Alicia Ayala
Camino Real Community School
Santa Fe, NM
Associated with session "Moon Craters".
Learning Objectives for Students:
-- Describe the objects in the solar system (e.g., sun, Earth and other planets, moon) and their features (e.g., size, temperature).
-- Identify craters on the Moon and describe how they form.
-- Explain that stars appear to move because the Earth rotates on its axis.
Jump to these sections:
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Applicable Standards:
NGSS
CCSS - READING
CCSS - WRITING
CCSS - MATH
NGSS | I. NM Science Content Standards, Benchmarks, and Performance Standards Strand II: Content of Science Standard III (Earth and Space Science): Understand the structure of Earth, the solar system, and the universe, the interconnections among them, and the processes and interactions of Earth’s systems. K-4 Benchmark I: Know the structure of the solar system and the objects in the universe. Grade 2 Performance Standards
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Applicable Standards, continued
CCSS, READING | Literature Grade 2 RL.2.1 Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text. RL.2.2 Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral. (Como la luna recobro su forma) Grade 3 RL.3.1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers. RL.3.2 Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text. |
Informational Text Grade 2 RI.2.1 Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to. RI.2.2 Identify the main topic of a multi-paragraph text as well as the focus of specific paragraphs within the text. RI.2.3 Describe the connection between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text. RI.2.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 2 topic or subject area. RI.2.5 Know and use various text features (e.g., captions, bold print, subheadings, glossaries, indexes, electronic menus, icons) to locate key facts or information in a text efficiently. |
Applicable Standards, continued
CCSS, READING | Informational Text Grade 3 RI.3.1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers. RI.3.2 Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea. RI.3.3 Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect. RI.3.4 Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 3 topic or subject area. RI.3.5 Use text features and search tools (e.g., key words, sidebars, hyperlinks) to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently. RI.3.6 Distinguish their own point of view from that of the author of a text. RI.3.7 Use information gained from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text (e.g., where, when, why, and how key events occur). |
Applicable Standards, continued
CCSS, WRITING |
Grade 2
W.2.5 With guidance and support from adults and peers, focus on a topic and strengthen writing as needed by revising and editing. |
CCSS, WRITING | Grade 3
W.3.3.C Use temporal words and phrases to signal event order. W.3.4 With guidance and support from adults, produce writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task and purpose. |
CCSS, MATH | Grade 2 NBT.B.5 Fluently add and subtract within 100 using strategies based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction. MD.D.10 Draw a picture graph and a bar graph (with single-unit scale) to represent a data set with up to four categories. Grade 3 NBT.A.2 Fluently add and subtract within 1000 using strategies and algorithms based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction. OA.C.7 Fluently multiply and divide within 100, using strategies such as the relationship between multiplication and division MD.B.3 Draw a scaled picture graph and a scaled bar graph to represent a data set with several categories. |
Day 1
Assessing student prior knowledge: KLEW chart
Class discussion/online discussion thread: Solar system facts Home/School Connection: family interview
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Day 2
Planet song: “Planets song for kids/Solar System Song” (available in Epic) Read aloud: The Planets by Gail Gibbons (available in Epic)
Math: Writing equations equal to 8 (8 to represent the 8 planets)
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Day 3
Students fill in a planet facts table using The Planets and the Planet song
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Day 4
Informative writing about a planet Math: Favorite Planet Bar Graph
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Day 5
Read aloud: The Moon by Gail Gibbons (available in Epic) Moon Milestones Timeline
Home/School Connection: Choice of differentiated activities
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Day 6
At home investigation: Phases of the Moon
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Day 7
At home investigation: Craters on the Moon
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Day 8
Read aloud: How the Moon Regained Her Shape by Janet Ruth Heller (available in Spanish in Epic)
Independent reading: How the Moon Regained Her Shape Sequence of events
Home/School Connection: Family interview-legends about the Moon
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Day 9
Narrative Writing: Students write and illustrate their own legend
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Day 10
Read aloud: The Stars (Journey Through Space)
Independent reading: reread The Stars (Journey Through Space) Vocabulary words: list in alphabetical order; define & illustrate
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Day 11
The Stars (Journey Through Space)
: Follow a star activity
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Day 12
Solar System Project: Project Choice Board
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The table below outlines the academic vocabulary that will be used on specific days of this unit. This vocabulary can be posted in a traditional word wall format in the classroom or in an online word wall. An online word wall can be easily created as a simple Google document that can be shared with students or it can take the form of a word cloud. Wordcloud.com is a free online word cloud generator that allows users to create a word cloud with their own vocabulary list / . You can modify the font, the font color and the shape of the word cloud to make it more appealing for students. Provide students with the link to the online word cloud so they can refer to it during independent assignments.
