Students will create their own mnemonic device to help students remember the order of the planets. If students are having a challenging time creating their mnemonic device. Provide students with a template that they students will have to complete individually. Students will be given chart paper to decorate their mnemonic, so it can be posted around the school.
Day 3: Students will engage in a gallery walk, the gallery walk will display the planets, the sun, and the moon all in color. Students will migrate through the gallery walk, recording questions and/or observations of the solar system bodies. If students are having a difficult time generating questions during the gallery walk present the students with a simple fact sheet about each planet to stimulate curiosity. The teacher will highlight these questions for the next lesson.
Day 4: The class will have a share discussion of the questions posed during the gallery walk and observations made. The questions that can be answered will be assigned for groups to research and discover the answers based on their assigned planet.
Days 5-7: Students will be assigned into groups of 2-3 students per group. Each group will be given a planet to research information and try to answer the questions posed by the students during the gallery walk. Students will illustrate their planet and organize the facts on the chart. Students will practice their presentations before going in front of their peers.
Day 8: Students will present their planet poster to their peers and will attempt to answer any questions given by the students.
Day 9: Students will start their culminating project by creating the planet’s size to scale with the use of clay. Students will receive different items that scale to the size of each planet (for example, a ping pong ball will represent the size of the sun). Students will create the planets and the sun on this day.
Days 10-11: Students will begin to make their scale model of the distance between the plants and the sun. Students will be given the distance between each planet and the sun and with the use of the toothpicks the students will have to calculate the number of toothpicks that will equate to the distance between each planet. The approximate scale to the distance will be given by the teacher.
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