Kelsey Wallace

Ms. Erica Martin- Churchville Elementary

Date to be taught: March 13, 2018
Date given to CT: February 28, 2018

Play Dough Planets

JMU Elementary Education Program

A. ESSENTIAL QUESTION/TYPE OF LESSON: How can the planets in our solar system be
organized?
B. CONTEXT OF LESSON: From conducting a science talk prior to the lesson, I know that
the students have limited knowledge about the planets and are uncertain about the order of the
planets both from the sun and from largest to smallest. The students do seem interested in finding
out more about the size of the planets, as they brought up some of their own guesses about which
planets are the biggest and smallest. Many of the students expressed interest in learning more
about this topic. This will be the first day that the students are discussing the size of the planets,
in a unit about space. This lesson will reveal to students how large of a difference there is
between the size of the planets and what their order is form largest to smallest.
C. IDENTIFY THE VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING and the NEXT
GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS (NATIONAL STANDARDS)
List relevant standards here. Unwrap the VA SOL in Appendix A

VA Science SOL 4.7 The student will investigate and understand the relationships among
the Earth, moon, and sun. Key concepts include a) the motions of the Earth, moon, and
sun (revolution and rotation); b) the causes for the Earth’s seasons and phases of the
moon; c) the relative size, position, age, and makeup of the Earth, moon, and sun; and d)
historical contributions in understanding the Earth-moon-sun system.

VA English SOL 4.2 The student will make and listen to oral presentations and
reports. a) Use subject-related information and vocabulary. b) Listen to and record
information. c) Organize information for clarity. d) Use language and style
appropriate to the audience, topic, and purpose.

NGSS MS-ESS1-3: Analyze and interpret data to determine scale properties of

objects in the solar system.

D. Objectives
Understand – what are the broad
generalizations the students
should begin to develop? These
are typically difficult to assess in
one lesson. These should be
written in the form of “I
understand” statements.
I understand…
The planets in our solar system
are very different in size.
Know – what are the facts, rules,
specific data the students will
gain through this lesson? These
“knows” must be assessed in
your lesson. These should be
written in the form of “I know
that” statements.
I know…
That from largest to smallest,
our plants are: Jupiter, Saturn,
Do – what are the specific
success criteria for the
lesson? Each objective will be
assessed in your lesson. One
objective should be a language
objective. These should be
written in the form of “I can”
statements.
I can…
create a model of the planets in
our solar system that
 Uranus, Neptune, Earth, Venus, demonstrates their relative
Mars, and Mercury. sizes.

arrange the planets in our solar

system according to their size
and distance from the sun.

E. ASSESSING LEARNING

Objectives (I can) Opportunities to Respond Evidence

create a model of the Students will work as a class and with the The teacher will
planets in our solar teacher to create a scale model of the solar photograph
system that system using Play-Doh. the class’s
demonstrates their completed model at
relative sizes.
the end of the
activity.
arrange the planets in Each student will complete a written The teacher will
our solar system assessment in which they label each planet of collect each student’s
according to their size our solar system. Students will be instructed assessment sheet.
and distance from the to use their knowledge of the planets’ size,
sun. and their distance from the sun to help them
complete this activity.

F. MATERIALS NEEDED
 Play-Doh (3 pounds for each group, 4 groups)
 Plastic knife (one per partner group)
 Planet placemat (one for the class)
 Size of the Planets assessment sheet

A. MISCONCEPTIONS or ALTERNATIVE CONCEPTIONS

Students may have misconceptions about the size of the planets. Even if students can list
the planets in order from largest to smallest, they will most likely have misconceptions
about how the planets are proportionally related to each other. By building models of the
planets with their own hands and seeing the proportional relationships between the
planets, students will gain scientifically correct notions of the planets’ size in relation to
each other.

