The pinheads will need to be pinned to labeled cards or paper to make them visible. EXPLORE: Tell the class that the sorting they just did is similar to how a scientist would classify the planets. Help students choose to focus on one aspect of the solar system like comparing two planets, such as Mars and Earth, or comparing Jupiter to the sun. Our goal is to make the learning effective, fun and inspiring. Zero preparation time required. Plus flashcards. Maintain their interest and enthusiasm by encouraging students to get binoculars and explore the universe at night. This may not be easy. Take another 7 paces. Worksheets that speak. What about heaviest to lightest? Design a poster that shows the vastness of the solar system, by comparing one planet to another, the earth to the sun, the sun to other stars, etc. English Lessons for Kids - Videos, Printables, Games, Online Tests Make 25 types of printable worksheet, or use our new Interactive e-Worksheet Maker to make digital worksheets. The average distance from the Sun to Pluto is much larger, about 40 times the distance from the Sun to the Earth. Take another 9 paces. Benefit from fifteen years of ESL experience. As the teacher, you may have students focus on other topics as well, such as dwarf planets, the temperature of each planet, etc. Astronomy Lesson Plan: How Big is the Solar System? The basic activity remains the same for all ages. You can have students fill out a self-evaluation sheet on their own performance, or grade them on teamwork skills, participation, and understanding of the concepts, based on the poster they made. Students could also focus on one aspect of all eight planets, such as their size or distance from the sun. Here are some great sites to help them get started: Tell students to write down interesting facts they find on index cards, so they can share them with the class during the next section of the lesson. Various spherical objects from around the house: Balls in different sizes (beach ball, basketball, playground ball, baseball, tennis ball, rubber ball, ping-pong ball), Citrus fruit in different sizes (grapefruit, orange, mandarin), Inflated balloon (try to make the balloon as full and round as you can), Paper strips with solar system facts written on them (print out, White board with markers (or use a chalkboard, projector, etc. Worksheets that motivate students. Lesson Time Needed: 3 hours. The solar system really is too big for us to imagine. Our experience is that most public schools teach astronomy in a way that does not inspire awe and elicit the interest the topic warrants. Astronomy, like the size of the solar system, is such a vast subject that it… Read More, Science experiments are a wonderful way to educate and entertain kids – and you might… Read More, When deciding on the perfect science fair project, kids have lots to consider. Put the round objects on a table and have students sort them from largest to smallest. 23. Welcome to Everything you need to help a child learn to read through phonics: decodable stories, listening exercises, you name it. Teach kids with an engaging blended English program. We can sort the eight planets from biggest to smallest, from nearest to farthest from the sun, and by how much they weigh. How many times bigger is the largest object than the smallest object? Worksheets that motivate students. 19. There are specific dates and times of the year when certain planets come into view. :Code 672.0 Just place your order while logged in to your Home Science Tools account and you'll automatically earn up to 6% back when your order ships! If And in our model it is just a chestnut, more than a city block from its nearest neighbor in space! The teacher’s discussion questions will vary greatly according to the audience. ESL Printables, Have students go up one at a time to the whiteboard and use colored markers to write their fact about the solar system. At this point you may want to take out the megaphone so everyone can hear you. Our collection is growing every day with the help of many teachers. Your email address will not be published. Learning Objective: The Sun, Moon & Stars – Patterns Of Apparent Motion. And as for the distance between Earth and the Sun, can you believe that it warms us so well and we are so far from it? The goal is to teach the size and scale of the universe in a way that is realistic – a challenging endeavor given the enormity of the topic! Now is a good time to review the number of planets -9- and their order. Worksheets that listen. All with comprehensive Teacher Notes included. Does anyone know how far it is from the Sun to the Earth? You should have around 10 items, with a large range between the smallest to largest. Ask a student to start at one side of the room and take 26 paces. ), Computer lab (one computer needed for each pair of students), Index cards (enough for each student to have several), Poster board (one piece or half piece for each pair of students). Tell the students that if earth, which is not the smallest planet, was as big as this dot ( . ) Ask the class again “What observations they have about the model? Anything that inspires interest in astronomy at an early age is a positive thing. Is it… Read More, Teaching physics concepts is a challenge in today’s classroom. Now is the time to introduce the concept of scale. One way to keep up the momentum is to repeat the activity and vary it a bit. ELABORATE: Now that students know something about how the planets compare to each other, have them research more about our solar system. 14. An interactive exploration of the size of the solar system like this, may make your students eager for more. Take a tour now! Note: for a large classroom, put the students in groups of 3-4 and give each group a container with around 10 objects of different sizes. What is it about? Be a better teacher! Point out that the sun ball is no longer visible even with binoculars from the pinhead Pluto. The Sun-Earth Day theme for 2006 is the total solar eclipse on March 29th. 29. Who knows something really interesting about the solar system that you want to share with the class? Ten Thousand to one: Physics Lesson Plan Read More. Funderstanding is also an ebook publishing partner company, focused on education-related content, which provides complete epublishing services as well as an expertise in ebook marketing and author branding. Objective Students will be able to: 1. 1-2, 3-5 U. Genre. This is not essential but it may place less strain on your vocal chords. In order to understand the size of the planets and the distances between them, we’re going to go outside in a few minutes and imagine ourselves as the sun and planets. And if you are interested in us creating innovative lesson plans on other topics, we want to hear from you! Funderstanding is a resource for teachers, parents, and students to stay up to date on education-related issues. The distance in the model adds up to 1,019 paces. Keywords: planet sizes, planet comparisons, Earth vs. Mars, models, science process, scale, orbits, solar system, sun, sizes. You can allow several pairs to pick the same question, as long as each of the five questions are being researched. Complexity Moderate. Visit this page now! This should help the class begin to grasp the concept of scale. The teacher’s discussion questions will vary greatly according to the audience. From the Sun to the Earth is about 93,000,000 (93 million) miles. It covers objects in the sky and changes in the earth and sky, as students learn the size of each planet, the vastness of space, and some special features of our solar system. Some important skills in this lesson are Science & Engineering Practices 1,2,and 8. If you have any suggestions for this lesson plan, we’d love to hear from you. Listening lesson plans with mp3 files also available.