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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

How Far Away Are the Planets?

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Young scholars name nine planets in order, describe some notable characteristics of the planets, explain how distance from the sun may affect these characteristics, and create solar system models.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What's Your Favorite Planet?

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders, after listing the nine planets and their differences, choose one planet as their favorite. From the information acquired on each students favorite planet, they make a graph illustrating their favorites and then transform...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Modeling Hot and Cold Planets

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students, in teams, design and construct models of two planets, one hot and the other cold, using a variety of materials. They attempt to create the models out of substances that will actually show the greatest temperature differences...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

The Wanderers: Planets of Our Solar System

For Students 5th - 6th
In this planets worksheet, students read a detailed 3 page text about the planets in our solar system. Students then complete 21 true/false and multiple choice questions about planets.
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Worksheet
Curated OER

A Family of Planets-Science Puzzlers, Twisters & Teasers

For Students 5th - 8th
For this space science worksheet, students complete 7 science puzzles, riddles, word scrambles, and teasers about the planets and solar system.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Space: Our Star, the Sun, and Its Friends, the Planets

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Students examine the solar system. In this space lesson, students identify the order of the planets and their relative size to the sun. Students create a scale model of our solar system using a variety of household objects.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Physics of the Planets: How 16th and 17th Century Physicist Helped Us Understand Our Solar System

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders draw the paths of the planets in the solar system. In this astronomy lesson, 8th graders calculate speed of objects using distance and time information. They research about the work of scientists in the 16th and 17th century.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Planets in a Row

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Learners use Internet to research and take notes about each planet for a fact book. They then illustrate each page in the fact book and check their facts with a solar system key. When finished, they display their work and share new facts...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Reading Comprehension Worksheet: Planet Earth

For Students 4th - 6th
After reading five short paragraphs about planet earth, students must answer 4 comprehension questions about the topic. This worksheet provides great practice for state testing in language arts. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Protecting the Planet

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students discuss being a responsible student by helping to protect the rainforest. In this citizenship lesson, students brainstorm ideas to help global warming, warfare, human-rights abuses and acid rain. Students write an essay to send...
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Lesson Plan
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Curated OER

Planets in the Solar System

For Teachers 3rd - 4th
Explore the planets with your young Spanish speakers. First, read Los Planetas by Chris Jaeggi. Then create a class solar system using different size balls as planets. They'll love helping you put it together!
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Worksheet
New York Science Teacher

Planet Scaling using Extra Terrestrial Tools

For Students 7th - 10th Standards
Your class will use a set scale to convert diameters of planets to the model size, the diagram given to expand on the number of planets drawn as concentric circles, and examine the scale that would be needed to fit the larger planets on...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Changing Planet: Black Carbon - a Dusty Situation

For Teachers 6th - 9th
Introduce your young meteorologists to black carbon produced by the burning of fossil fuels by showing the video, "Changing Planet: Black Carbon." Viewers discover that deposition of this carbon on polar ice impacts the absorption of...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

The Sun, Moon, and Our Solar System: Teacher/Student Notes

For Students 3rd - 5th
Introduce basic Earth and space science to your budding astronauts. This handout works in two ways, the first part provides information about the sun, moon, eclipses, and Earth to be read to or by the class. The second part is composed...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Jeopardy Game - Science

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Used in an upper elementary classroom, this presentation could be a center activity or a whole-group experience. This is a great way to review a variety of scientific topics. There are questions relating to the planets, rock formations,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Please Ex-Planet!

For Teachers 5th - 8th
What is most useful about this lesson plan is the "Student Explanet Worksheet," a set of instructions for collaborative groups to use to collect information about an assigned planet. After students have researched and organized their...
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Worksheet
K12 Reader

Planets

For Students 2nd - 5th Standards
Readers are asked to identify the main ideas and supporting ideas in a passage about the eight planets in our solar system. 
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Activity
Education World

Every Day Edit - Pluto, the Dwarf Planet

For Students 3rd - 8th
In this everyday editing worksheet, students correct grammatical mistakes in a short paragraph about the planet Pluto. The errors range from punctuation, capitalization, spelling, and grammar.
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Lesson Plan
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University of Colorado

Clay Planets

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Why do scientists use models? In the first installment of 22, groups create scale models of our solar system. They then share and discuss their models.
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Lesson Planet Article
Curated OER

Lesson Planet's Summer Writing Challenge

For Teachers 10th - Higher Ed
Take part in an online learning community, and win prizes by participating in Lesson Planet's first Summer Writing Challenge!
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Outer Planets

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students study the planets Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. In this solar system lesson plan, students read facts about the planets and their location in the solar system. Images, diagrams, and background information on the planets is...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

The Sun and Its Planets-Practice Test

For Students 3rd
In this sun and planets worksheet, 3rd graders answer 14 multiple choice questions about the solar system, the size of planets in comparison to the sun, asteroids, the components of the sun and features of planets.
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Organizer
Curated OER

Comparing Planets in our Solar System to Stars

For Students 3rd - 5th
In this solar system worksheet, students complete a Venn diagram by comparing and contrasting the characteristics of planets and stars.
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Lesson Plan
Journey Through the Universe

Where to Look For Life?

For Teachers 5th - 8th Standards
Every year we discover new planets including more than 1,000 in 2016 alone. Will we ever find life on another planet? The lesson includes two activities to help scholars understand this concept. First, they analyze the temperature range...