Space Across the Curriculum Lesson Plan

Discovering Scale Using Our Solar System

Objectives

Participants will:

• Explain the concept of scale using the Earth and Moon. 
• Build a model of the solar system to scale using beads.  

Suggested Grade Level

3^rd-5^th

Subject Areas

Science

Math

Social Studies

Timeline

Two Class Periods 

Standards

Science

NS.K-12.4 Earth and Space Science

• Properties of earth materials
• Objects in the sky
• Changes in earth and sky

Math

NM 3-5 Measurement

• Students will understand the need for measuring in standard units.

Math

NM.ALG.PK-12 Use Mathematical Models to Represent and Understand Quantitative Relationships

Social Studies

NCSS People, Places and Environments

·       Encourage learners to construct, use, and refine maps, calculate distance, scale, and organize information.

Background

            Scale is a difficult concept for students to grasp. Creating 1:1 scales, or full sized maps and models, is a good start when discussing this mathematical concept. A real life application for using scale is reading maps. We need to be able to do math and discover correct distances when going from one town to another.  Cartographers (map-makers) cannot just guess sizes and distances on maps or there would be a lot of lost people wandering around looking for their destination saying “it’s around here somewhere.” Scale is a very precise math; not a guess.

A very great misconception in the science world is the scale of the planets in our solar system. We are going to give students a greater cognitive understanding of scale using the planets in our solar system. Oftentimes, pictures depicting the planets and moons are created without taking scale into account. This is what causes these misconceptions to formulate in students’ minds. Scale is a mathematical concept that you can create a model of a larger object in correct proportions. For example, NASA can create a 1:15 scale model of a rocket, be able to take measurements of that model, and from there make decisions about the full sized rocket without going to the trouble of measuring the 50 foot tall rocket itself. It is almost impossible to wrap our minds around how big the solar system is and how spread apart it is. So creating a small model of the solar system gives students a much better idea of the correct proportions and just how big space really is.

Vocabulary

Hypothesis, Scale, Model, Solar System, Planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune

Materials

Butcher Paper (two pieces per student)

Photos of space models at various scales (examples below)

Globe

Variety of different sized balls

Tennis Ball

8 planet beads per group (one orange, one red, one light blue, one dark red, one brown, one tan, one green, one blue)

1 piece of string per group

94 black spacer beads per group

String

Copy paper

Crayons/ Markers

Books about space

Lesson Day 1

1. Give each student a piece of butcher paper, roughly the size of the top of his or her desk. Ask students to place a few objects on the butcher paper and trace them with a marker. (Objects could include books, notebooks, pencils, glue bottles, etc.)
2. Explain that students have just created a map of their desks. Introduce the word “scale.” Tell students that the scale of their map is 1:1 or “full scale”. In other words the map is life sized: the actual size of all the objects.  Pose the following questions to students and allow them to discuss:

a.     What do we use maps for? To help us find which way to go.

2. If you created a 1:1 map of the school would be very helpful? No. Because it would be exactly as big as the school and you couldn’t use it to find your way.
2. Show students photos of models of different space objects at various scales. Ask why we build space shuttles at 1:15 scale. If we built it 1:1 it would be way too big. Building it to scale means everything is in its proper place. People could take measurements of the models, do some math, and the numbers would be accurate. (See examples below)
3. Tell students they are now going to create a 1:2 scale drawing of their desk map. Because it is 1:2, students need to divide every number in half. For instance, if the whole map was 2 feet by one foot, in scale it is 1 foot by six inches. If their notebook is 11 inches by 8 inches, to scale it would be 5 ½ inches by 4 inches.  When they are finished with their map they will give it to a partner and have them read the 1:2 map and try to re-create the full-scale map using the correct objects.
4. Explain that you are now going to discuss scale using the Earth and Moon. Hold up a 9 in diameter globe and say that this will represent the Earth. Ask students if this globe is the actual size of the Earth. No it is not. It is to scale. A full-sized model of the Earth would not be helpful because it would be as big as the planet.
5. Show students a variety of different sized balls from a bouncy ball all the way up to a basketball. Ask students to predict which ball was the correct size to be our globe Earth’s moon. Allow students to discuss among themselves, and then pick a few to come up and explain their reasoning. Tell students that the tennis ball is the correct size.
6. Now ask students how far away they think the Moon is from the Earth in our model. Pick a few to come up and stand where they think the moon would be.
7. Using string, show students how far apart the Moon and Earth should be. The distance from the Earth to the Moon is about the same as 9 and ½ times around the earth. So, if you wrap a piece of string 9 and ½ times around the globe, that will be how far away the tennis ball Moon model should be from the globe Earth.
8. That seems to be a really far distance. Ask students if they are surprised by this information.

