How much do you really know about our planet? Middle schoolers build up their prior knowledge about Earth, its placement in the solar system, its composition, and important geological vocabulary with an introductory earth science lesson.

Concepts

the earth, earth's inner core, the earth's outer core, the earth's layers, planet earth, the earth's mantle, the earth's crust

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Additional Tags

science

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Instructional Ideas

• Write one listed fact on the board each morning during an earth science unit
• Have learners come up with additional facts about Earth from online or library research
• Assign one word to each pair of classmates, and prompt them to design posters or presentation slides to explain their term

Classroom Considerations

• The resource describes Earth's age as 4600 million years, rather than 4.6 billion years
• If you can't locate the books or videos listed, you can use alternative sources to which you have access
• Because the lesson focuses on background material, it does not include student activities
• Part one of a six-lesson unit on Earth

Pros

• Provides definitions for key terms
• Links to book and video resources for additional background information

Cons

• None

Common Core

RST.6-8.1 RST.6-8.4