B. SAFETY
Students will be told to use caution when using a plastic knife to cut their Play-Doh. Only
one partner will use the knife to cut at a time, and only after the teacher has given the
partners permission to cut their Play-Doh. Any set of partners who use their knife without
permission or to cut anything other than their Play-Doh will have their knife taken away.
 C. PROCEDURE
Procedures and management Students
Activity Step-by step procedures including questions and main points Describe what the
Element – visualize what you are going to say to the students. It students will be doing
& Time (in might be helpful to script out what you are going to say, as a result of your
minutes) although during the lesson you do not need to use this instructions
language verbatim.
Teacher will ask, “where is the farthest you have traveled First, students will share
from home? Have you been to a different state? A different the furthest distance
country? What about a different continent?” they have traveled.

Teacher will then say, “The earth is a big place and even in
Engage - an airplane it can take hours to travel between locations on
Introduction our planet. However, there are planets in our solar system
which are much larger than the earth. Do you know which Students will raise their
planet in our solar system is the largest? Do you know which hands and attempt to
one is the smallest?” name the largest and
smallest planets in the
solar system.
To introduce the topic of our planets’ relative sizes, the
Students will sit at
teacher will play a Youtube video that demonstrates the size
Event 1 their seats and watch
of our planets.
the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ampcQYXHkM4
Students may choose
The teacher will have students divide into partner groups, their own partner, and
Transition
and instruct each set of partners to sit together. find two desks beside
of each other to sit.
The teacher will then inform the class that they will work together Each partner group will
to build a model of the planets in our solar system. be given one section of
Play-Doh and will wait
for the teacher’s
instructions on what to
do with their Play-
Event 2 The teacher will lead the class through the activity of creating a
Doh.
model of the solar system. The teacher will use California
Academy of Science’s, “World’s in Comparison” lesson as an aid.
https://www.calacademy.org/educators/lesson-plans/worlds-in-
Students will listen for
comparison
the teacher to call their
partner group, and
 complete the task that’s
read to them. Once each
model planet is made,
the model will be placed
in its corresponding
place on the “planets
placemat” sheet, which
will be placed in the
back of the class.

The students will

gather around the
“planets placement”
and make
observations about the
When each model planet has been created and placed onto the model they have
“planets placemat” the teacher will have the entire class circle created. Students will
around this area of the classroom. She will ask comprehension
respond to the
Transition questions such as, “Who knew that Jupiter was our largest
planet?” “Which planets appear to be closest in size?” and “We
teacher’s
build Pluto, but can anyone tell me why this is no longer comprehension
considered a planet?” questions, and they
can turn and talk to
their partner, listing
two or three things
they have learned
from this activity.
The teacher will then give each student a “Size of the Students will sit at their
Event 3 Planets” assessment sheet, and instruct each student to desks and complete the
complete the assignment at their desk. assessment.
Transition The teacher will collect each child’s assessment sheet.
The lesson will conclude with the teacher speaking with the entire
Students will raise their
class about what they have learned from this activity. The teacher
Conclusion: hands and respond to
will ask the class to name something that they learned about the
the teacher’s question.
planets from this activity.

D. DIFFERENTIATION

Student Who Finish Assessment Early

Activity Element Justification
This is to challenge
students to categorize the
Student will be given another
planets based solely on
assessment in which they are given a
their size.
wordbank with all the planets’ names
Support
There are four or five
students in my class who
always finish
assignments early.
and asked to list them from largest to
smallest.

Student Who Struggle to Complete Assessment (no one in my class has a diagnosed LD).
Activity Element Justification Support

Student will be given another

assessment in which they are There are two students in my
This is to re-enforce
asked to select the largest planet class who consistently
information that will be
in our solar system, the smallest complete assignments late or
discussed during the class
planet, and the planet that is do not finish assignments
activity of building a
closest in size to Earth. when no differentiation is
model of our solar system.
provided.

E. WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO
ABOUT IT?
In working in small groups to complete this activity, it is possible that some groups may
make a mistake in following the instructions, and thus have an incorrect outcome at the
end. In order to attempt to prevent this from occurring, I will express the importance of
closely and carefully following the instructions prior to giving the students the materials
to complete the lesson. If it does still occur, I will have already done the activity at home
prior to teaching he lesson and have a picture prepared of how it should have turned out,
when the directions are followed closely and carefully. I will then have the group who
made a mistake view another group’s model.
 Lesson Implementation Reflection
As soon as possible after teaching your lesson, think about the experience. Use the
questions/prompts below to guide your thinking. Be thorough in your reflection and use specific
examples to support your insights.

I.How did your actual teaching of the lesson differ from your plans? Describe the changes and explain why
you made them.

When teaching my lesson, one of the first changes I made was the group size. I had planned to have 4
groups of students to make the models. I had made 8 big balls of playdough, 4 for my class and 4 for a
peer’s class. My peer ended up doing her activity whole group, so I was able to have 8 groups instead,
which I was very glad for in terms of classroom management. Another change I made, was towards the
end of the lesson. Some of the students’ models didn’t work out correctly, so I ended up putting a
successful model under the document camera for the rest of the class to see before moving into the
assessment piece of the lesson. This wasn’t ideal, but it worked out in showing the students how their
models should have turned out.

II. Student Work Sample Analysis: Based on the assessment you created, what can you
conclude about your impact on student learning? Did they learn? Who learned? What did
they learn? What evidence can you offer that your conclusions are valid?

In doing the play dough models, it was quickly clear that the students could see the biggest and smallest
planets, as well as which planets were in the middle, size wise, even if their models didn’t really go as
planned. When looking at the actual assessment, it is clear that the students learned that Pluto was very
small. Although we had talked about the fact that Pluto is no longer classified as a planet, and that it was
not an option in the word bank for the assessment, there were still many students that labeled Mercury as
Pluto, because they were simply focused on Pluto being the smallest. This at least shows that they know
the relative size of Pluto in comparison to the other planets. Also, we didn’t focus on distance from the
sun at all, so it doesn’t make me feel that the lesson wasn’t successful because they labeled the planet
closest to the sun as Pluto. They were scheduled to learn the distance from the sun the next day, so I’m
sure their teacher sorted out any misconceptions they had about distance from the sun. Hopefully after
they learned to organize the planets by both size and distance from the sun, they could complete the same
assessment with more accuracy. I also found that almost all of the students got Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn
correct. Many also accurately labeled Mercury, if they did not label it as Pluto. The planets that were most
commonly missed were Venus, Mars, Uranus, and Neptune. I would have expected this if I had to guess
before giving the lesson which planets would be most commonly labeled incorrectly. I think this is
because the student get really excited seeing how big Jupiter and Saturn are and how small Mercury and
Pluto are, but they are less focused on the more medium sized planets. These planets are also closer in
size which can be confusing and make it more difficult to distinguish for students.

One aspect of assessment

Look at the assessment data and identify 2 students who appear to fall into these 3 categories:
(1) Gets it; (2) Has some good ideas, but there’s still room for learning and (3) Does not get
it. Organize your responses to the following questions in a chart/table form similar to the one
below.
Student A:

Student B:
Student C:

Student D:
Student E:

Student F:
 Gets it Has some good ideas, but… Does not get it
Student A Student B Student C Student D Student E Student F
a. The order of The order The size of The relative The size of The size of
Understands… the planets by of the most planets size of Mercury and Earth,
size planets by and that Pluto Mercury, Earth. Jupiter,
size would be the Earth, and Saturn.
smallest Jupiter, and
Saturn
b. Confused n/a n/a That Pluto is The size of The Moon The size of
about… no longer Mars, and Pluto are Mars,
classified as a Venus, not planets. Venus,
planet and the Uranus, and The sizes of Uranus,
size of Venus Neptune some of the and
other planets Neptune.
That Pluto
is not a
planet
c. Questions to How did you How did Why did you Why did Why did you Why did
ask to clarify know how to you know label the you label include the you label
what I know distinguish how to smallest object Mars, moon and Mars,
Venus from distinguish as Pluto? Is Venus, Pluto? Are Venus,
Earth and Venus from Pluto still Uranus, and they planets? Uranus,
Uranus from Earth and classified as a Neptune the How do you and
Neptune, since Uranus planet? Were way that know? Neptune
they are so from there any you you did? the way
close in size? Neptune, weren’t sure How were that you
since they about? you sure did? How
are so close that you were you
in size? labeled the sure that
other you
planets labeled the
correctly? other
planets
correctly?
d. Ideas to work Knowing the Knowing What classifies Focus on What Focus on
on next order of the the order of as a planet and the relative classifies as a the relative
planets by the planets what are the size of the planet and size of the
looking at it’s by looking qualifications planets that what are the planets that
distance from at its of planets. are more qualifications are more
the sun distance “medium” of planets. “medium”
from the sized and sized and
sun how their how their
sizes sizes
compare to compare to
one one
another. another.
 III. Describe at least one way you could incorporate developmentally appropriate practice in a
better or more thorough way if you were to teach this lesson again.

