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In the past I have used cheap white circular pop up lamp shades from Ikea and allowed the children to get creative. We have designed the entire solar system using these. It looks great!
Stellarium:
In this lesson, the children will learn how to use Stellarium Web, a useful web-based planetarium tool. Stellarium can be used to navigate the night sky, as well as find key celestial objects, such as the North Star, planets, the Moon, and the seasonal constellations. The children will see that the night sky never stays the same throughout the night, or from day to day.
1. Watch the video for information on how to use Stellarium Web.
2. Looking at the night sky tonight in Stellarium at your location, where is the Moon? Look for the Moon in the night time sky, turn on the constellations, and see what constellation it is in front of.
3. What is the phase of the Moon? (Zoom in to better see its phase.)
4. Skip ahead three days. (Change the date to three days in the future.) a) Where is the Moon now? What constellation is it in? b) What is its phase? (If you can’t find the Moon just by changing the day, change the time also. It might only be visible later at night.)
5. What is another name for the North Star?
Zodiac signs are based on the constellations seen in the night sky. From past experiences children have a keen interest in zodiac signs and like looking at their shapes and designs. They often have prior knowledge and want to learn more about ancient traditions. To finish off this lesson, the children could do some art and draw/paint their own personal zodiac constellations. Once again, as in module 1, there is linkage to other subject areas – creative writing, Maths, Art and Geography.
I like the idea of sharing with the rest of the group or the wider school community, as you mentioned Valerie, at assembly or science or space week. Giving presentations encourages and motivates the children, and gives them a greater sense of achievement and success.
Gravity/Weight:
To trigger curiosity, I would show an ESA video with Paxi and the Solar System.
In this practical activity, children experience how the force of gravity varies around the solar system by feeling how the weight of a tube of Pringles, would change on different planets.
I would ask the children to collect 8 tubes of Pringles, and I would split them into groups of 3, which allows input from everyone in the group.
1. Label the full, unopened tube of Pringles ‘Earth’.
2. Fill each of the other empty tubes with sand/rice (gravitational field strengths from online research)
3. Seal their lids securely using tape and label each tube with the name of the planet it represents.
4. Decorate each tube to indicate the planet it represents.
5. Children can then lift the tubes to feel how heavy a tube of Pringles would feel on different planets; they can compare the planets and think about how heavy they would feel on different planets too.
I think this activity is very enjoyable, and children like being creative and would like to research and design the planets. While researching, they begin to get curious and want to explore and wonder more. The planet tubes would make a really nice display in the classroom also. The cross curricular linkage is very valuable and different subject areas touched on is always advantageous to the children.
