Tennessee Tech University
Lesson Plan Template
Date: April 5, 2014
Lesson Title: Solar System
Grade/Level: 3rd
Curriculum Standards
Science Standards: Earth and Space Science
GLE 0307.6.1 Identify and compare the major components of the solar system.
○ 0307.6.1 Create a model of the solar system depicting the major components and their relative positions and sizes.
○ 0307.6.2 Use a table to compare and contrast the major solar system components.
○ SPI 0307.6.1 Identify the major components of the solar system, i.e., sun, planets and moons.
Technology Standards:
Standard 3.0
Students will use technology productivity tools.
Learning Expectations
3.1 Students will use technology tools to enhance learning, increase productivity, and promote creativity.
3.2 Students will use productivity tools to collaborate in constructing technology-enhanced models, prepare publications, and produce other creative works.
Focus Questions/Big Idea/Goal (List all 3)
Focus Question: What are the major planets and their characteristics that make up the solar system?
Big Idea: Students will understand the eight planets of the solar system as well as the sun, and how they work together.
Goal: Students will understand each planet’s components and its position in the solar system.
Lesson Objective(s)
Objectives are measurable.
1. Students will organize the eight planets and the Sun using the “Giant Inflatable Solar System.”
2. Students create a Solar System Lapbook.
3. Students will use “AR Flashcard Space” app to research information on each planet.
Vocabulary/ Academic Language
Vocabulary
Solar System- the astronomical field containing the sun and the 8 planets, dwarf planets, asteroids, and comets.
Telescopes- an instrument used to detect objects at a distance
Orbit- the path that a celestial body moves around another celestial body
Planet- a celestial body orbiting throughout space
Axis- a straight line that a body rotates
Rotation- to spin on an axis
Revolution- to move around an object
Asteroid- “minor planet”, revolve around the sun in orbits
AU- Astronomical Unit (98 million miles)
Academic Language
record- write down their data or findings
demonstrate- show by writing, illustrating, or modeling
components- different parts
construct- build or create
summarize- sum up what they have learned thus far
recall- remember or look back on
Material/Resources
What do you need for this lesson?
● iPad (one each; 1-4 students per iPad)
● AR space flashcards
● AR space app
● “My Solar System Lapbook” template
● file folder
● markers
● pencil
● scissors
● glue or tape
● dictionary
● Giant Inflatable Solar System
● Solar System Mapping Tool
Assessment/Evaluation
Formative: How will students demonstrate understanding of lesson objective(s)? How will you monitor and/or give feedback?
Students summarize what they have learned by participating in a “Volleyball- Not Ping Pong” assessment strategy. This strategy is used as a questioning and summarizing technique where students will demonstrate their knowledge of the planets they have learned about. Students will create a circle and use one of the inflatables to toss back and forth to recognize who is the speaker. This strategy gives students a time to apply what they have learned and reflect. This provides a deep engagement and challenges students in the content.
One student will start with the ball and recall what they learned during the Solar System inflatable activity. The student will then toss the ball to another student and continue this process until every student has spoken. The teacher may prompt questions for each student so that the students can incorporate different responses.
Feedback: The teacher will be monitor during the space inflatables activity and express to the students the value of this activity and what they can improve to make their hands on experience more valuable or different topics to discuss as they rotate around the Sun. The teacher will provide handwritten feedback on the student’s lapbook rubric and on the “How Do Planets Orbit the Sun?”
Assessment Tools:
1. Solar System Lapbook Rubric
2. Solar System Lapbook- Graphic Organizer
3. Chart paper for prompted questions
Summative: What evidence will you collect and how will it document student learning/mastery of lesson objective(s)
Students successfully construct the Solar System Lapbook given to them at the beginning of the lesson. Each student will complete their own lapbook. However, students will work collaboratively to compile each section of the lapbook. For each planet the student will record at least 3 facts to demonstrate a complete understanding for that planet. A student geared rubric will be attached with this lesson to ensure that each student stays on task and is aware of the expectations. This rubric will be aligned with the objectives, standards, and teacher rubric.
Instruction(Include a suggested time for each major activity)
Total Time: 1 hour and 15 minutes / List Questions for higher order thinking These cannot be answered by yes or no.
(Identify Bloom’s Level of Thinking)
Set/Motivator: (15 minutes) How will you engage student interest in the content of the lesson? Use knowledge of students’ academic, social, and cultural characteristics.
The teacher will introduce the lesson to the class by showing them the StoryBots song about the planets. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHAqT4hXnMw) The song introduces each planet one by one, and gives characteristics of each. The students will listen for the order of the planets.
