8 th Grade Earth and Space Science Megan Seivert, Virginia Standards of Learning Connections: Lesson Summary:

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1 Virginia Standards of Learning Connections: Content: Grade 8 SOL for Earth and Space Science ES.3 Earth and Space Systems -Position of Earth in the solar system -Characteristics of the sun, planets and their moons, comets, meteors, and asteroids. Lesson Summary: Students will be able to describe and define the solar system as a whole and know its general characteristics, such as when it formed and what galaxy we are a part of. They will also be able to describe the characteristics of the sun, such as the different interior regions and atmosphere regions. Students will be able to describe general characteristics of the eight planets of our solar system and also explain the difference between a planet and a dwarf planet Students will be able to name some notable moons of our solar system along with which planet they belong to. They will also be able to describe where the Asteroid Belt is in relation to the Planets of our solar system, along with describing the definition of a satellite, moon, comets, meteors, and asteroids. Estimated Duration: 50 minute lesson on the solar system and the sun. 50 minute lesson on the planets and dwarf planets. 50 minute lesson on moons, comets, meteors, and asteroids. Commentary: Possibly make a handout to send home with the students to inform the parents of this lesson and the WebSite resource so that they can follow along and help children with the lesson if they d like. Also, keep in mind students who don t have computer access at home. Give them ample opportunity to do work during class and try to avoid tech homework. Pre-Assessment: (Before the Moons, Comets, Meteors, and Asteroids lesson) Students will be given a worksheet of questions to discuss amongst their groups and answer together in a time-frame of approximately 5 minutes. They will be instructed to make sure they have an answer for every question whether it is correct or not. After completing worksheets, there will be a short class discussion about the questions before the lesson.

2 Scoring Guidelines: (During the Moons, Comets, Meteors, and Asteroids lesson) As students work in groups, teacher will take note of which students are participating and adding to group discussion. After the worksheets are completed, the teacher will take note of which groups answered every question and the class will have a quick discussion on what they thought. Overall grade for this assignment is based on participation. Post-Assessment: (During the Moons, Comets, Meteors, and Asteroids lesson) Within the PowerPoint, a link will send the students to a document written by NASA. After reading the document, the students will write down something interesting from the article that they learned that they did not know beforehand. The teacher will walk around and make sure everyone is reading and check that everyone has written something appropriate down as an answer. After most of the students have completed the assessment, the teacher will open another quick discussion and ask some students to volunteer their answers and share for class discussion. Scoring Guidelines: (During the Moons, Comets, Meteors, and Asteroids lesson) As teacher walks around and notes as students read and respond, make mental note of which students seem to have absorbed good information from this activity and write insightful responses. During discussion, possibly ask students who didn t seem to understand as well to talk about the interesting thing they did learn to encourage them. Overall grade for this assessment will also be based on participation. Instructional Procedures: The teacher will spend one day on each of the 3 lessons (The Sun, The Planets, and Moons, Comets, Meteors, and Asteroids). They will instruct students to take good notes during the lectures/activities and give the WebSite address as a study and note organizing aid for the first two lessons (Sun and Planets). For the last lesson, the Teacher will follow the lesson plan for the PowerPoint activity and in the library the students will go through the lesson online with the teacher.

3 Differentiated Instructional Support For more easily distracted or learners who have a difficult time reading, more time may be given to compensate. Also, for students who are more rambunctious and don t benefit from group work, the Pre-Assessment for the Moons, Comets, Meteors, and Asteroids can be done as solo work for each student. Extension On the WebSite, the teacher will tell the students about the two hyperlinks on The Sun page that are available for students to read on and learn more about the sun and our solar system. When going through the Moons, Comets, Meteors, and Asteroids lesson, the teacher will tell the students about the two hyperlinks within the PowerPoint tm that are available for students to read on and learn more about Satellites and the Asteroid Belt. Homework Options and Home Connections If there are time constraints, the Post-Assessment can be assigned as homework to be turned in the next day of class. The Extensions will also serve as Home Connections. Also, if a student is absent from the class, both the Pre and Post Assessments are able to be completed by going through the PowerPoint tm outside of class. Cross-Curricular Interdisciplinary Connections By going to the library and using computer applications, the students will better be able to learn computer technology in the future.

4 Materials and Resources: Teacher Materials: Computer Projector PowerPoint tm Pre-Assessments (for each student) Post-Assessments (for each student) Any Instructional Notes Student Materials: Pencil Notebook Computer Key Vocabulary Solar System Sun Planet Dwarf Planet Satellite (Natural and Artificial) Moon Comet Meteoroid, Meteor, and Meteorite Asteroid Asteroid Belt Technology Connections International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Grades Use collaborative electronic authoring tools to explore common curriculum content from multicultural perspectives with other learners.

5 Research Connections/Bibliography Common Core: Grades 6-8 Information Literacy: A. Understand the function of the school library media center, recognize other types of libraries, and use a variety of libraries to meet informational and personal needs. Media Literacy: A. Comprehend that media communications deliver information and messages to a specific audience for a specific purpose, and analyze the intended impact of media communications and messages when delivered and received by a specific audience. General Tips Make sure to keep students motivated during the Pre-Assessment. Because they are answering questions they most likely won t know the answer to, they will likely become frustrated. Make sure to remind them that getting it wrong will not influence their grade and they ll be graded on participation and we will go over everything during the lesson. Attachments PowerPoint tm Presentation Pre-Assessment (Accessible from PowerPoint tm ) Post Assessment (Accessible from PowerPoint tm )

6 Moons, Comets, Meteors, and Asteroids Pre-Lesson Worksheet With your assigned group, answer the following questions to the best of your ability. This will not be graded on accuracy, so don t worry about getting everything right. Use your prior knowledge and reasoning skills along with listening to your group members and make sure to have an answer for every question! 1. What is a satellite? What are the two main types of satellies? 2. What is a comet? 3. What is the difference between a Meteoroid, a Meteor, and a Meteorite? 4. What is a shooting star? 5. What is an Asteroid? 6. What is the Asteroid Belt? Where is it located in our Solar System?

7 Moons of the Solar System Post-Lesson Worksheet Read the document posted by NASA about the different moons of our solar system. Pay special attention to the discussion of Pluto and its moons and look at the significant dates. Then write down something interesting that you didn t know before reading the article. I will walk around and check them for completion as you work, or if you were absent, print this page and turn your response in to me the day that you return.

8 Moons, Comets, Meteors, and Asteroids Pre-Lesson Worksheet With your assigned group, answer the following questions to the best of your ability. This will not be graded on accuracy, so don t worry about getting everything right. Use your prior knowledge and reasoning skills along with listening to your group members and make sure to have an answer for every question! 1. What is a satellite? What are the two main types of satellites? A satellite is a moon, planet or machine that orbits a planet or star. Natural and Artificial. 2. What is a comet? A comet is a cosmic snowball of frozen gases, rock, and dust roughly the size of a small town. 3. What is the difference between a Meteoroid, a Meteor, and a Meteorite? Meteoroids are in Space, Meteors are burning up in the atmosphere, and a Meteorite is a Meteor that hits the surface. 4. What is a shooting star? A meteor. 5. What is an Asteroid? Asteroids are solid, rocky, and irregular bodies with no atmosphere that are too small to be planets. 6. What is the Asteroid Belt? Where is it located in our Solar System? A huge disk of Asteroids and debris between Mars and Jupiter that is leftover from the formation of the solar system.