Lesson Plan 2: The Sun, the Earth and the Moon

The Sun, the Earth and the Moon LESSON SUMMARY

This lesson plan examines the relationships between the sun and earth, and earth and the moon. Students will be introduced to their relative sizes, distances, and orbits. They will use manipulatives to visualize the relative shapes, sizes and orbits. This introductory hour of exploring these special relationships will leave the students ready for more. Additional resources and activity extensions are available in the resources section to continue your classroom explorations.

Grade Levels: 1-3 Educational Outcomes:

1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Students will learn about the relationships between the Sun, Earth and the moon. Students will create models of the Sun, Earth, and the moon. Students will learn about the relative sizes of these celestial bodies. Students will learn about the relative distance of these celestial bodies. Students will create a stop motion animation to demonstrate their understanding.

Estimated Time: 60 minutes Introductory Discussion: 5 minutes Activity 1: 10 minutes Outside Activity 2: 5-10 minutes Activity 3: 25 minutes Summary/Sharing : 10 minutes Materials:
PowerPoint/Computer NASA Activity Sheet- one for every child
http://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2007/materials/solar_pizza.pdf NOTE: they do not all have to be in color, the second page has the image of the sun

10 pennies per child, or ten penny sized circles. 65 feet of string or yarn Playdoh- Three 2 inch balls for each child, different colors iPads with iMovie software for stop motion animation with clay Download: www.earth.google.com Download: Kaliedodraw www.protozone.net/kal/KalDemo.html Open Website: Peep and the Big Wide World www.peepandthebigwideworld.com

California Science Content Standards Connections: Physical Science: Grade 3 1a, 1b Earth Science: Grade 2 3, 3a, 3c, 3d, 3e; Grade 3 4, 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d, 4e Investigation and Experimentation: Grade 1- 4a, 4b,4d; Grade 3- 5

CCSS English Language Arts: Grades 1, 2, 3 - Reading Literature 1.2; Writing 2, 5, 6; Comprehension and Collaboration 1, 1a, 1b, 1c, 2, 2a, 3, 5; Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas 5 Visual and Performing Arts Theatre: Grade 12.0,2.2, 4.0, 5.2; Grade 2- 2.0, 2.1, 4.0, 4.2, 5.0, 5.1, 5.2; Grade 3- 2.0, 2.1, 5.0, 5.1, 5.2 Visual Arts - Grade 1 2.1, 2.3, 4.3; Grade 2- 4.1, 4.2; Grade 3- 5.2

Lesson Vocabulary
These are words and concepts that we will help students during this lesson. The first 5 words on the list were previously used in Lesson One. They are repeated here in case the teacher skips lesson one.

Earth: the third planet from the Sun; the planet on which we live, also known as the world. Planet: a celestial body moving in an orbit around a star. Orbit: the curved path of a celestial object or spacecraft around a star, planet, or moon. Star: a fixed point of light in the night sky that is a large, remote body like the sun. Sun: the star around which the earth orbits. Diameter: a straight line passing from side to side through the center of a circle or sphere. Mars: the fourth planet from the Sun and the second smallest planet in the Solar System. Moon: the only natural satellite of the earth, visible (chiefly at night) by reflected light from the sun. Satellite: a celestial body orbiting the earth or another planet. Volume: the amount of space that an object occupies.

Lesson Plan- The Sun, the Earth and the Moon

Introductory Discussion of our Solar System: 5 minutes
Presentation Slide One: Our Solar System

Lead students in a discussion about the Solar System, check that they remember what they have learned about the planets and the Sun. Today we are going to focus on the Sun, the Earth, and our moon. Look at the image with them. Ask them to look at the Sun. If you are using a white board as a digital display, use a dry erase marker, and draw the rest of the Sun finish the circle if you can. Notice how small Earth is relative to the size of the Sun in this image. Hand out the activity sheet.

Presentation Slide 2 : The Sun

Read the facts out loud: the diameter of the Earth and the diameter of the Sun. Explain the word diameter. Use PowerPoint image to draw a line across the center of the Sun. (The diameter is that line across the center of any circle. )

Activity One- 10 minutes

Have the students cut out the image of the Sun. Hand out the pennies or penny sized circle shapes. Have the students put the pennies across the diameter of the Sun. NOTE: They have ten of these. But the paper tells us that 109 Earths can fit across the diameter of the Sun. This helps them to see the relative size of the Earth to the Sun.