Students will then consider the orbits of the planets and predict which drawing depicts the correct orbits of the planets. They will complete the activity called “How Do Planets Orbit the Sun?” and write why they chose that drawing. / Recall the planets that orbit the Sun? (Remembering)
Which planet is closest to the sun? (Remembering)
Which planet is farthest away from the sun? (Remembering)
Instructional Procedures/Learning Tasks: (45 minutes) Provide specific resources/details of lesson content and delivery.
Students will first use the app AR Flash Cards Space to research knowledge on the planets. The students will use the designated iPad and open the AR Flash Cards app. They will focus the camera on one of the flashcards that features a certain planet, and listen to the descriptions and characteristics of each one. After they have reviewed each planet, the class will be split up into groups and assigned a certain planet. The students will use the app and the internet on the iPad to research facts about the assigned planet.
Next, the students will be given the inflatable of the planet they have been assigned. The students will line up in the order that they are from the sun, and each group will be responsible for teaching their classmates what they have learned about their planet. After, the teacher will use the strategy “Volleyball Not Ping Pong” to further assess their knowledge. The students will stand in a circle and toss around an inflatable. The student that catches the inflatable will have to name the planet and give one characteristic of the planet.
The teacher will then position the students in how they orbit the sun. Then the teacher will show how planets rotate and revolve by modeling and demonstration. The students will then be able to independently illustrate the movement of the solar system by rotating and revolving around the sun. / Identify each planet and a unique characteristic of each. (Applying)
Model the planets rotation and revolution with the inflatable solar system kit. (Applying)
Explain what rotate means and give an example. (Evaluating)
Explain what revolve means and give an example. (Evaluating)
Closure: (15 minutes) Verbalize or demonstrate learning or skill one more time. May state future learning.
The teacher will give the students the solar system lapbooks, already cut and pasted. The students would need to take their knowledge of the planets through the previous activity and complete the lapbook. The students will write three characteristics or facts about each planet on the corresponding flap. They will also demonstrate knowledge of the words rotate and revolve by writing their definitions or illustrating it on the interlocked foldable. In the vocabulary pocket, the students will pick out three words and write a complete sentence using the word on the back of the card. (If this is not completed in the time allowed the students will have additional time during centers and free time to complete according to the rubric’s standards). / Classify the planets in two categories, gas planets and terrestrial planets. (Analyzing)
Design a lapbook that organizes the material needed describing each planet. (Creating)
Adaptations to Meet Individual Needs: How will you adapt the instruction to meet the needs of individual students? Include - ELL?; SPED?; Gardner’s Learning Styles - Name and specify what happens in the lesson that uses each learning style listed; Other individual needs of the students/class you are teaching?
Students will be grouped together so that there is a diverse amount of group members. These groups will be arranged so there is at least one high-level learner, one middle-level learner, and one lower-level learner in each group.
lower-level learners: Students will be grouped together with higher-level learning students to assist them in their understanding of the planets. Students will have examples of previously completed lapbooks out on display so they can reference them for better understanding.
Students will have a set of task cards with one planet on each. There will be at least two facts on the back of each task card. The students will use the picture of the planet and the facts to determine what each planet is. This will help with student’s understanding of the planets and help them complete their lapbook and future learning.
middle-level learners: When doing their research on the iPads, the middle-level learners will research characteristics about their planet, like the whole class. In addition to this, they will be responsible for finding a uncommonly known fact about their planet as well.
higher-level learners: Students will use their knowledge about orbits to complete the “How do Planets Orbit the Sun” probe. The students will work in groups so they can discuss orbits and successfully complete the questions given. Students will look at the pictures and depict the most accurate picture. The students will then write 3-5 sentences on why they chose that picture.
Students can use solarsystem.nasa.gov/kids to furtur their understanding of the solar system as a whole.
ELL: There will be an abundance of pictures displayed that will assist students in completing the assignment. The space app will also be utilized to assist students in understanding facts about each planet. This app is beneficial in helping students because there is no reading involved. The app will show a 3-D picture of each planet selected as well as a recording that explains each planet focused on.
SPED: With SPED students, the AR Flash Cards app will be extremely beneficial. The app allows students to see a visual of the planet and hear facts about each one, rather than having to read the information. Also, the SPED students lapbook will be modified to where they will pick two vocabulary words to write sentences with instead of three. They will also only be required to write two facts about each planet.
Gardner’s Learning Styles:
Visual-Spatial: Students will be using 3-D models to represent the Solar System’s planets.Students will also be using the Solar System Mapping Tool to visually see how far each planet is from one another.
Bodily-Kinesthetic: Students will move around with their inflatable planets and use motion to demonstrate how the planets move around the sun and how close they are in relation to each other.
Interpersonal: This lesson requires students to work together to determine how the planets work. They will also work together while completing their lapbooks, each student will take different information away from the planets. This will be beneficial to students because they can each bring their own interpretation about what they learn.