Lesson Day 2

1. Begin by reviewing the concept of scale from yesterday.
2. Explain that in the model yesterday both the size of the Earth and Moon were correct and the distance between them was correct. Tell students that in our model today, the distance between planets will be correct, but the size will not be correct. Sometimes, as scientists, we need to pick only one thing to focus on. Today’s focus is correct scaled distance.
3. Place students in groups and pass out the planet beads and a handful of spacer beads to each group.
4. Write on the whiteboard what planet each color bead represents. Mercury=Orange, Venus=Red, Earth=Light Blue, Mars=Dark Red, Jupiter=Brown, Saturn=Tan, Uranus=Green, and Neptune=Blue.
5. As the students to make a hypothesis in their groups about how far apart all the planets are from each other. (Have a quick discussion to activate background knowledge about what a hypothesis is.) Have them lay the beads out on a desk and place black spacer beads in between the planet beads. Have students draw a picture of their hypotheses.
6. When they are done, ask them to count the total number of beads in their solar system. Then have one person from each group line up in order from smallest number of beads to greatest number of beads.

a.     Discuss good character and how we all have different ideas. It’s not okay to make fun of someone for having a different idea than you.  Our classroom should be a place where our classmates feel safe (to quote Ms. Frizzle) to take chances, make mistakes, and get messy.

7.     Pass out the pieces of string. As a class, read aloud the following chart and have everyone put the beads on the string correctly.

1 spacer

Mercury (orange bead)

1 spacer

Venus (red bead)

1 spacer

Earth (light blue bead)

1 spacer

Mars (dark red bead)

12 spacers

Jupiter (brown bead)

14 spacers

Saturn (tan bead)

30 spacers

Uranus (green bead)

34 spacers

Neptune (blue bead)

8.     Ask the students to discuss in their group if their hypothesis was correct. Then they need to draw a picture of what their string of beads looks like now.

Extensions

·       Each black spacer bead is equivalent to 30 million miles. Have students find the distance between Mercury and Neptune using their string of beads. They need to work in their groups to do the math. Then, they must write a paragraph explaining how they solved this problem.

·       Have students look through assorted books about space for any information regarding planetary scale. They can share what they find with the class.

Evaluation/Assessment

Informal observation: students working collaboratively together in groups and all students are participating

Drawing of hypothesized bead solar system compared to accurate drawing of bead solar system

Completed solar system string of beads (one per group)

Resources

Elementary Science Program: http://www.espsciencetime.org/student_life.cfm?subpage=295515

NASA Lesson: Solar System Math: http://quest.nasa.gov/vft/docs/SSML1/SSML1Tchr.pdf

Space Foundation Lesson- Play-Doh Scale Solar System

Space Foundation Lesson- Pluto’s Not a Planet

USGS Lesson on Map Scale: http://egsc.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/teachers-packets/mapadventures/malessn7.html

Examples of space models to scale: Would use larger pictures and hands on models with students.

Crispin Cross of Lead

Crispin cross of lead

I absolutely love to read children’s literature. It may be my favorite genre. But I definitely get stuck in the rut of reading the same kinds of books and historic fiction is not usually my cup of tea. So I went into Crispin fully preparing to not like it. And at first I had a really hard time getting into it, but then Avi definitely sucked me and I got lost in the story.

I don’t think that this is a book I would use with my kiddos. I think they are too young, first of all, and I also think there is a lot of talk of religion. I kind of hate that teachers need to be so politically correct in schools nowadays, and I can just hear the angry parent emails already. In a public school I think it’s too touchy of a subject to delve into, or at least delve into well. If I taught older kids, or if we studied the time period in the book it might make more sense.

Some other award winning books I have read include The View from Saturday by EL Konigsburg and A Ring of Endless Light by Madeleine L’engle. It’s hard to compare books like these. I think that historic fiction is such a different genre because there is so much research and background that go into it. And if you have the background info on the time period of a book you will take something much different from it than a person who knows nothing of the history.

It’s good they have guidelines for the Newberry Award because something like great literature is so subjective and changes from person to person. I can’t even imagine having to pick a winner. I think it would be incredibly hard. Throughout Newberry winners I see a lot of common themes. They are often great tales of childhood, and children overcoming tremendous obstacles. These books all have great morals that I would want to share with my children.

