Students view a "night sky" made from glow in the dark stars. They discuss stars, planets, the sun, and constellations.

Explore the solar system with this lesson. Learners create a model of the solar system using toilet paper. With this creative approach, learners create a solar system according to distance and scale parameters, and write down a list of...

Use the Internet to find facts about the planets. Cooperative groups design a travel brochure for a planet. They use a desktop publishing program to create the travel brochure.

Your class will watch as one child orbits the sun as Earth, while another orbits as Mars. If the timing is right, they will see the repetitive dance between the two planets and discover how often they are opposite from each other. For...

Ice is nice, and its condition on the planet has a significant effect. Junior geoscientists experiment with ice melting in both water and on land to discover how each affect the rising sea level. This detailed lesson outline even...

After completing the activity, "Kinesthetic Astronomy: The Meaning of a Year," zoom in on Earth's rotation using the same simulation setup and this outline. Each class member dons a map of the Western Hemisphere and plays the part of...

A lamp, four globes, and some signs taped around the room are all you need to set up a solar system simulation for teaching how Earth's tilted axis creates the seasons. (Sticky dots are also needed, but not mentioned in the materials...

How many times have you traveled around the sun? Aspiring astronomers grasp what a year is and they differentiate between orbit and rotation by walking around the sun right within your classroom. Place a lamp in the center of the room to...

Explore this story involving prejudice and racism to enhance learners' comprehension skills. The story The Jacket by Andrew Clements involves an African American boy who is falsely accused of stealing someone's jacket. This teacher's...

How many planets can you name? Did you get all 13 in our solar system, including the dwarf planets, or were you surprised when you read there are 13 planets? The instructional activity helps scholars understand the scale of the universe...

People might be able to breath there. Learners view a simulation of a planet passing in front of a star. Using data from occultations of planets with known types of atmospheres, scholars determine whether the simulated planet has an...

Scholars approach a problem trying to plan a meal for a class party. They learn about the restrictions and must decide what information they need to plan the meal. The first lesson in a 13-part unit on Our Hungry Planet encourages...

If the majority of our planet is covered with water, why do we need to bother conserving it? With a thorough and varied investigation into the location and types of water on the earth, learners will gain an understanding of why this...

After challenging themselves to correctly choose the form of erosion and length of time required for a given landform to develop, earth science class members model mechanical and chemical weathering with various lab demonstrations over...

Learners explore elements by analyzing everyday objects and materials in class. In this carbon lesson, students define several vocabulary terms such as carbon dioxide, hydrocarbon, and carbonate. Learners view a group of items,...

This resource could come in handy the next time you feel like teaching about clay. Basic sculpting techniques, vocabulary, and history of clay are outlined in this informative resource. Use prior to teaching an art project involving...

Using the Constitutional Convention as a model, learners create their own governments. Other activities to explore the American Constitution include creating posters to help explain the Bill of Rights. 

Third graders research a planet independently and collaborate with another student to create a presentation of the research. They insert graphics and action buttons before using a drawing program to insert a picture of their planet on a...

Students see how much runoff occurs by an average shopping mall parking lot.  For this groundwater lesson students complete a lab and a handout. 

Students construct three-dimensional solar system mobiles.

Pupils examine Anna Halprin's philosophies and choreography and perform one of her Planet Dances. They find a site that inspires them to create a dance based on the environment's design, levels, textures, and atmosphere.

Sixth graders research one of the planets in the solar system based on questions that they develop using information from the Internet. They create a travel brochure using the research information.

Earth is 149,600,000 km, or 92,957,130.4 miles, from the sun. Young astronauts create an interactive model to learn the distances between planets. Nine groups, each representing a different planet, are spread around at class-calculated...

Create a scaled model of our solar system in your classroom! Scholars work collaboratively to build paper mache planets and hang them in their proper position to showcase each planet's location in the solar system.