LESSON PLAN OUTLINE

JMU Elementary Education Program

A. TITLE/TYPE OF LESSON
a. Solar System Lesson
b. Lesson should take about 45 minutes.
B. CONTEXT OF LESSON
a. Students will be asked what they know about the solar system before jumping into
this lesson. This is an appropriate activity for the students at this time because
they will be going to James Madison Universitys planetarium as a field trip
within the next couple of weeks.
C. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Developmental Objectives
1. The students will identify the
correct order of the planets and sun.
2. The students will be able to talk
about how the sun helps the Earth.

Assessment
I will assess student performance on this objective by asking
them about the mnemonic we talked about and what each letter
stands for.
I will assess student performance in this area by asking them to
compare and contrast how the sun affects the Earth and how the
sun affects their new planet.

D. RELATED VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING (and NATIONAL STANDARDS

if required)
a. VA Science SOL First Grade
i. Interrelationships in Earth/Space Systems
1. 1.6 The student will investigate and understand the basic
relationships between the sun and the Earth. Key concepts include
a) the sun is the source of heat and light that warms the land, air,
and water; and b) night and day are caused by the rotation of the
Earth.

E. MATERIALS NEEDED
a. Video on YouTube called Outer Space: "We are the Planets," The Solar System
Song by StoryBots
b. Model of the planets provided by me
c. Tape
d. Artistic supplies (pipe cleaners, paper plates, markers, glue, crayons, etc.)
i. The students have crayons, glue, and scissors. Beyond those supplies, I
will provide the materials.
e. Mnemonic device sheet provided by me.

F. PROCEDURE
a. Ask the students what they know about the solar system and the planets.

b. Introduce the students to the vocabulary of the planets by presenting them with a
mnemonic:

c.

Once theyve answered and learned about the vocabulary, show them the video of
We are the Planets which is less than 2 minutes long.
d. After watching it once, tell them to pay close attention to the order of the planets
for the second viewing.
e. Then, pull out models of planets to pass around to the students.
f. Then, each student will be given different artistic supplies, like pipe cleaners,
poms poms, paper plates, etc.
g. I will give them the opportunity to create their own planet using the supplies
provided. They will name their own planet, and they can talk fun facts about their
planet. Example: Does the planet have gravity? Do humans live on the planet? Do
aliens live on the planet?
h. The students will then talk about how the sun affects their new planet. Then, they
will compare and contrast how the sun affects their planet and how the sun affects
the Earth. (How the sun affects Earth has been presented in a previous lesson)
i. Then, students will think, pair, share (pair up and talk about their planets with a
partner).
j. To wrap up the activity, the students will be assessed by having a few students
explaining to me their compare and contrast ideas about the sun affecting their
planet and the Earth.
G. DIFFERENTIATION
a. All of my students are mobile, so I do not need to worry about movement in the
classroom.
b. I do need to pay attention to too much movement. Possibly, reminding the
students it can be dangerous to run around the classroom.
c. The only ELL student in the class understands spoken English fluently, so I have
incorporated a video in to the lesson to accommodate her needs as a learner. She
will be able to fully understand the video, but Im worried she wouldnt
understand written language. So oral teaching will be really beneficial to her.
d. If a group finishes early with their planet, I will have a list of fun facts about the
different planets the students can learn and recite to the class later on.

e. If a child struggles with my objectives, I will send them home with a mnemonic
device and picture. If they continue to struggle with the objectives, I will sit with
them one on one with the planets to try and meet their individual needs.
H. WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO
ABOUT IT?
a. The students could get a little too excited with this lesson. I think it is important
for me to be authoritative and remind them to keep calm.
b. Im worried some of the supplies will be too heavy to glue, so Im going to keep
the tape on me. They will have to ask for some tape because I dont want the
students to get heavy handed with the tape.