Space Theme
Space Gr. 3 Learning Outcomes

• Describe characteristics and movements of objects in our solar system

• Ask questions that foster investigations and explorations relevant to the content measure objects and events.
• Describe the solar system
• Compare the sizes of the Sun, the Moon, and the Earth.
• Name the planets.
• Describe some characteristics of each planet Nine Planets
 
Planet Projects by Nicola's Grade 3 (download as pdfs)
Dylan's Venus
Felix's Mercury
Preetinder's Mars
Adam's Neptune
Bailey's Pluto
Brendan's Saturn
Celeste's Neptune
Cola's Mercury
Gracie's Pluto
Jarod's Uranus
Logan's Saturn
Maddie's Jupiter
Maggie's Earth
Manas' Juptier
Marya's Earth
Shailyn's Mars
 
 
Gr. 3 Planet Links
Also check out the Space Projects done by Mme. LaMarche's Grade 5/6 students (February 2002) or the Space Fun page (April 2005) for Ms. Gurtler's Grade 1/2 class. Nicola's Gr. 3 students are studying the planets & will be creating an Apple Keynote multimedia presentation of their research. Download a template in Keynote.
WebQuests
Solar System Exploration
Planet WebQuest Gr. 3 The Nine Planets: Take an unforgettable multimedia tour through the solar system with this online travel tour.
Student Resources
Exploring the Planets in the Classroom
The Messier Catalog Images of the brightest and most beautiful diffuse objects in the sky, including nebulae, galaxies, and star clusters. Astonomy for Kids
Windows to the Universe: Our Solar System
The Aurora Page What is the "aurora?" What causes it to happen? Information, links, and images about the Northern Lights. Exploratorium's 10 Cool Astonomy Sites
NASA Kids Learn space sciences at this site from NASA. With games, projects, news, this site seeks "to inform, inspire, and involve" children of all ages and reading levels. Welcome to the Planets
Our Solar System
All About the Solar System
The Constellations and Their Stars Need information on stars, constellations, and the Milky Way? The first thing you need to know is that constellations are not real! Astronomy for Kids The solar system, planets, sun, stars, asteroids, and galaxies are all available in this site.
Earth and Moon Viewer "Presents an earth map; you can see where it is day, or night, right now. You can view either a map of the Earth showing the day and night regions at this moment, or view the Earth from the Sun, the Moon, the night side of the Earth, above any location on the planet specified by latitude, longitude and altitude, from a satellite in Earth orbit, or above various cities around the globe." Live From Mars Opportunity to visit Mars through the photography of the space mission; includes a virtual tour.
Stardate.org This site offers useful information from stargazing tips to finding resources about our solar system.
StarChild Explore the universe at this colorful site maintained by NASA. Here is a great resource for upper elementary classes on the solar system; either use it where students must conduct individual research for reports or projects, or use it collectively as a class for an interactive unit on our sun, the planets, comets, moons, etc. Each section has its own movie, vocabulary, description of characteristics such as diameter and composition, a history, and discussion questions.
Star Journey A beautiful site from National Geographic featuring star maps and info on the Hubble telescope.
The Space Shuttle Clickable Map
Asteroids: Deadly Impact Are you ready for your assignment as an investigator with the Department of Extraterrestrial Phenomena? In order to solve the four real-life impact incidents in this National Geographic simulation, you'll need to know a bit of asteroid science and history.
Basics of Space Flight Learners' Workbook This module is the first in a sequence of training modules that pertain to space flight operations activities. Planetary Fact Sheet: Print this page out and use it as a chart in your classroom while studying our solar system. The comparison between planets in distance from the sun, length of day, mean temperature, etc., can be made at a glance.
Eduscapes Astonomy Links (excellent site)
Education World Space Links Views From the Solar System
Aboriginal Star Knowledge: Native American Astronomy. Stone Medicine Wheels began 2,200 years ago on the northern plains of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Examine how the Medicine Wheel works and study Native American legends and folklore behind the stars.
Space Resources for Teachers
Chart your Course Use this outline guide to help develop your research project, or for activity suggestions..
Exploring Space Activities: Integrate several of these activities into your grade six space unit.
A Private Universe Project: Teachers and students will explore common misconceptions about the earth and moon, and discover the scientific process as they investigate in-class lunar activities. Solar System Adventure Linking language arts to science through science fiction, students will research the solar system and then create their own interplanetary adventure.
Multimedia Tour of the Solar System How would your students like to zip over to... oh, say Saturn, today... Take a multimedia tour through our solar system, and learn the latest news and views on the planets and other celestial bodies. Amazing Space Web-Based Activities:Galactic activities have students training to be an astronaut, or whipping up comets, visiting black holes...Sound intriguing? Try this site to create a phenomenal unit on space.
Asteroids What is the difference between an asteroid and a comet? Comets (dirty snowballs) are primarily composed of ice and dust. As they near the sun, the heat melts the comet's ices and releases the dust particles we view as the comet's tail. Asteroids (minor planets) are large rocks ranging in size from a few feet to several hundred miles across. Ready to learn more? OUR PLANET, OUR SOLAR SYSTEM: Stir up an interest in all things astronomical with this planetary unit for first (and second) grade. Key concepts are introduced along with vocabulary, classifying skills, planetary features through poetry, science experiments to discover revolution and rotation, moon phases through demonstrations and murals, and a host of hands-on activities across the curriculum.
SOLAR SYSTEM UNIT: A thoughtful and challenging 3rd grade unit on the solar system... Topics include time zones, rotation and perception, revolution and "moonrise", distance scales, constellations, and planetary features. Exercises include inventing a time-keeping device to understand our historical and cultural concepts of "moon", and modeling a living organism from another planet, including assigning body temperature, food source, atmosphere, shelter, and movement.  
 

Updated Saturday, February 6, 2010 C. Pearl-Hodgins