Chapter Books

Two of the books I read this week were The BFG by Roald Dahl and The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl. I do use both of these books with my third graders. I so an author study in my class where each reading group is doing books by the same author. Dahl has a very wide range of reading levels among his books. The Magic Finger I use with my lower readers. It is considered a grade level 3.1 equivalent. I use The BFG with my advanced readers. It is considered a 4.8 grade level equivalent. When we get together as a class to discuss our books I like to Identify similarities and differences with the different books by the same author. We talk about the tone of the book, the style of writing, the kind of words used, and the moral of the stories. Students could even create a venn diagram to show their findings. Another activity could be using non-linguistic representations. Students could “jigsaw” read the books and then share what their book was about in a creative fashion, such as a play they act out. That way all the students in the class will have an idea about what each book was about, while only needing to read one of the books. Jigsaw is a great way to get a lot of information to students while they only need to master a small piece of the information. 

Read Aloud: La Luna

I created a youtube video of me doing my read aloud. Here is the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3_hN4fRNTU

I think the biggest challenge I might encounter when reading aloud is students’ different exposures to literature. Kids bring their own background knowledge and experiences to stories read aloud and they all react differently. There is no way I could prepare for each students’ response to the book. Also, students can only sit for certain amounts of time and I feel as though society has fostered children to have short attention spans. Getting them to focus on a story for more than ten minutes is sometimes impossible. (And people wonder why students get super antsy and do a poor job sitting for an hour taking TCAP tests.) Children also no longer have any imagination! They never get bored because as soon a s they are bored an adult finds something to entertain them. They are in a world where everything is entertaining them. They don’t need to imagine or make up games when they can play video games that have already been imagined for them. I foresee this being a real problem in the future. Read aloud and reading in general is a remedy for this. Reading takes kids into new worlds where they get to use their imagination to furnish the universe. Read aloud is beneficial as a model for students to hear great reading. It is also just enjoyable. I tell my third graders when I am reading aloud as part of a lesson (as more of a think aloud) they need to be sitting up and focusing, but every day I do read aloud just for fun and the students can sit with stuffed animals and lay down on the floor and I turn down the lights. I want students to just enjoy the written word and use their imaginations.

Children's Literature Websites

One of the sites I found and really enjoyed is the site for Chris Van Ahllsburg. http://www.chrisvanallsburg.com/home.html

I love Chris Van Allsburg’s books. They are wonderfully written and beautifully illustrated. They also have great morals and themes that make them wonderful books for classroom discussion. One of my favorite books of his is The Mysteries of Harris Burdick. This book lends itself to creative writing and there is a place on the website where students can actually submit the stories they have written to Van Allsburg.

Another site I found was Roald Dahl’s website. http://www.roalddahl.com/

It is very fun and interactive and I use it with my third graders because we do an author study of Dahl. They just enjoy getting to explore the site and all the interactive features.

More Websites: 

http://www.scholastic.com/home/

Scholastic has fantastic teaching resources available, many for free. Printables, daily starters, book clubs and videos are just a few of the things teachers have access to.

http://www.goodreads.com/

This site is not specifically for children’s literature. It is a book social networking website. I would show my kids how to use it and allow them to peruse it themselves. You put in and rate books that you have read and the site recommends books to you based on the reading you have done. This would be fantastic for reluctant readers to help them find appropriate and interesting books to read.

http://www.childrensliteraturenetwork.org/

This site has video book trailers that give a book talk to get kids excited about reading. It also has video interviews with authors and illustrators to get kids excited about writing!

A Book That Stands Out To Me

I absolutely love The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, by Chris Van Allsburg. This book is a series of illustrations with a title and a picture caption. The pictures do not go together, but rather they are all pictures out of different books that haven’t actually been written. This book is fantastic to use with creative writing. If you put up just one of the pictures, all of your students could write a different fantasy story based on that one picture and caption. It could be a really cool lesson in creativity to share all the different places students took their stories based on the same image. It could also be a cool character lesson to show that we all have different backgrounds and have had different experiences and even though we are seeing the same picture, we are all seeing it differently. We are all unique and none of the answers are wrong, just different, and really great to share with our friends.

My favorite image in this book is titled A Strange Day in July. The picture caption reads, “He threw with all his might but the third stone came skipping back.” The picture is in black and white. There is a boy who looks to be about eight years old and a girl who looks six or seven. You can’t see either of their faces because their backs are turned to us. You can see just a bit of sandy beach at the bottom of the page. There are large rocks in the sand and some wild grass sticking out here and there. The whole top of the page is water, and the sun is shining on the water so spectacularly. There are sun spots glistening all over the water so that you can tell is a sun shiny day. However, neither child is dressed for a day at the beach: the boy is wearing long pants and a long sleeved shirt. The girls is wearing a fancy light colored dress. It looks like she could wear it in a wedding or to church on Sunday. Both of their hair is shining in the sunlight as well. There is one rock hovering over the water. You can’t tell if it is skipping away or towards the beach.