Scholastic Printables: Solar System Teaching Unit

NSTA Standards

Earth is the third planet from the sun. The Solar System has a sun, moons and eight planets. Our earth has one moon. Other planets have no moons or more than one moon. The planets revolve and rotate around the sun.

Key Concepts

Students will know that a “day” is when our planet rotates one time. The earth rotates on its axis every twenty-four hours. As it turns toward and away from the sun, it creates “night” and “day” on earth. Mid-day is called “noon.” The sun “rises” in the east and “sets” in the west.

Teaching Ideas and Tips

Pair your students and take them outside early one morning. Have one child from each pair stand facing the sun while the other uses sidewalk chalk to trace around the child’s feet. Write the child’s name beside the feet. Then switch places so that the other child in the pair has an outline of his feet too.

If possible, return to the sidewalk during lunch. Note that the sun is directly overhead. Ask students if they know what the middle of the day is called (noon).

Attach a small Lego person or other object to a large ball and take it with you when you take the class back outside in the late afternoon. Have the children again stand in their own footprints and look for the sun. What do they notice? (The sun should be behind them. The sun seems to have moved across the sky during the day.)

Ask students to speculate why the sun is now in the opposite part of the sky. Tell them that the ancients believed that the sun simply drove across the sky each day. Other people have believed that the sun went around planet Earth! The real reason the sun seems to have “moved” is that the earth has “rotated” on its axis. Use the ball to demonstrate how the earth rotates and have the children pretend they are the person on the ball. As the ball rotates (SLOWLY) the “person” on the ball would see the sun move across the sky. Ask students how long they think it takes the earth to rotate one time. Tell them that the sun always rises in the same place – the direction we call “east,” and it always “sets” in the direction we call “west.”

Classroom Management

Make sure you warn students to never look directly at the sun as it can cause permanent damage to their eyes.

You may need to get permission from your principal before you allow students to use chalk to draw on the sidewalk. Remember to always let the personnel in the office know if you plan to have your students outside at an unscheduled time.

If you do not have a sidewalk on which to have students draw, begin the project in the classroom. Provide large sheets of paper and have the children trace around each other’s feet. Add names to the papers. Then take the papers outside and stand on the papers while they look in the direction of the sun. Be sure to have students note what they are seeing. Go back outside in the afternoon and again, have them stand in the direction of the sun and not what they are seeing. They should realize that they are now facing in the opposite direction.

Vocabulary

Sun – The sun is a star at the center of our solar system.
Earth – The place in the solar system where we live is called Planet Earth.
Rotate – To rotate is to spin on an axis.
East – The east is the direction in which the sun “rises.”
West – The west is the direction in which the sun “sets.”
Noon – The mid-point in daylight hours is called “noon.”
Night – When part of the earth is facing away from the sun.
Day – When part of the earth is facing toward the sun.

Use this Solar System Vocabulary list as a start—add more of your own—and use Make Your Own tools to create your own flash cards!

Solar System: Lesson 1 Flash Cards

Printables Resources

Bulletin Boards
Love Our Planet
Outer Space

Developing Science and Reading Skills
Space Word Search

Developing Math Skills
Out of this World Addition
Take Off - Two-digit addition
Planet Earth – Adding 2 and 4 digits
Star Puzzle

Lesson Plans and Smart Board Activities
Note: to use a resource with your interactive whiteboard, click on the "VIEW FULL SCREEN for use with interactive white boards" button below the preview window.
My Planet Report

Stationery for Send Home Letters or Student Illustrations
Space Stationery

Clip Art
Moon and Star
Outer Space

Art or Homework Project
Rocket Ship Coloring Page

Assessment

Choose various times and locations to check student knowledge about the rising and setting of the sun. When you are in your classroom in the morning, is there sunlight coming in a window? Have students determine which directions in the classroom are east – then the opposite is west. (OPTIONAL: How can they determine which is north and south? Face the east. The direction to your left is north; the opposite is south.)

Go out to the playground, to the front of your school, to a sidewalk somewhere and have students practice determining the four directions simply by looking at the sun. If it is before noon, the sun is in the east. After finding “east,” ask them to indicate the other three directions.

Go back outside in the afternoon and find the sun again. This time is it is in the west because it is after noon. Teach students to determine which direction is east, south and north simply by finding the afternoon sun.

Optional: Solar System: Lesson 1 Crossword Puzzle

Send Home Letter

Try printing this send home letter on Space Stationery. Or you can also print this letter on your own - copy/paste the letter below into a Microsoft Word document. You can add or remove text and customize the letter to your liking.