Linguistic: Students will create their own sentences aligned with the vocabulary words for the lesson. Students will also paraphrase their findings in their work.
Logical-Mathematical: Students will think logically and abstractly about how the planets and other components of the solar system work together. The students will form concepts (how the planets and Sun work together) before they learn the specific details about the solar system.
Intrapersonal: Students will research on their own as well. The students will use their background knowledge and experiences to construct their own sentences.
Musical: At the beginning of the lesson students will be introduced to a song regarding the planets. Students will use this song to assist them in their understanding of the planets themselves.
Management/Safety Issues: The students should be very cautious in handling the iPads. They should only be used at the table. Also, the planet inflatables should be tossed carefully and aimed at students’ hands, not faces. In regards to the tape measure, the students should walk carefully when stretching it out and are not to bend it in any unnatural ways.
Rationale/Theoretical Reasoning:
Rationale: “In the early years of elementary school, students will develop a conceptual understanding of the solar system and all that it contains. As their education grows, the students will sort out the various objects in the solar system and how they move in relation to each other. In their middle school years, students should have the opportunity to view objects such as lunar craters, moons of Jupiter, and the rings of Saturn with a telescope or binoculars and learn about the other celestial objects such as comets and meteors, through videos that show how they are observed from Earth or via space probes.” In this lesson, videos are also incorporated for the use of learning the planets and unique informations specific to each individual planet. “At all grade levels, the focus should be on observing and how we know what we know about the solar system, rather than providing facts about solar system objects without relating how those facts are known.”
Theoretical Reasoning:
Bloom’s Taxonomy: In 1956, Benjamin Bloom created the Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning Domains to encourage and promote higher levels of learning and thinking. These levels allow each type of skilled learner to learning in a way that is allowing them to grow and develop a deeper understanding of the material. The learning is broken down into three domains: cognitive, psychomotor, and affective. The learning is also broken into levels: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. In this lesson, students will be asked questions to assist them in their learning and to ensure that they are focused on the prominent and important information.
http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html
Ann Brown: Ann Brown devoted her research in her career to find methods of teaching to where learning was more natura, meaningful, and engaging. She believed students needed to have another way to learn besides the normal way of lecture, notes, etc. “In 1984, she developed a strategy called reciprocal teaching, which is based on the idea that students learn more effectively if they work together in small groups to help one another to read, analyze and summarize material.’ This lesson embodies this strategy because while they are not reading, they will be working in small groups and each group member is responsible for not only learning themselves but also to be a key proponent in the learning of their peers. The students will research a planet on their own, then come together and share their findings and discovers with each other. In this manner, students will be able to obtain knowledge about all right planets.
http://articles.latimes.com/1999/jun/16/news/mn-46960
Gardner’s Learning Styles: In 1991, Howard Gardner stated that there are seven intelligences in which students or individuals are able to learn. “This theory has emerged from recent cognitive research and ‘documents the extent to which students possess different kinds of minds and therefore learn, remember, perform, and understand in different ways,’ according to Gardner (1991).” Throughout the activities in this lesson, multiple intelligences are used to ensure that each type of learning is able to retain knowledge and gain growth from the activities. All of the intelligences used include visual-spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, linguistic, logical-mathematical, and musical. This will give students a variety of ways to learn in the classroom setting. “ ‘The broad spectrum of students - and perhaps the society as a whole - would be better served if disciplines could be presented in a numbers of ways and learning could be assessed through a variety of means.’ "
http://www.tecweb.org/styles/gardner.html
Common Misconceptions:
“Common misconceptions include:
● There are stars in our Solar System other than our Sun.
● The Earth is the center of the Solar System about which the other objects revolve.
● The Earth is the largest object in the Solar System.
● The Solar System is very crowded.
● The Sun is not a star.
● The Solar System only includes the Sun, planets, and our Moon.
● Planets cannot be seen without a telescope.
● Mars is larger than the Earth.
● All planets have rocky surfaces.
● Gas giants are large balls of gas, which a spaceship could fly through.
● Planets appear in the same place every night.”
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/education/pre_service_edu/planetsMisconceptions.shtml
References: List the references used in this lesson
● http://articles.latimes.com/1999/jun/16/news/mn-46960
● https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5432778/SpaceCards.pdf
● http://www.lpi.usra.edu/education/pre_service_edu/planetsMisconceptions.shtml
● http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html
● http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Solar-System-Lapbook-Interactive-Kit-857695
● solarsystem.nasa.gov/kids
● http://www.tecweb.org/styles/gardner.html
Reflections/Future Modifications: To what extent did the class learn what you intended them to learn? What will be your next steps instructionally? What did you learn about your students as learners? What have you learned about yourself as a teacher?
Revised Spring 2013