Unit Vocabulary | |
xxxDay 1 | solar system |
Days 2, 3, 4 | planet, moon, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, dwarf planet, star, orbit, atmosphere, gas, solid, clouds, inner planets, outer planets, asteroid belt, gravity, Milky Way, astronaut, telescope, NASA |
Days 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 | moon, natural satellite, man-made satellite, phases, new moon, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full moon, waning gibbous, last quarter, waxing crescent |
Days 9, 10, 11 | star, constellation, telescope |
Resources
The Planets
by Gail Gibbons (available in Epic)
The Moon Book
by Gail Gibbons (available in Epic)
The Moon in a Month by Tracy Nelson Maurer (also available in Spanish in Epic: La Luna en un mes)
How the Moon Regained Her Shape by Janet Ruth Heller (also available in spanish in Epic: Como la Luna recobró su forma)
The Stars (Journey through space)
by Jeff Wimbush (available in Epic)
Planets song for kids (several available in Epic)
Assessing student prior knowledge
Every student has some knowledge of our solar system. Ask students to record their personal observations and questions about our solar system in a KLEW chart. A student created KLEW chart is an excellent formative measure for ascertaining a student's prior knowledge and for guiding your instruction. Since this is the introductory activity to this unit of study, ask students to skip the L (What have I learned about our solar system?) column of the chart. Students should revisit their KLEW chart throughout the unit and as a culminating activity to document their learning.
K (What do I know about our solar system?) | L (What have I learned about our solar system?) | E (What evidence do I have to demonstrate what I know about our solar system?) | W (What am I wondering about our solar system?) |
*This chart can be printed and given to students or inserted as a PDF file into a Seesaw assignment.
Class discussion
Create a discussion thread in your online learning platform about our solar system. Ask students to post one fact that they know about the solar system in the discussion thread.
Home/School Connection
Ask students to interview one or two family members and ask them about what they know about the solar system. Give students a choice of summarizing their findings in a 5 sentence paragraph or drawing what their family members know about the solar system.
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Planet Song
Begin this day with a song about the planets. Several songs about the planets are available in Epic. The “Planets song for kids/Solar System Song” in Epic takes students on a journey through our solar system. Each planet presents itself and states important facts about itself. Ask students to listen to the song and pay attention to the graphics. Students can refer back to this song during independent study time. You can refer back to this song throughout the unit and ask students to sing the song as a group or they can volunteer to sing the part of a planet.
Discuss the following with your class before listening to the song about the planets to activate prior student knowledge:
Our solar system is part of a galaxy called The Milky Way Galaxy and consists of 8 planets along with other space material orbiting our home star, the Sun. The 8 planets in our solar system are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Read aloud: The Planets by Gail Gibbons
Assign The Planets by Gail Gibbons in Epic. You can read the book to the students as they follow along. Since students can access the book in Epic they can refer back to the book during independent study.
Begin an online word wall or word cloud. Wordcloud.com is a free online word cloud generator that allows users to create a word cloud with their own vocabulary list . You can modify the font, the font color and the shape of the word cloud to make it more appealing for students. Provide students with the link to the online word cloud so they can refer to it during independent assignments.
Ask students to reread The Planets and answer the following questions. These questions can be printed and given to students or inserted as a PDF file into a Seesaw assignment. For differentiation, you can ask students to only answer half of the questions.
