Soaring Through the Solar System

Kendall Cox - Kayla Rankin - Alyx Lovelace

1st Grade Lesson with Model & Activity Physical Science - Summer 2012 -

Professor: Dianne Phillips

Introduction • The Solar System is a broad topic that is

important for young students and a part of the Common Core State Standards beginning in the first grade.

• Our goal was to take students’ pervious

knowledge and build on it by introducing new information in an understandable and interesting manner.

Overview

• We created a lesson and activity for first graders in an effort to help them learn the order of the planets and facts about each of the planets. oWe made a model of the Solar System in

relative scale to a football field to take students’ previous knowledge and build new information on top of it.

Community

• This project will benefit the peers in our classroom community by:

– Allowing students to gain perspective of a first grade student

– Giving students ideas for how to teach planets/similar material to students late in their own career.

– Promoting interpersonal skills through peer discussion & group activities.

Curriculum

• Common Core State Standard

–CCSS ESS.10.1.1 Illustrate the sequence of planets in the solar system.

College Curriculum • To explain the relevance of

understanding the natural laws and processes of the world and cosmos around us. To develop higher order thinking skills and write clear, coherent, and well organized documents.

Technology Used

• Microsoft Word • Microsoft PowerPoint • Prezi • Projector

Methodology • Process Used

Group meetings/email to plan Gather materials individually Divide labor Execute plan.

Methodology • Division of Labor

– Alyx: • Made 5 planet cards • Painted & gave information on Mercury, Venus, Earth. • Made PowerPoint.

– Kayla: • Made 5 planet cards. • Painted & gave information on Sun, Uranus, Neptune,

Pluto. • Painted Field Model.

– Kendall • Made Prezi. • Painted & gave information on Mars, Jupiter, Saturn. • Typed Lesson Plan.

Methodology • Time Line

1. Met June 6th to discuss ideas 2. Met June 8th to distribute balls for planet 3. Painted planets June 9th-10th 4. Met June 13th to begin Prezi & planet cards 5. Met June 20th to finish Field, finish lesson plan,

Begin PowerPoint 6. Met June 21st to finish PowerPoint, painting,

and preparation. 7. Met June 22nd to finish model and rehearse

lesson presentation.

Project Results

• Skills Developed: – Craftiness

• We worked together to create our football field model our of felt, foam, markers, paint, wooden sticks, and foam balls.

– Mathematics • We had to take the actual distance from the sun and

scale it to the size of a 100 yard football field. – Interpersonal Skills

• We were able to work together, understand individual strengths and weaknesses and build rapport among our team.

Acknowledgements • Dianne Phillips

– For allowing us the opportunity to do this project and further our scientific understanding.

• Sandy Peden – for printing our planet cards

• Hobby Lobby Shift Manager – for helping us find the foam planets

• Each Other – For being great, encouraging, teammates

Lesson Plan I. Subject: Solar System II. Grade Level: 1st grade III. Learning Goals and Objectives:

a) Pre-K – 4: The objective of this lesson is to inform the students about the planets in their solar system, their order, and informational facts about each planet. b) College: The learning objective for our EMPACTS team is to learn how to coordinate as a team and produce a collaborative work to show first grade students how the solar system works.

IV. Arkansas Framework: CCSS ESS.10.1.1 Illustrate the sequence of planet in the solar system V. College Curriculum: To explain the relevance of understanding the natural laws and processes of the world and cosmos around us. To develop higher order thinking skills and write clear, coherent, and well organized documents. VI. Materials: football field foam model

computers for Prezi presentation planet models provided index cards of planets pens and pencils VII. Activity: The students will be presented with a Prezi presentation showing them how the planets line up and facts about each planet in the solar system. Then the students will be shown a football field scaled model of the planets and their space on the solar system. The students will be taught the meaning of a pneumonic device and then shown one to help them remember the planet order. The pneumonic device we will use is: My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas. Then the students will be paired up and asked to make their own pneumonic device and then use labeled planet notecards to line themselves up in the appropriate order and recall one fact about their planet that they represent. VIII. Assessment: To make sure the students understand the lesson, they will be asked to provide their own pneumonic device to help remember the planet order. Then the students will be assigned a planet and will have to correctly order themselves and recall one factual piece of information about their planet.

The Model

Presenting our Lesson

References

• http://www.siec.k12.in.us/~west/proj/space/index.html

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7rzP45Jxxk