Teaching Themes
Solar System: Everything You Need
Lesson plans, interactive activities, and other resources to help students learn about and explore our solar system
The Solar System
Grades: 3–5, 6–8, 9–12
Take a trip through the Solar System, passing the Sun, the nine planets, moons and asteroids.
Writing Activities, Book Resources, Lesson Plans, Extension Activities
Reading and Writing About the Solar System
Grades: 1–2
Immerse your students in books and poetry to teach about the solar system with some of these creative ideas.
Solar System Books
Grades: PreK–K, 1–2, 3–5, 6–8, 9–12
Check out these great books at The Teacher Store.
 Lesson Plans, Extension Activities Making Models of the Solar SystemGrades: 1–2, 3–5 Students learn the positions of the planets in the solar system as well as relative distances and sizes through modeling. |
 Book Resources, Unit Plans Solar System for Young LearnersGrades: 1–2 Simple lessons and activities that will teach students about the solar system as well as teaching the scientific process. |
 Computer Lab Activities, Interactive Whiteboard Activities, Online Learning Activities Journey Into Space: A Science ExplorationGrades: 3–5, 6–8, 9–12 Watch and learn about collisions in space with Dr. Mike Shara. Continue to leveled activities for different skills and grade ranges. |
 Articles MoonGrades: 6–8, 9–12 Offers information about the Moon's internal structure, surface features, and phenomena, as well as its formation and evolution. |
 Teaching Guides NASA: Challenging the Space Frontier Teacher's GuideGrades: 1–2, 3–5, 6–8 Lesson planning suggestions, cross curricular extensions, assessments, and more for teachers using the "NASA: Challenging the Space Frontier"... |
 Activities and Games, Lesson Plans The Magic School Bus Lost in SpaceGrades: 3–5 In this activity, your child learns the planets by making two models of the Solar System. The first shows the order of the planets, and the second... |
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Book Resources, Vocabulary Builders The Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar Vocabulary BuilderGrades: 3–5 Vocabulary builder for The Magic School Bus® Lost in the Solar System by Joanna Cole. |
Book Resources, Extension Activities The Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System Extension ActivitiesGrades: 3–5 Extension activity for The Magic School Bus® Lost in the Solar System by Joanna Cole. |
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Articles Origin of the Solar SystemGrades: 6–8, 9–12 For more than 300 years there has been serious scientific discussion of the processes and events that led to the formation of the solar system.... |
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Articles Formation and EvolutionGrades: 6–8, 9–12 The Moon and the Earth have been companions for several billion years, and one Moon-formation theory proposes that they have been so since the... |
Articles History of AstronomyGrades: 6–8, 9–12 Features an article on the history of astronomy including the motion of planets and moons, characteristics of celestial bodies, and astronomy's... |
Solar SystemGrades: 6–8, 9–12 Discusses the history of the solar system as well as all of its components including the sun, the inner and outer planets, the satellites,... |
Online Learning Activities, Articles Truckin’ Around the Solar SystemGrades: PreK–K, 1–2 This content resource helps teachers locate online resources on the solar system. This site can be used by teachers to develop lesson plans or by... |
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Articles The Solar SystemGrades: 6–8, 9–12 How big is the Milky Way? Why are the orbits of celestial bodies not circular? An astronomer answers students'questions. |
Articles The Solar SystemGrades: 1–2, 3–5 Find out about the planets, asteroids, comets, and other matter that orbit our star, the sun. |
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Articles The MoonGrades: 1–2, 3–5 How far is the moon from the Earth? Why does the moon change its shape (as in full, half, and quarter moon)? Astronomer Cathy Imhoff answers... |
Articles PlanetsGrades: 1–2, 3–5 What was the first planet discovered? Who discovered it? What kind of equipment did they use? Astronomer Cathy Imhoff answers students'questions... |
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Articles The Inner PlanetsGrades: 1–2, 3–5 Learn about the four planets closest to the sun: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. |
Articles The Outer PlanetsGrades: 1–2, 3–5 Learn about the outer planets of our solar system: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. |