I could have included developmentally appropriate practice in a more thorough way by also having a
more explicit discussion with the students about the other objects in our solar system that do not qualify
as planets and why they don’t as well as what the qualifications are for an abject to count as a planet. I did
quickly discuss with the students that Pluto isn’t a planet, but I didn’t realize some of the misconceptions
they held about what planets are.

IV. Based on the assessment data you collected, what would you do/teach next if you were the
classroom teacher?

If I was the classroom teacher, I would next teach about the qualifications of a planet, as well as what
objects we have in our solar system that do not qualify as planets. I would also teach the planets in order
by distance from the sun. I think I would do this using a fun song and game as well as by labeling the
students in two teams and having them race to see who can get themselves in order from the sun the
fastest.

V. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced
about young children as learners?
As a result of teaching this lesson, it was reinforced for me how much students need to move and
how much they can learn from kinesthetic activities. While I know teachers sometimes struggle
with classroom management during hands on activities, if the students are well engaged, they
will not have as many of these concerns, and will find much better and more concrete learning.
The students are also likely learning on a higher level of Bloom’s taxonomy.

VI. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced
about teaching?
As a result of teaching this lesson, I had reinforced that teaching fun engaging lessons requires a lot of
planning and materials, which can be difficult for teachers. I had to make a lot of play dough over my
spring break to prepare for this lesson, because I wanted to ensure that my students got to do the activity
themselves, rather than watching me do it. I could have chosen to spend more rather than time to have the
necessary supplies, but as teachers we are much more likely to find time with our tight budgets. I also had
reinforced that it is okay for your classroom to something be a little bit loud and messy, because it means
the students are engaged and doing hands on activities. After talking with my CT after the lesson, she
pointed out that while the students were a little bit loud, they were very focused and on task and excited,
so it was a good kind of loud.

VII. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced
about yourself?
As a result of teaching this lesson, I have had reinforced about myself that I want to take risks
and dedicate the time to providing my students with the most valuable and interactive lessons
that I can. I had a few students thank me for allowing them to do this activity and telling me that
they had fun. I can tell from their assessments that they learned a lot, so I don’t think there could
be a more successful lesson in my mind than a combination of the students having fun while
learning a lot.
Appendix A: UNWRAPPING of VA SCIENCE STANDARD
Unwrap VA SOL. For each Big Idea found in the standard, write an essential question.

VA Science SOL 4.7 The student will investigate and understand the relationships among
the Earth, moon, and sun. Key concepts include a) the motions of the Earth, moon, and
sun (revolution and rotation); b) the causes for the Earth’s seasons and phases of the
moon; c) the relative size, position, age, and makeup of the Earth, moon, and sun; and d)
historical contributions in understanding the Earth-moon-sun system.

Unwrapped Concept Unwrapped Skill Taxonomy Level

(nouns) (verb) (Bloom’s)
investigate Analysis (4)
Earth, Moon, Sun understand

Big Idea Essential Question

Can you describe the planets in our solar system
Understand the relative size of the planets from largest to smallest?
in our solar system.