Planet Lesson

PA Common Core Standards

Referenced from http://www.pdesas.org/  for PA State approved academic standards (Grade-specific Numbers & Descriptions)

3.3.4.B1: Identify planets in our solar system and their basic characteristics

Objectives

Objectives correspond with PA State Common Core Standards listed above (SWBAT…)

SWBAT identify the eight planets of the solar system, in order. SWBAT know facts about each of the eight planets.

Lesson Introduction: (5-7 min)

(Activate background knowledge & set purpose)

Go over the names of the eight planets Put them in order. Go over pneumonic device “My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nachos”

Activities/Procedures: (25-30min)

Lesson Plans are conducive to student achievement and focus on PA State CC standards and objectives

 

Separate the class into four groups for centers Center 1: Journey Through the Planets -Have three to four students pick out their playing pieces -Put all the student’s game pieces on start -Read question to child. If they get the correct answer, let them roll the die and move however many spaces they roll. If they get the answer incorrect, the next student will be asked the same question and so on until it is answered correctly. -First student to get to Neptune wins Center 2: Planet Research -Give students the worksheet “Planet Research” -Have students use laptops to answer questions -Go over answer with partners -If finished early, pick a planet to do additional research on Center 3: Solar System Model -Provide students with Play-doh -Have students use different colors and different sizes to represent each of the eight planets -Place them in order in a shoe box and label them Center 4: Solar System Reading -Fill the book corner with books about the solar system -Have students write down information from at least three books they read -Share the facts you found with the group -each group member will write down two or three facts they found on chart paper

Closing& Assessment: (5-7 min)

(Restate purpose & assess comprehension; met objectives?)

Bring the class back together Have groups discuss what, how, and why they did Go over the eight planets in order

Materials/Resources

List of resources used and incorporated into activity and assessments, attach any teacher made materials and/or worksheets

	Text Book:		Other:  Journey Through the Planets board game A die Player pieces Questions Play-doh Shoeboxes Chart paper Solar system literature
	Graphic Organizer/Handouts(s): Planet Research
	Technology: laptops

Benefits of Science

http://undsci.berkeley.edu/article/0_0_0/howscienceworks_18

Why is science important in young kid's lives

http://www.schoolatoz.nsw.edu.au/homework-and-study/other-subjects-and-projects/science/why-science-is-important-in-young-kids-lives

Hands-On Science for Young Children

http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=431

Science Inventions

At CLARE, we asked the student to brainstorm inventions they would create if they were scientists.

 Flying House

 Painting Machine

 Rainbow Robot

Rocket Ship

Color Changing Carnations Experiment

this rainbow carnation experiment is one i remember from my own childhood. not only is it a visually appealing activity, it’s also a great way for kids to learn the science behind water is absorbed by plants and how it travels through the different part of a flower.

the inspiration for this post was an old spice rack i had sitting in the garage. what wonderful little vials these are for this experiment! we grabbed some food coloring and white carnations (we had some in the bouquet we bought for our butterfly habitat – all of this happened a few weeks ago, i’m just late bringing it to the blogging world.)

N had fun dropping food coloring into the water, and creating her favorite color, since it was not in the cheapo food coloring pack we had – purple!

she placed a white carnation into each tiny vase, and we put them out of the way of our flower-chomping cat…

and waited. i asked N, “what do you think will happen next?” she said that maybe the flowers would grow, and that they might drink the colored water. let’s see if her hypothesis is correct…

even within a day and a half, we saw the petals taking on the colors of the water they were drinking.

ten days later, the colors were distributed throughout the different parts of the flower. we noticed that the purple color was not as saturated in the carnation as the other colors, and the darker colored waters in general seemed to be more full in the end.

there are some explanations of this experiment online that we checked out, like this one from ehow. i didn’t find any scientific reason the darker waters would not be absorbed as much. in fact, most of the write-ups i saw recommend using darker colors for more dramatic results. all in all, we had a rainbowy flowery good time with this one!

- See more at: http://paintcutpaste.com/color-changing-carnations/#sthash.XZouUTh7.dpuf

Glue Star Sun catchers

To make Glue Star Sun catchers, you’ll need

• Tray, cookie sheet or similar to work on. {See notes below for more info.}
• Cookie cutters.
• Wax paper.
• Clear Elmer’s Glue. {White glue should work as well, it was used in the original post.}
• Pony beads.
• Glitter (optional).

We started by gathering all the materials we needed. I chose an 8×8 cake pan to work in and placed some wax paper at the bottom.

E got right to work with the clear glue, filling the bottom of the cookie cutter.

We tried out some glitter glue but it was really hard to squeeze, so the base of one of our stars looked like this before decorations were added:

It didn’t matter, as E made sure to use LOTS of decorations 

She used as much glitter as she wanted to before carefully picking out beads

and placing them in the glue.

And then, she usually added MORE glitter on top 

She loved it! {And when she saw the photos in this half-written post on my screen, she immediately said that she wanted to do it again  }

At my suggestion, she did one glue star suncatcher without glitter, just to see how it turned out.

I wasn’t entirely confident that all the glue star suncatchers were going to work out, it looked like some had too much glue and/or glitter, and the beads almost disappeared in the mix.

However, they all turned out fine, as the glue shrinks quite a bit during the drying process.

In the pictures of the finished products, you can see where the glue clung to the edges of the cookie cutters but shrunk in the middle:

Additional notes:

• While my 8×8 cake pan did a really good job of containing the glue, glitter and beads, a bigger size would’ve been better. I had to move the cookie cutters with a spatula underneath the wax paper each time one of the stars was finished to make room for the next one, and while it worked okay-ish, some of the glue leaked out every time. We did have plenty of glue but it could’ve been avoided if we’d had a cookie sheet or tray that fit all the cookie cutters at once.
• I didn’t realize it at the time but we used particularly sturdy cookie cutters, so we didn’t have any issues with leaking glue until I moved the cookie cutters. Please read the comments for some ideas that might help if your cookie cutters leak.
• It takes a while for the glue to dry completely, depending on how much you use. Ours were dry by the end of the next day.
• The dry glue sticks to glass but depending on how many beads you use, the glue star suncatchers may get too heavy. Alternatively, you could punch a hole at the top of your suncatchers and hang them up that way.