Star Unit

Fifth Grade Science,

Star light, star bright! Teach students all about constellations and earth movement with this engaging science
lesson plan. Broken out over several days, this unit encourages students to research and report on a
constellation.

Learning Objectives

Students will demonstrate their understanding of constellation patterns and earth movement by writing and
illustrating a legend about a specific constellation.

Materials and preparation Key terms

Computers/netbooks/tablets for student star

research constellation
Discovering the Stars by Laurence Santrey, or northern hemisphere
similar book southern hemisphere
Books about specific star constellations axis
Projector to show online videos to the whole rotate
class revolve
Constellation handouts

Attachments

Research (DOCX)
Constellation Notes (DOCX)
Constellation Legend (DOCX)

Introduction (10 minutes)

Day 1

Start a group discussion by prompting students to tell you what they see in the sky at night. Great
discussion questions include: What do you see in the sky at night? What do you notice about the stars?
Do you think people on the other side of the globe see the same stars and constellations as we do? Why
or why not?
EL

Beginning: Pre-teach key terms and visuals relating to constellations, stars, and space for context. Allow
them to use the terms aloud and in writing.
Give them sentence starters to assist in their discussions.
Intermediate: Provide an opportunity to share in small groups before sharing with the whole group.
Allow ELs to share discussion responses in their home language (L1) or new language (L2) and provide
the following sentence frames:
I think...
When I look at the night sky, I notice...

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Explicit Instruction/Teacher modeling (50 minutes)

Day 1 (20 minutes)

Begin with a picture walk with the book Discovering the Stars by Laurence Santrey, or a similar book
about specific star constellations.
Have the students predict what they think they will learn about in the book based on the pictures. Next,
read the book to the class.
Make a list with the students about what they learned from the book.

Day 2 (30 minutes)

Have students watch the video I Want to Know: Stars and Constellations by Lucerne Media.
Next, play the video Do the Stars Really Move? by the California Institute of Technology for the class.
Tell your students that they will each choose one constellation to study. They will learn if their
constellation is visible from earth during summer, spring, autumn, and winter.
Finally, have your students listen to the song Constellation Jig by Space Songs.
EL

Beginning: Preview the video by giving a summary and pre-teaching the key terms in the video.
Allow them to use sentence starters for their discussion.
Intermediate: Write the words for the Constellation Jig song on chart paper so students can read or sing
along to the song. Provide the following sentence frames for the picture book walk:
I predict...
I notice...

Guided Practice (60 minutes)

Day 3 (30 minutes)

Remind your students that they’re going to pick one constellation for a research project.
Inform them that a part of the project is being able to tell if their constellations are visible all the time or
only during certain parts of the year.
Show the students information about constellations during each season. Use The Night Sky at Different
Times site, or another with similar information.
Discuss what you are seeing on the website as you explore as a class.
Define the Key Terms for your class, as follows: star: an object that shines due to energy being released
from nuclear reactions; constellation: a group of visible stars that form a pattern when viewed from
Earth; northern hemisphere: area above the equator; southern hemisphere: area below the equator;
axis: an imaginary line that runs through the center of Earth; rotate: to turn on an axis; revolve: when
an object moves in a circle around another object

Day 4 (30 minutes)

Remind the students that they need to pick one constellation.

Pick a constellation, and model for your class how to do research on it. Great resources include:
Constellation attachment, Greek Mythology for each constellation, by the Tulare County of Education and
Pictures of the 12 Zodiac Constellations.
Walk through how to use each of these resources.
EL

Beginning: Use vocabulary cards and visuals during the vocabulary instruction portion and simplify the
language of the definitions. Allow ELs to share what they see in the visuals to show their understanding of
the words.
Intermediate: Use a globe for a physical representation of the key terms. Limit constellation choices to
three texts that you've reworded using rewordify.com, or a similar website.

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Independent working time (150 minutes)

Day 5 (30 minutes) Have students pick the constellation they’d like to study. Explain to the students that you
want them to:

Create a 7-10 sentence summary of the Greek mythology behind each constellation
Inform the reader when and where the constellation can be seen
Draw or create a model of the constellation
Model how to use the note page (see attachment).

Day 6 (30 minutes)

Visit the library to get additional resource books for the students to utilize in their research.

Day 7 (30 minutes)

Tell students to work on their 7-10 sentence summary of the Greek mythology behind their
constellations.

Day 8 (30 minutes)

Have your class work on their explanations on when and where the constellation is visible.

Day 9 (30 minutes)

Tell your students to create a drawing or model of the constellation.

EL

Beginning: Ask student volunteers to repeat or rephrase the instructions to show their understanding of
the expectations.
Intermediate: Write a checklist on the board for all the steps ELs are required to complete and limit the
steps to three at a time.

Related books and/or media

Find interactive books for each child’s level.

Differentiation

Enrichment: The teacher can encourage the students above grade level to create a multiple paragraph
summary that compares and contrasts the Greek mythology of the constellation to the Roman
mythology.
Support: For below level students, the teacher should pick a constellation that has an easily understood
Greek myth with ample resources in all reading levels ex. Ursa Major or Ursa Minor. The teacher can cut
down on the length of the summary, too.

Assessment (5 minutes)

Use the following rubric to assess each student's work, dependent on their development level:

Above grade level: Student includes an accurate multi-paragraph summary, in his/her own words, of the
Greek (and possibly Roman) mythology behind his/her constellation; explains when and where the
constellation can be seen on Earth; has an accurate model or drawing of the constellation.
At grade level: Student includes a 7-10 sentence summary of the Greek mythology behind his/her
constellation; informs the reader when and where the constellation can be seen from Earth; draws or
creates an accurate model of the constellation.
Below grade level: Student includes some sort of summary of the Greek mythology behind his/her
constellation but it may be less than 7 sentences or incorrect; student attempts to explain where and
when the constellation can be seen from Earth but is missing information; drawing or model is not
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 completely accurate.
Far below grade level: Student is missing one of the three requirements and/or the summary, explanation
or drawing/model is completely inaccurate.
EL

Beginning: Model completing the paragraph frame with a different constellation. Ask students to draw
pictures with words from a word bank if they're not fluent in L2. Allow them to write in their L1 in addition
to using L2 vocabulary terms.
Intermediate: Allow ELs to orally summarize their myths and information about their chosen
constellation, then write it on their paper. Provide a paragraph frame for their constellation descriptions:
The Greek mythology story is about____. In the myth,____. You can see the constellation in the____
hemisphere. We're in the____hemisphere, so the constellation____visible.

Review and closing (5 minutes)

The research notes, final paper, and drawing/model completed by students will show whether or not they
understand that the constellations stay put while the earth rotates.
After the students are done filling out the note page, they should edit and create a final copy. All the final
copies will be used to create a star book.
EL

Beginning: Allow ELs to share their final product orally with partners, then adjust their assignments as
necessary.
Intermediate: Ask students to answer the following questions during their small-group sharing: "How
does your constellation relate to the Greek Myth? In what hemisphere can you see the constellation?"

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