Download Solar System.3rd.Mark Vega

Mark Vega
Title: Solar System (30 Minutes)
Grade: 3rd
Objectives: Understand planets and their orbits in our solar system.
Standards:
Earth Sciences
4. Objects in the sky move in regular and predictable patterns.
As a basis for understanding this concept.
d. Students know that the Earth is one of several planets that orbit the Sun and that the Moon orbits Earth.
e. Students know the position of the Sun in the sky changes during the course of the day and from season
to season.
Materials:
 Pieces of paper with the planet names on them, as well as the sun and the moon.
 Acting instructions written on a piece of paper. Chant written on a large piece of paper that is hanging
in the room.
 Director board to add to the ambience of a movie set.
 Super scientist awards to hand out to students.
Setting:
Move aside tables and sit all the students on the floor in a semicircle.
Lesson Plan Introduction: ( 2 minutes)
You are all going to be movie stars today. You are going to act like a planet, the moon and later some you are
going acting like space explorers visiting a planet for the first time. I am the director and the director may
want you to improve your acting and ask you to do something different. After the acting is performed by
different groups we will sing a soundtrack that you will add to your movie about the solar system.
Before we talk about what your movie star job is here are some basic rules.
1. You will be quiet and respectful while I am talking.
2. You will work as a team in whatever acting job you are given.
3. ___ and ___ (Name 2 students) will award the super scientist awards based on your being quiet and
respectful and your teamwork with other students.
Guided Practice: (5 minutes)
For the first acting job I need 10 people and I am going to ask you to count off from 1 to 10. Count off kids
from 1 to 10 and ask all students to listen carefully.
For the first movie scene we are creating our solar system. Here are your instructions, point them out on the
board and repeat them:
1. You are recreating our solar system with the sun on one end and then make certain all of you make a
line of planets just like this picture (show them a picture of all the planets lined up) in the appropriate
order.
2. You will have 5 seconds to show me the orbit of the planets and the moon.
3. Talk among yourselves on how you will act out the different parts of the solar system and begin
positioning yourselves on the floor to act out the parts. You will have about 5 minutes to get ready
while I am talking to the other groups.
The rest of you are going to act out what it would be like to visit an inner and outer planet. You are space
explorers from Earth. We are going to see how much you remember. Please count off 1- 2 – 1 – 2……. All
1’s should go to the left side and 2’s go to the right side. After the students move to their appropriate side give
the students their acting jobs.
All ones are going to visit the inner planet of Venus. You are going to act out what you think it would be like
to visit Venus.
All twos are going to visit the outer planet of Uranus. You are going to act out what you think it is like to visit
Uranus.
Independent Practice: (5 minutes)
Let the students talk among themselves how they are going to act out the various roles
Guided Practice: (14 minutes)
Let the students act out the three roles and expect them to make mistakes. Let the students learn from their
mistakes but you should at least make certain the following is happening in the following three areas:
1. If viewed above the Sun’s north pole all planets orbit around the sun in a elliptical (an ellipse is a stretched
out circle) counterclockwise direction. The inner planets orbit much faster then the outer planets. Venus is the
one inner planet that has a different rotation – it rotates in a clockwise rotation while all the other inner planets
rotate in a counter-clockwise direction. The outer planets all rotate in a counter clockwise direction with the
exception of Uranus. Is the moon a planet? No, because the moon moves in a counterclockwise direction
around a planet like the Earth rather then the sun. Most planets have one or more moons. Moons do not make
light, they reflect light from the sun.
2. Inner Planet – Venus. Venus rotates about its axis in the opposite direction to most planets in the solar
system – it rotates in a clockwise rotation. It also spins so slowly that it’s day (243 Earth days) is longer than
the time it takes Venus to orbit the sun (225 Earth days). Venus is the hottest planet and thick cloud of sulfuric
acid covers Venus.
3. Outer Planet – Uranus. Uranus is the only planet that spins on its side. Methane, a gas in Uranus’s
atmosphere gives the planet its blue-green color. The interior of Uranus is made up of ice and rock and
Uranus is the second coldest planet.
Closure: (4 minutes)
Review a chant to help them remember some of the important elements of our solar system.
Assessment:
Evaluate student responses as they act them out. Make corrections after they have acted out the role.
Accommodations/Modifications:
1. Give the beginning English learner an acting role as the Sun so that he can focus on other activities.