Unit Topic or Theme: Science/The Solar System
Lesson Topic or Theme: Learning about Planets
Lesson Objectives:
The students will be able to recognize the names of the planets and their position within The Solar System. They will be able to recite the Planets from the Sun to Pluto (dwarf planet) in order.
The students will also show that they can follow directions, stay on task and listen.
Instructional Techniques:
- demonstration
- group work (pairs)
- discussion
- handouts
Instructional Materials:
- access to computers/laptops
- physical model of The Solar System
- instructions handout sheet: “Science— Planets”
- fill in the blank handout: “Discovering Planets”
- K-W-L Chart (Know, Want to Know, Learned)
- Acronym handout (homework)
Website—
Author: Van Dam, Nick
"Science - Planets." Science - Planets. Nick Van Dam, n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2014.
<http://www.e-learningforkids.org/science/lesson/planets/>.
Theoretical Perspective:
This lesson on The Solar System and its Planets is important because it proves how much farther we have come with our research about the large unknown universe.
This research has been done because of the push towards new and better technology which plays a huge role in classrooms today. Planets also are able to tell us much more about the universe
than we would have known without them. Planets are a large focus within our Solar System and are used as a foundation for other lessons on the Solar System/Universe.
Procedure:
A. Introductory Activity:
- First: Distribute all materials except for the “My New Acronym for Our Planets” sheet
- Second: Have the students fill in the first two columns of the K-W-L Chart (Know/Want to Know) (Collect them until Closure)
* Example Questions for the Students to Use:
à What is a planet?
à How many planets do we have?
à What is the Sun?
à What are Comets? Asteroids?
à What can you find in The Solar System?
B. Step-by-step
- After the students fill in the first two parts of the K-W-L Chart they will be placed in groups of two (pairs).
- Students will first read through the instruction handout titled “Science— Planets” with their partners.
- They will then proceed to turn on their computers and go to the website (by typing it in, it being bookmarked or by going to the class website where it will be posted).
- The students will then follow the instruction sheet and go through the whole interactive website, learning about the planets along the way.
- The students will be recording information as they go and filling in the blanks on the handout titled “Discovering Planets”.
- When students complete the website they will hand in the certificate that they were instructed to print out at the end.
C. Closure:
- Have the students complete their K-W-L Chart (The… What I Learned Part will be left).
- Discuss with the students the most interesting facts they learned through exploring the website activity (try to get each student to participate).
- Then have a class discussion about where the planets are and what order they belong in.
- Handout “My New Acronym for Our Planets” and then instruct the students to cut out the planets from the sheet that has all the planets and is attached to the “My New Acronym for Our Planets” worksheet.
- Have the students line the planets up on their desk in order from Sun to Pluto but make sure they do not paste the planets yet!
- Then go over one more time with the class the correct order, have the students check their work by writing the correct order on the board and/or rearranging the correct order (magnets/Velcro/chalk/markers).
- Then have the students paste the correct order on their homework sheet titled “My New Acronym for Out Planets”, checking as you move around the class.
D. Adaptations for different learners: (i.e. non-native speakers, struggling readers or math phobic learners, students with poor study skills)
- Students with poor study skills will have the chance to develop their own acronym for remembering the order of the planets.
- Students that struggle with reading will be able to use the demonstrations/diagrams to help guide them. We could also develop another handout that had more pictures as well as fewer blanks to be filled in.
- Students with physical disabilities would be paired with a partner willing to work with them as well as a partner that could use the computer and guide them through the assignment.
E. Homework:
- Students were given a handout titled “My New Acronym for Our Planets” they will be responsible for bringing it home and completing it.
- Instruct the students to color the Planets for homework.
- Then also instruct the students to come up with their own acronym for remembering the planets (main reason for the homework assignment).
- They will be sharing these acronyms the next day in class.
- This will be used as their personal study guide for a mini quiz in a later class.
Evaluation:
A. How/when will you determine if you have met your objectives?
Objective 1 – The students will be able to recognize the names of the planets and their position within The Solar System.
- Through out the website it assesses the student’s knowledge about the planet’s order and states the names of the planets more than two times. They have to record their times and points.
Objective 2 – They will be able to recite the Planets from the Sun to Pluto (dwarf planet) in order.
- Having the students create their own acronym to remember the planets is the perfect way to make sure that all students know the order of the planets. This objective will further be met by the quiz in a later class.
By that point each student should have developed their own way to remember the planets in the correct order and it was tested more than once.
B. Concerns or questions you have about teaching this lesson?
Concern 1: If the students were to get distracted while on the computers, they will fall behind and we would have to remind them to get back on task. It will be hard to keep track of all the computer screens and
groups because the students can hide behind the monitors (will get easier with experience).
Concern 2: Some of the activities will be time consuming and may be repetitive at points. There may be way to many parts to this lesson.
Concern 3: It may go over the allowed time limit for this portion of the day. It has many different parts with different instructions which leaves more space for the students to be confused.
Concern 4: This lesson may not go into enough detail with the planets specifically. The main reason of the lesson is for the students to learn the order of the Planets within The Solar System and to get an
introduction to the different Planets.
Concern 5: Since the students are working in groups through out the whole ‘website’ part of the activity we may not know the progress of each individual student (one may be stronger than the other).
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