Lesson Plan
Miss. McHugh
Unit Topic or Theme: Science
Grade: Grade 4
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Lesson Topic or Theme: Solar System
Lesson Objectives:
- Students will be able to put the
planets in order from the sun
- Students will be able to identify
each planet based on the material learned in class
- Hottest and coldest planet
(Mercury and Venus)
- Which planet has life (Earth)
- Which planets have rings
(Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune)
- Nickname of Mars (Red Planet)
- Students will be able to
understand the sun is a star and Pluto is a dwarf planet
Instructional Technique:
Instructional Materials:
- Worksheet
(From All Kids Network) {Click here for a copy of this
worksheet}
- Informational
Worksheet (Made by J.J. Kelto; edited by me) {Click here
for a copy of this worksheet}
- Website
created by teacher with worksheet {Click
here for a copy of
this worksheet}
Works
Cited
Kelto, J.J. . "Introduction to the
Nine Planets in our Solar System." Kelto Link Page. 3
Dec. 2004. Web. 20 Apr. 2013.
<http://ellerbruch.nmu.edu/classes/CS255F04/
cs255students/jbowerman/P11/SpacePDF>.
"Solar System Worksheet." All Kids
Network. Web. 20 Apr. 2013.
<http://www.allkidsnetwork.com/worksheets/space/solar-system-worksheet.asp>.
Theoretical Perspective: It is important for students to know about
their surroundings. They
should know that earth is just one of the eight planets orbiting
our sun. They need to
also be aware that knowledge of outer space is constantly
changing.
Procedure:
A. Introductory Activity (if
applicable)
- Students will be seated at their
desks, which are arranged in four groups of four. Each group will have
two photographs, each of a planet. The groups will have
two big sheets of lined paper.
Their job is to describe the planets on the pieces of
paper.
- After, the teacher will tape each
description and picture on the board and the students will
discuss them to familiarize themselves with each planet. The
descriptions and pictures will be taped in the correct order
that the planets actually are in space starting from the sun.
B. Step-by-step (descriptive
outline)
- The students will be given the planet
fact sheet. It
will be read by the teacher and the students will follow
along. Each
student will have a highlighter.
The teacher will let the students know what to
highlight on the sheet, indicating what facts they should know
about each planet.
- The students will be given the "Our
Solar System" worksheet.
Students can work on this worksheet in their table
groups, but each student will color and fill in his/her
worksheet.
- Each student will go on the website
made by the teacher and fill out the corresponding worksheet
as they go through the site.
The filled out worksheet will be turned into the
teacher after as an assessment tool.
C. Closure
- The room will be separated into eight
sections, each assigned to a planet. The students go to
the section assigned to the planet they would choose to go to
if they could. Each
group of students will discuss with one another why they would
choose to visit this planet, and then present their reasons to
the class.
D. Adaptations for different
learners
- There will be pictures and colors on
the website to help with struggling readers and English
Language Learners.
- If an English Language Learner needs
help going through the website and worksheet, the teacher will
be more than happy to help them understand what is being
asked.
- For students who struggle with
reading, the external links on the website that lead to more
information about the solar system are videos, not text.
This helps provide a visual as well as eliminates text to
read. This can be beneficial to visual learners as ELLs,
since it provides a visual as well as audio.
E. Homework
- Draw the sun, followed by the planets
in the correct order. However,
instead of actually drawing the planets, draw objects (such as
a basketball, a tennis ball, etc.) to show their differences
in sizes. This
does not need to be perfect. As long as you have the right
idea, you did it correct!
Evaluation:
A. How/ when will you determine if
you have met your objectives?
- Students will be able to put the
planets in order from the sun
- This will be determined by one
of the questions on the website & worksheet. If the students
write down the correct order of the planets, they will meet
the guidelines for demonstrating their knowledge of the
order of the planets.
- Students will be able to identify
each planet based on the material learned in class
- The worksheet that the students
fill out while on the website will determine if they can
meet this objective. If
they get the correct answers, they met the objective.
- Students will be able to
understand the sun is a star and Pluto is a dwarf planet
- The worksheet that the students
fill out while on the website will determine if they can
meet this objective. If
they get the correct answers to the questions involving this
information, they met the objective.
B. Concerns or questions you have
about teaching this lesson?
- Originally I was thinking about
including a book on the solar system for the students to read,
but I decided against it since the books I looked at had a lot
of information about each of the planets. I feel like all of
the information in the book would overwhelm the students, so I
chose to use the planet fact sheet instead. I hope I made the
right decision.
Click here to
go home.
Click here for the lesson plan in
the form of a Microsoft Word document.