The Planets by Gail Gibbons: 20 Questions
Read The Planets in Epic. Answer the following questions with a complete sentence. Write the page number of the page in The Planets where you found the answer. The first question is answered for you as an example.
1 - What do we call a scientist who studies the planets and the stars?
A scientist that studies the planets and the stars is an astronomer. I found this answer on page 30.
2 - Why can we see the planets in space?
How many planets are there in our solar system?
3 - What does the word ‘solar’ mean?
4 - What is the path that a planet follows around the Sun called?
5 - What instrument do people use to see faraway planets like Uranus and Neptune?
6 - What is the planet closest to the Sun?
7 - What is the smallest planet?
8 - What is the biggest planet?
9 - Which planets have rings?
10 - What is the second planet from the Sun?
11 - Why is Venus bright?
12 - How far is Earth from the Sun?
14 - How many days does it take for Earth to complete one orbit around the Sun?
15 - What is a Moon?
16 - Why is Mars red?
17 - How many moons does Jupiter have?
18 - Which planet has the largest rings?
19 - What is the seventh planet from the Sun?
20 - Why does Neptune appear to be blue?
Math Assignment (Number of the Day): Equations that are equal to the number 8 (to reinforce the concept that there are 8 planets in our solar system)
- Reinforce that our solar system has 8 planets by highlighting the number 8 in a math assignment. For this assignment, tell students that 8 is the number of the day. Ask students to write 15 equations that are equal to the number 8.
- Review the definition of an equation and a number sentence.
- Second grade students can write addition and subtraction equations. This assignment allows for differentiation as well as formative assessment. Some students may be working with basic addition and subtraction facts, one and two digit numbers. Some may be ready to write addition and subtraction equations with three digit numbers.
- Third grade students can write addition and subtraction equations, multiplication equations and may be ready to try basic division equations. Some students may be working with basic addition and subtraction facts while others may be ready to write addition and subtraction equations with three digit or four digit numbers. Third graders may also be willing to try multiplication and division equations depending on the time of the instructional year.
- This can be used as a diagnostic assessment throughout the year to analyze student error patterns to help guide your small group intervention instruction.
Example equations for 2nd grade students | ||
On grade level equations | Challenge Equations | |
2 + 6 = 8 | 10 - 2 = 8 | 98 - 90 = 8 |
7 + 1 = 8 | 12 - 4 = 8 | 108 - 100 = 8 |
5 + 3 = 8 | 11 - 3 = 8 | 158 - 150 = 8 |
Day 2, continued
Example equations for 3rd grade students | ||
On grade level equations | Challenge Equations | |
4 + 4 = 8 | 100 - 92 = 8 | 160 ÷ 20 = 8 |
12 - 4 = 8 | 16 ÷ 2 = 8 | 958 - 950 = 8 |
58 - 50 = 8 | 8 ÷ 1 = 8 | 1058 - 1052 = 8 |
- Discuss facts about each individual planet with students. Refer to The Planets by Gail Gibbons and to the planet song that students listened to on Day 2. Encourage students to reread the book and listen to the song again in Epic. Both are excellent sources of information for this assignment.
- Instruct students to select three planets and fill in the following table with facts about the three planets.
Our Solar System: Planet Facts | ||||||
Planet Name | Numerical order from the Sun (Example: Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun.) | How far is this planet from the Sun? (miles) | What is the temperature of this planet (hot, cold or just right for life)? | How many moons does this planet have? | How many days does it take to complete one orbit around the Sun? | What makes this planet different from the other planets? |
*This chart can be printed and given to students or inserted as a PDF file into a Seesaw assignment.
Informative Writing
- Ask students to refer to the table that they filled out on Day 3 with facts about 3 planets. Instruct them to select one planet and write an informative text about that planet.
- Students must write at least one five-sentence paragraph about the planet they selected. Remind students to write complete sentences and to be mindful of punctuation and spelling.
- Provide a word bank for students to scaffold the use of academic language in their writing. Student’s writing should have at least 8 of the words from the word bank.
