SUN, MOON, & STARS

SUN, MOON, & STARS LESSON

Directions:

Print the Sun, Moon, & Stars reading comprehension passage and questions (see below).

Students should read the passage silently, then answer the questions.  Teachers may also use the text as part of a classroom lesson plan.

Exercise:

To better explain how the solar system is comprised, you may want to have the children bring nine foam balls of different sizes to represent each planet. Have on hand craft paint or finger paint that is green, blue, black, grey, yellow and red. After the planets are painted, use a string to push through each one so that the student will be able to take them home and hang them on their ceiling. This is approximately a two-day project.

Another project would be to hold an evening event with parents in attendance and have children bring telescopes, binoculars or anything to look at the planets and moon.

Because of its reddish tint Mars is known as the Red Planet. Venus, the brightest planet in the sky after the sun and moon, is called the Evening Star because it is seen so often in the sky at sunset.

Mercury, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter also appear as evening stars. Using a light bulb in a small lamp as the sun, and a ball as the moon, hold the ball in your hand and slowly move it in a circle around the illuminated bulb. The light on the ball will mirror the phases of the moon.

Lesson Excerpt

The Sun

The sun is the brightest object in sky and in our universe. It is a huge ball made up of very hot gases that gives the Earth heat and light. Without heat and light, there would be no life on the Earth. The sun is a star. It is the closest star to earth.

The Sun's Family

The Earth is a planet that goes around the sun. Planets do not have their own light. They travel around the sun and get their light from the sun. The sun has nine planets that go around it. The earth is a part of this family. The nine planets are Mercury, Jupiter, Neptune, Earth, Venus, Mars, Saturn, Uranus and Pluto. The sun and its nine planets belong to one solar system. Solar means the sun. Our Sun's total solar system is made from: the sun, nine planets, their satellites, comets and asteroids.

The Stars

On a clear night, we can see thousands of stars twinkling in the sky. The groups of stars are Constellations. Constellations have been given names after animals or people of ancient myths. The most famous groups of stars that have been given names include the Big Dipper, the Small Dipper, the Great Bear, and Orion the Hunter.

The Moon

The moon is a ball made of rock that revolves around the Earth. It is our nearest neighbor in space. It is about 384,400 km (238,900 miles) away. It takes 27.3 days to orbit the Earth. The moon has no light of its own, and is lit by the light from the sun. (continued...)