Have students fold their Sun in half, and turn over their Sun to draw 100 tiny circles across that line, the diameter of their circle. Have each student cut out the image of the earth on the paper handout and compare it to the size of their 100 drawings. Optional- Scientist Talk using UC Berkeley The Earth-Sun Viewer
Dr. Art Poland- adds in the concept of volume with over 1 million earths inside the sun!

Presentation Slide 3 : The Earth-Sun Viewer (This slide is a link to an interactive website that allows the teacher to click on facts and listen to a scientist explain some very interesting facts about the Sun).

Outside Activity Two- 10 minutes

Show the students the string, ask them to guess the length. (65 Feet) The relative distance between their paper Sun and their paper Earth. Explain that the whole class will go outside and be like the Earth orbiting the Sun. Have them take their paper Earth. (Take the string and one Sun) Outside, have the students form a circle around you. Have one student bring one end of the string from you to the students circle. The string represents the radius of Earths orbit around the Sun. Have the students look at the Earths size compared to the Sun you are holding in this orbit. Now have them walk in a large circle around you. Does anyone know, how many days does it take Earth to orbit the Sun? 365. What is happening to Earth as it moves on its orbit around the Sun? It is rotating. Explain to them, that When our part of the planet Earth is facing the Sun it is daylight, when it is facing away from the Sun, it is night. Have them all face you, as if the Sun is shining on them, now have them all face away from you are the now it would be night time. So how many hours does it take the Earth to rotate one full time, towards the Sun, away from the Sun, and back towards the Sun again? 24 hours. Excellent, time for the class to go back to turn this into an animation!

Presentation - 5 minutes
Show the Image of the Earth Ask the students to explain daytime and nighttime in relation to the sun. Listen for their answers. What is unique about the way they describe these ideas. Presentation Slide 4 : The Earth

Show the Image of the Moon The Earth has only one Moon, but planets can have many more. What do they notice about the two images? The Earth and the Moon. The Moon is one quarter the size of Earth. (If 109 Earths can fit across the diameter of the Sun, how many Moons could fit?) Presentation Slide 5 : The Moon

 Show the Image of the Earth and the Moon rotating around the Sun Does anyone remember how many days it takes the Earth to go around the Sun? The Earth rotates around the Sun or it ORBITS the Sun.

Presentation Slide 6: Earth Orbiting the Sun

Time to Create an Animation about the Sun, the Earth and the Moon : 25 Minutes
Break the students into working groups. Pass out Playdoh Ask students to mold the Sun, the Earth and the Moon. Explain that their project will be to take pictures of their Earth and Moon orbiting the Sun. They can tell a story, make up a poem or song to share what they thought was interesting about relationships between the Sun and Earth, Earth and the Moon, or all three of these celestial bodies.

Applying Technology: StopMotion Animation This is easy to use application will help your students engage with the subject, and offer them a new way to explore technology and their creativity. Be sure to always try the application yourself before presenting it to the students. In this lesson you will show students the application Stop Motion and model how to take pictures with the application.

Have students brainstorm: write ideas on paper, draw pictures and use Playdoh to visualize their ideas. Remind students to label their Sun, Earth, and Moon for their animations. Give the students a time limit. Walk around the classroom, listen for the types of questions students have for one another, and listen for opportunities where you can help facilitate their progress. Call time, and have them start putting the finishing touches on their presentations. Time to share. Sharing is an opportunity to be respectful as an audience and an opportunity to show appreciation for another classmates creativity. Two Snaps! Giving snaps is a way for children to think about saying nice things to others in the group. After each presentation, ask for a SNAP from someone, each group should get at least 2 Snaps for their creativity. SAMPLE SNAP: I liked all the colors that Team Astroblaster used in their animation!

Sharing and Summary Discussion: 10 minutes

Assessment Tools for this Lesson: Rubric for StopMotion Animation based on Creativity and Collaboration (Appendix B) Poling the class on: A whole-class discussion of the Sun and its size relative to the Earth and
Moon can be started with the following discussion questions: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. What is bigger, the Earth or the Sun? What is bigger, the Earth or the Moon? How many Earths does it take to cover the diameter of the Sun? How many Moons does it take to cover the diameter of the Earth? How many Moons do you think it will take to cover the Sun? How many days does it take to for Earth to go around the Sun? How many times have you been around the Sun?