Dear Family,

Our class is studying the solar system. This week we learned how the earth turns on its axis and gives us day and night. Ask me to tell you about the experiment we did outside!

We also learned that the sun rises in one direction and always sets in the other. Ask me in which direction the sun rises each morning.

Your child’s teacher,

____________

Homework

Dear Parents,

Our class has been studying the solar system and the movement of planet earth. We learned that the sun SEEMS to move across the sky each day, but in reality, the earth is turning on its axis. Because of this, the sun always “rises” in the east and “sets” in the west.

For homework, help your child determine where “east” and “west” are in your home. When you get up for school, look to see in which window the sun is shining. This is the east. Write the name of that room here: ___________

After school, just before your evening meal, check again to see in which window the sun is shining. Write the name of that room here; __________. These rooms should be on the opposite sides of your home.

At lunchtime one day, ask your child to note where the sun is shining. It should be directly overhead. Ask your child to write the word that we use to mean the half-way point in the daylight hours: ____________

Your child’s teacher,

______

Here is an alternative letter for students that may live in an apartment or may not have any east or west facing windows.

Dear Parents,

For homework, help your child determine where “east” and “west” are in your neighborhood. When you leave for school on morning, look to see the direction of the rising sun. Write a list of the buildings or objects that you see in that direction: _______
________
__________
______

After school, in the late afternoon, help your child to check on the sun’s progress again. This time, the sun should be in the opposite direction from where it was in the morning. Write a list of the buildings or objects that you see in that direction:
_____
______

At lunchtime, the sun is directly overhead. Ask your child to write the word that we use to mean the half-way point in the daylight hours.: _________

This paper is due back at school on ____

Your child’s teacher,

_____________

Optional: Solar System: Lesson 1 Crossword Puzzle

More to Explore

Instant Internet Activities

What is an Orbit?
This article uses kid friendly language to help teach children about orbits.
NASA Picture Dictionary
Great for elementary students – has pictures too!
Kids Club – Go to the Head of the Solar System
Game of planetary facts – great for grades 2-4
Launch a "Rocket" from a Spinning "Planet"
Article about the Deep Space 1 rocket – contains a video clip too!
Buzz Lightyear's Space Station Mission Logs
Learn more about the International Space Station with the Buzz Lightyear Mission Logs.

Follow-Up Activities:

For parents who may want to do additional activities at home, make copies of this letter to send home. Or, try printing this send home letter on Space Stationery. You can also print this letter on your own - copy/paste the letter below into a Microsoft Word document. You can add or remove text and customize the letter to your liking.

Dear Parents,

Our class has been learning that the sun has an effect on planet earth. We get both heat and light from the sun. Help your child to understand this concept by conducting this quick experiment on the next sunny day.

First –your child remove his or her shoes. (This is more fun if you take off your shoes and do the experiment too!)

Second – take your child outside and ask them what part of the sidewalk they think will be the hottest – the part in the sun or the part in the shade.

Third – have your child stand with bare feet on different part of the sidewalk. Can they feel the difference? Ask them why part of the sidewalk is hot and part is cold.

Fourth – If possible, take your child back outside in the evening. Ask your barefoot child to feel the coolness of the sidewalk then. Why is it cooler in the nighttime than in the daytime?

End the conversation by helping your child realize that the sun gives heat to the earth. Parts of the earth that are in the shade still get some heat, but not nearly as much, so they feel cooler.

Your child’s teacher,

______________

More Follow-Up Activities:

Got some parents that are eager to provide their children with extended activities to go with the solar system? Provide them with this list! Of course some of these suggestions, such as actually visiting a NASA center may be impossible, but most of these ideas can easily be completed by visiting a library or by searching the internet.

Try printing this list on Space Stationary! Or you can also print this list on your own - copy/paste the list below into a Microsoft Word document. You can add or remove text and customize the list to your liking.

Visit a science center planetarium to view the deep space exhibit.
Visit the space center to see the launch pads – even attend space camp – ride the simulated space shuttle launch.
Build a model of the shuttle.
Learn about the suits the astronauts are wearing while they repair the telescope.
Find out about future planed space missions – to the moon, to Mars. What are the problems with space travel?
Go on line to read about the discoveries of the Hubble telescope over the last 19 years.
Read about the history of the telescope.
Learn the parts of a telescope and how Hubble is different from a telescope.
Read about deep space and view the galaxies that Hubble has discovered
Find out – Who was Hubble???
Create art projects that show the most beautiful galaxies
Have a Perseid meteor shower sleepover! Make it an “out of this world” party and stay up late enough to see the meteors. Have glow in the dark decorations and a craft activity.