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Gravity: A Relatively Heavy Subject
Students examine planetary movement and its relation to the tide.In this gravity lesson students describe how and why the high and low tides change every day.
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Sampling Rocks
Students investigate rocks. In this earth science lesson, students collect rocks from the schoolyard and describe each of the rocks. Students measure and weigh each rock and record the results. Students create a rock guide for the...
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The Moon is made of Cheese
Eighth graders explore the reasons why they believe scientific ideas are true. They think critically rather than accept everything they are told without question.
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Reasons for Seasons
Learners investigate a model of the tilt of the Earth in its relationship to the Sun during the different seasons of the year. They study the solstices and equinoxes, while determining how sunlight hits the Earth with different angles in...
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Graphing San Diego Tides
Students observe the tides in San Diego for one month. Using this information, they graph the tides on a chart along with the phases of the moon. They answer questions related to the graph to end the lesson.
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Cosmic Wheels
Learners build a scale model of the Solar System and determine the time other planets take to travel around the Sun in comparison to the time of the Earth's revolution. The velocity of the planets are also determined in this lesson.
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Aztec Calendar
Students investigate the Aztec calendar. In this Aztec calendar lesson, students look at examples of Aztec calendars, both the solar and lunar calendars. They access web sites to further investigate the calendars before making a Aztec...
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Moon Journal
Fourth graders observe Moon and its features, and record results both in written form and in a drawing on the given template.
Blogger
Apple Poster
Science is all about wonder... I wonder what causes the moon phases; I wonder why people get sick. The cross-stitch-style poster pays homage to Sir Issac Newton's curiosity when it came to asking questions about gravity.
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Take a Spin Through the Solar System
Second graders participate in a variety of activities to explore the Solar System in this unit.
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Moon Light Through the Month
Middle schoolers work in small groups to arrange moon phase cards into the correct sequence. The goal is to circle as many consecutive numbers as possible in two minutes.
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Going Through A Phase
Students are introduced to remote sensing equipment used to gather information about the moon. They learn basic facts about the moon such as size, landforms, temperature and gravitational influence on the earth's tides.
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Paper Mache Solar System
Students make a model of the solar system. In this solar system lesson, students make paper mache models of the planets to hand in the classroom, measure the distance to each planet scaled with footsteps, and model the moon's movement...
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Your Day as a Cycle
Fourth graders investigate several cycles such as life cycles, and the moon cycle. They examine the sequences and patterns that are associated with daily life by keeping a daily journal for three days, and comparing it with others....
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Viewing Earth and Sky
In this earth and sky activity, students review terms associated with map reading. Students also review topographic maps and how contour lines represent elevation. This activity has 5 matching, 5 true or false, 5 fill in the blank, and 6...
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Extensions - Astronomy Review Unit
Students participate in a review unit in Astronomy using the Layered Curriculum. This allows them to take charge of the type of assessment that is given. The method also allows better differentiation of instruction to occur.
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Plant Life Cycle
Fourth graders explore the plant life cycle. They discuss the sequence of events in the life cycle of the plant and illustrate how the life cycle never ends. Students explore the importance of water, sunlight, and nutrients during the...
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Life Cycles
Fourth graders explore life cycles. They examine pictures of the various stages of life cycles and put them in the correct order. Students match pictures of eggs to the correct parents. They discuss the importance of knowing the life...
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The Vocabulary of Space
Young scholars build their knowledge and understanding of vocabulary related to space. In this space lesson plan, students discuss four categories of words and phrases related to space.
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Earth's Revolution and Rotation
Eighth graders investigate the regular motions of the sun, Earth and the moon and explain how these are related to days, years, seasons, eclipses, tides and moon cycles. They participate in an exercise where they explore the...
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Secrets of the Ocean Realm - In the School "Star Gardens"
High schoolers learn to use a tide table in plotting tidal curves and create a tide calendar by plotting a month-long tidal curve on an ordinary pictorial calendar.
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Astronomical Data
In this astronomy worksheet, students use a chart with planetary data comparing the inner planets to each other. Students will use the period of rotation, period of revolution, and distance from the sun for these inner planets to...
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Season's Greetings
Students explore Earth's seasons using an interactive website. In this earth science lesson, students watch video segments and explain Earth's seasonal milestones. They discuss the factors that causes seasonal changes.
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Sky Watching
Students examine telescopes and understand how they have helped us better understand the sky. In this astronomy lesson students complete a worksheet and a lab activity.