Informative Writing Word Bank | |||||
moon | days | orbit | atmosphere | surface | temperature |
rings | miles | gases | solar system | rocky | life |
Math assignment: Class discussion question and favorite planet bar graph
- Set up a discussion with this question: Which is your favorite planet? This can be a whole group discussion in class or can be set up as a discussion in an online learning platform. The online discussion can be set up to allow students to view all responses.
- Ask students to use tally marks to record how many times a particular planet is selected and then use their data to make a bar graph of the favorite planets.
- The “Which is your favorite planet?” tally mark table and bar graph can be printed and given to students or inserted as a PDF file into a Seesaw assignment.
Planet | Tally Marks |
Mercury | |
Venus | |
Earth | |
Mars | |
Jupiter | |
Saturn | |
Uranus | |
Neptune |
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The Moon Book by Gail Gibbons read aloud
- Ask students what they know about the Moon.
- Tell students that the Moon is Earth’s natural satellite.
- Read The Moon Book by Gail Gibbons in Epic. Students follow along.
- Tell students to pay special attention to page 30 Moon Milestones. Tell students that they will make a timeline of Moon Milestones. Ask students to select 5 Moon Milestones and fill in the timeline template. This timeline can be printed and given to students or inserted as a PDF file into a Seesaw assignment. Students can also make a list, in chronological order, of 5 important Moon events.
Home/School Connection (Allow students to choose one or two for the week.)
- Ask your family what they know about the Moon, sketch/write what you learn.
- Find an image of the Moon. Draw the Moon. Include the details you see on the surface of the Moon.
- Go outside and observe the Moon. Draw what you see. Write two complete sentences to describe what you observe.
- Read The Moon in a Month by Tracy Nelson in Epic (also available in Spanish, La luna en un mes). Students follow along.
- Discuss the phases of the Moon with your students. Ask them to create the phases of the Moon with materials they have at home.
Students can draw and label the phases of the Moon.
They can also use construction paper to make the phases of the Moon.
Students should create 8 Moon phases:
1 - New Moon
2 - Waxing Crescent
3 - First Quarter (or Half) Moon
4 - Waxing Gibbous
5 - Full Moon
6 - Waning Gibbous
7 - Third Quarter Moon
8 - Waning Crescent
Assign this 5 minute video to your students: Moon Craters Investigation . The video presents the concept of craters on the Moon and gives students instructions for carrying out their own investigation at home.
Materials: shoebox, sand, three different sized rocks, ruler
Investigation:
1 - Fill the shoebox with sand. The sand should be about 3 inches deep. Use your ruler to measure how deep the sand is.
2 - Smooth out the sand with your hand to create a flat surface.
3 - Use your ruler to measure three feet above the sand.
4 - Hold a rock three feet above the sand and drop it into the sand.
5 - Observe what happens to the sand.
6 - Repeat with the medium and the large rock. Record your observations.
7 - Ask students what they observe once the rock hits the sand in the box. Make a table like the one below for students to fill in. Students record their observations after they drop each different sized rock into the sand.
8 - Conduct a meaning making circle with your students to allow them to share their observations. Ask students to analyze the information in their tables. Lead the discussion starting with, what happened and why did this happen? Is there a pattern to how craters form?
Do larger objects make deeper craters?
Do smaller objects make craters that are more shallow?
How did the craters on the Moon form? (Asteroids hit the surface of the Moon to form the craters. )
Object | Size (small, medium, largest) | Describe what happened and why you think it happened | Drawing of the crater | Size of the crater (inches) |
Rock 1 | ||||
Rock 2 | ||||
Rock 3 |
*This chart can be printed and given to students or inserted as a PDF file into a Seesaw assignment.
Read aloud and independent reading
- Begin by referring to page 31 Moon Legends and Stories in The Moon Book by Gail Gibbons. Tell students that humans have always been fascinated and puzzled by our Moon so there are many legends and stories about the Moon. Tell them that they will be reading a legend about the Moon.
- Assign How the Moon Regained Her Shape by Janet Ruth Heller in Epic. This book is also available in Spanish. It recounts the legend of how the Sun bullied the Moon and the Moon got so upset that it disappeared from the sky. The Moon’s friends help her to regain her self-confidence and reappear in the sky. This book is also available in Spanish in Epic, Como la luna recobró su forma.
