THE SOLAR SYSTEM

3RD GRADE
HAILEIGH BELL
EDU 214
OBJECTIVE

Students will learn about the solar system

and the planets that orbit our solar system.
Me: Good Morning Class!

Students: Good Morning Ms. Bell!

Me: Today we are going to learn about our solar system.

Does anyone know what planet we live on?
(a student blurts out)
Student: Earth!

Me: Great job! We are going to learn about our solar

system and what planets are in our solar system. Does
anyone know what a solar system is?

Student: Where earth is?

Me: Correct, earth is apart of a solar system, but a solar system
is The Solar System is the Sun and all the objects that orbit
around it. Earth is not the only planet in the solar system, does
anyone know how many planets are in our solar system?
(one student raises their hand)

Student: nine
Me: Close but no, there are eight planets. The planets are Mars,
Earth, Venus, Jupiter, Uranus, Saturn, Mercury, and Neptune. Does
anyone know what an orbit is?
(No response from students)

Me: An orbit is the path that an object takes in space when it goes
around a star, a planet, or a moon. So the planets in our solar system
orbit around the sun.
(Student raises hand)
Student: Is the sun a planet?

Me: No the sun is a star.

Me: Lets talk about our eight planets, What do we know about the planets?
(students raise their hands)
Student 1: Earth is where we live

Student 2: Mars is one of the planets next to us.

Me: You are both correct, today we’ll talk about the four planets closest to the sun and tomorrow we will talk about the
four planets furthest away from the son. Does anyone know what the four planets closest to the sun are?

Student: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars

Me: You are correct! (Shows a picture of our solar system and the planets).
Mercury is the smallest and innermost planet in the Solar System. Its orbit around
the Sun takes 87.97 days, the shortest of all the planets in the Solar System.
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is named after the Roman goddess
of love and beauty. As the second-brightest natural object in the night sky after
the Moon, Venus can cast shadows and, rarely, is visible to the naked eye in broad
daylight. Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only
astronomical object known to harbor life. According to radiometric dating
and other evidence, Earth formed over 4.5 billion years ago. Earth's gravity interacts with other objects in
space, especially the Sun and the Moon, which is Earth's only natural satellite.
Me: and the fourth planet we are going to learn about is Mars, Mars is
the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the
Solar System after Mercury.

Me: Today I am going to break the class into eight groups. You will be
working together and will be assigned a planet to present later on.
(I divide the class into eight groups)

Students: How fun!

Me: I am going to show a video on our solar system and feel free to take
notes of any information from the video. For homework I want you to go
home and look up facts about your planet you are assigned to.
THE SOLAR
SYSTEM
WHAT IS A SOLAR SYSTEM?

• The Solar System is the Sun and all the objects that orbit around it. The Sun is
orbited by planets, asteroids, comets and other things.
• The Solar System is about 4.6 billion years old
• There are 8 planets in our solar system
• Mars, Earth, Venus, Mercury, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, and Jupiter
WHAT IS AN ORBIT?

• An orbit is the path that an object takes in space when it goes around a star, a
planet, or a moon
• The eight planets orbit the sun
• Our moon orbits the Earth
WHAT IS PLUTO?

• Pluto is an icy dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies

beyond the orbit of Neptune. It was the first and the largest Kuiper
belt object to be discovered. Pluto was discovered by Clyde
Tombaugh in 1930 and declared to be the ninth planet from the
Sun.
• Not considered a primary planet
VIDEO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8y8kc317EE
ACTIVITY
Students will we put into groups of eight and
each group will be assigned a planet. These eight
groups will do a project on their planet that is
assigned to them. They will work together to
make a model and use PowerPoint to present to
the class about their planet.
 4 3 2 1

RUBRIC Teamwork/
Group Effort
Everyone worked
together using his
or her abilities and
knowledge to
We worked
together so that
everyone
contributed to the
We worked
together most of
the time, sharing
information
We did most of
the work by
ourselves, we
talked a little
make the project final project regularly among our group
come together members

Listening Skills Student listens Student listens Student does not Student does not
when others talk, when others talk, listen when others listen when others
both in groups both in groups talk, both in talk, both in
and in class. and in class. groups and in groups and in
Student class. class. Student
incorporates or often interrupts
builds off of the when others
ideas of others. speak.

Preparation/ Student is almost Student is usually Student is rarely Student is

always prepared prepared for class prepared for class almost never
Presentation for class with with assignments with assignments prepared for class
assignments and and required class and required class with assignments
required class materials. materials. and required class
materials. materials.
SPECIAL NEEDS ACCOMMODATION

A student with a hearing impairment I can accommodate

their learning by printing out notes for them and follow a
long. I would partner up the student with a willing
classmate. If watching a video about the solar system I can
add the captions so the student can follow a long. Lastly, if
needed we can have an assistive hearing technology that
can assist.