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Space Awareness
Know Your Planets
Does your class know their planets? Implement an activity that has them describing the solar system, identifying properties of the planets, and placing them in order from their distance from the sun.
Virginia Department of Education
Planet Line-Ups
Should Pluto be considered a planet or a dwarf planet? Scholars research planets in our solar system to understand their similarities and differences. It also includes memory activities related to the order of the planets.
Curated OER
Exploring the Planets
Students study robotic spacecrafts that have provided detailed information about the inner and outer planets. In this exploring the planets lesson plan, students use posters and diagrams to study the various robotic spacecraft sent to...
Curated OER
The Toilet Paper Solar System
Explore the solar system with this lesson. Learners create a model of the solar system using toilet paper. With this creative approach, learners create a solar system according to distance and scale parameters, and write down a list of...
Voyage Solar System
Round and Round We Go — Exploring Orbits in the Solar System
Math and science come together in this cross-curricular astronomy lesson plan on planetary motion. Starting off with a hands-on activity that engages the class in exploring the geometry of circles and ellipses, this lesson...
Curated OER
Solar System and Planets
Students identify the main components of the solar system. For this earth science lesson, students order the planets according to their distances from the Sun. They differentiate planets from dwarf planets.
University of Colorado
Terra Bagga
One way to identify possible volcanic activity on other planets is by testing the planet for magnetism. A science lesson begins with pupils constructing their own planet from a dead battery, magnets, paper, and tape before labeling...
University of Colorado
Terra Bagga
Earth's magnetic poles switch positions about every 200,000—300,000 years. In the activity, groups create a planet with a magnetic field. Once made, they use a magnetometer to determine the orientation of the planet's magnetic field....
Curated OER
The Planets in Our Solar System
Students gain knowledge about earth and space science by studying the nine planets in the solar system as well as their key characteristics. In this solar system lesson, students identify the nine planets. Students work in groups to...
Curated OER
The Solar System Walk
A unique lesson on the solar system, and some of the mathematics associated with it, is here for your high schoolers. Pupils are put into groups of four, and each group is assigned one of the planets from our solar system. They must...
Curated OER
The Outer Planets
Young scholars study the planets Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. In this solar system lesson plan, students read facts about the planets and their location in the solar system. Images, diagrams, and background information on the planets is...
Virginia Department of Education
Solar System Model
How many planets can you name? Did you get all 13 in our solar system, including the dwarf planets, or were you surprised when you read there are 13 planets? The lesson helps scholars understand the scale of the universe including the...
Curated OER
The Planets in our Solar System
Young scholars learn the order and key characteristics of each planet in our solar system. In this solar system lesson, students work in groups to characterize each planet on an index card. They use their index cards to put the planets...
Curated OER
Ceres and Pluto: Dwarf Planets as a New Way of Thinking about an Old Solar System
Learners examine the new categories of planets and how planets were reclassified. In this solar system lesson students complete activities using Venn diagrams and images of planets.
Curated OER
The Solar System
In this science worksheet, students learn the names of the 9 planets in our solar system (Pluto is still included here) and locate them in a word search. Students answer 9 questions about the planets--their positions and attributes.
University of Colorado
Space Travel Guide
Neptune takes 164.8 Earth years to travel around the sun. In the fifth of 22 lessons, young scientists create a travel guide to a planet in our solar system. They provide tips for others on what to bring, what they see, and their...
University of Colorado
Rings and Things
Galileo first observed Saturn's rings in 1610. Through the use of a flashlight and baby powder, classes see how they can observe the rings of the outer planets from far away. Another demonstration shows how these rings, made of ice and...
Curated OER
Charting The Planets
Students conduct different activities in order to unlock the secrets of the universe. They answer different questions that are written to assess knowledge of the planets. Information can be found on the internet to help.
Curated OER
Please Ex-Planet!
What is most useful about this lesson plan is the "Student Explanet Worksheet," a set of instructions for collaborative groups to use to collect information about an assigned planet. After students have researched and organized their...
Curated OER
Pocket Solar System
Motivate your class with this instructional activity. Learners explore the solar system and practice working with fractions using this resource. They construct scale models of our solar system, and use fractions to correctly configure...
Curated OER
What's This Solar System All About?
Sixth graders complete a unit of lessons on the solar system. In small groups, they participate in a Webquest, watch movies, complete graphic organizers, and answer questions, create a model of the planets, and develop a Powerpoint...
Curated OER
Solar System Hall Model
Not novel, but fun, this lesson plan gets your space science learners to model the size of the planets and the solar system along your school's hallway. Scaled measurements as well as actual distances are provided for both planet...
Curated OER
Planet Vacation
In this planets worksheet, young scholars fill out a chart where they fill in the distance each planet is from the Earth, and how much travel time in years and hours it would take to get there. Students do this for 8 planets.
Curated OER
The Toilet Paper Solar System
Students classify the planets in the solar system, study planetary objects, and measure the relative distance between planets. In this solar system lesson, students use toilet paper to complete a scale model of the distance between the...