- Read the book with your students or assign it as independent reading. Differentiation: class read aloud, small group, independent reading
- Ask students to retell the legend in their own words. Alternatively, you can print or copy the following sentences and ask students to arrange the events in sequence as they happened in the story.
How the Moon Regained Her Shape: Sequence of Events
1 - Now if someone hurts her feelings and she dwindles, she always remembers her friends and regains her strength and fullness.
2 - Once the moon was round and full.
3 - The moon visited Round Arms on Earth.
4 - The moon felt better and regained her self-confidence.
5 - Round Arms showed her how the people and animals loved and missed her.
6 - One day she danced across the face of the sun and the sun yelled at her.
7 - The moon danced and sang all the way back to her sky path.
8 - The moon’s feelings were hurt and she began to shrink until she was a sliver of her former self.
Home/School Connection (allow students to choose one assignment)
- Ask your family members to tell you any stories or legends that they were told as children about the moon. Write the story in your own words and draw a picture.
- Write and illustrate a poem about the Moon.
- Start today by telling students that legends are cultural stories that are
passed down by word of mouth from one generation to the next. Legends are
often used to try to explain naturally occurring events. In this case, How
the Moon Regained Her Shape “explains” why the moon changes
phases throughout a month. Tell students that they will be writing their
own legend.
- Ask students to write and illustrate their own story about:
Why the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.
Why clouds move through the sky.
Why the rivers flow into the sea.
Why do we hear thunder in the sky?
Why leaves turn different colors and then fall off the trees in autumn.
Why seasons change from spring to summer
Why zebras have black and white stripes
Why birds sing in the morning
- If time permits, you can plan time for a session of “Author’s Chair” presentations to allow students to share their legends.
Read aloud and independent reading
- Read The Stars (Journey Through Space) by Jeff Wimbush (available in Epic) with your students. Students follow along as you read.
- Start by previewing the book with your students. Review the text features of a nonfiction text.
- Ask students to pay attention to the important words in bold text.
- Assign this book for independent reading.
Vocabulary Words
- Give students the following list of vocabulary words from The Stars (Journey Through Space). Ask students to make a list of the vocabulary words in alphabetical order. If you are teaching a dual language class, you can also ask students to identify the words that are Spanish/English cognates.
- Ask students to choose four vocabulary words. Students need to write the definition of the word, write one complete sentence using the word and illustrate the word.
The Stars (Journey Through Space) | ||
light-year | clusters | constellation |
gravity | galaxies | telescope |
core | rotate | nebulas |
axis | supernova | orbit |
Are Stars Moving?
- Begin by referring to pages 14-15 in The Stars (Journey Through Space). Start your discussion by asking: Are stars moving? Read page 14 with students. Explain that stars appear to move because the Earth rotates on its axis. Explain that Earth’s rotation on its axis causes day and night.
- Introduce the “Follow a Star Activity” on page 15. This activity can be assigned throughout the week to allow students to follow a star for several nights and document their observations.
- Students need to:
- Go out on a clear night and find a bright star that is low in the sky.
- Draw a picture of where the star is, using a reference landmark such as a treetop or the top of a building.
- Wait one or two hours. Go back to the same place you went to before and draw the star’s location again. Remember to use the reference landmark. Did the star move?
Assign a solar system project as a final activity for this unit. Allow students one week to complete a project of their choice from the choice board below.
Solar System Project Choice Board Choose one of the following projects. You can use any of the books that we read in Epic to research information for your project. Be creative and remember to use recycled materials from your home to do your project. | ||
Create a 3D model of the solar system. Be sure to label each planet. BE CREATIVE! | Create a solar system poster. Make sure it is neat. Show the orbits of the planets. | Choose one planet that has more than one moon. Create a 3D model of the planet and its moons. |
Create a solar system mobile.This can be made using a clothes hanger. | Create a solar system book, with a different planet and fact on each page of the book. | Research 2 constellations. Create a constellation poster. |