Today’s lesson allowed us to explore our solar system! We learned about the eight planets in our solar system and how to remember their order using a mnemonic device (a tool to aid in remembering)– My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Noodles: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. We also discussed why Pluto is no longer considered a planet.
Two scale models were explored to reinforce the vastness of space. The relative size of the eight planets was emphasized using spheres ranging in size from a marble (Mercury) to an exercise ball (Jupiter). This helped us to get a better understanding of how the size of each planet compares to the others. It was amazing to see just how big Jupiter is compared to all of the other planets!
To demonstrate the planets’ relative distances from the sun and each other, we used a special tape measure modeling astronomical units (AU), with students standing in as the planets. Students were surprised to see how close the inner planets were to each other, and how spread out the Gas Giants are in addition to being so far from the sun. We also discussed the “other stuff” in our solar system, like asteroids, comets, and dwarf planets.
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