Using my del.icio.us

The unit I designed for this week's assignment revolves around the Solar System and Earth for a fifth grade classroom. When looking at the Grade Level Content Expectations (GLCE's) for fifth grade, I noticed that the majority of content for fifth grade Earth Science was related to this topic. Also, I can remember very vividly when I learned this unit in fifth grade, so I thought it would be suitable to do for this project. I hope it is as enjoyable for my students as it was for me a fifth grader. I planned this unit for 5 days (Monday-Friday), but in reality I would spend at least another week on this unit extending it to talking about solar and lunar eclipses, the seasons, and then going into weather, which would cover the remainder of the Earth Science GLCE's.
There were 2 GLCE's that applied directly to my unit and they were:
E.ST.05.11- Design a model that describes the position and relationship of the planets and other objects (comets and asteroids) around the sun.
E.ST.05.21- Describe the motion of planets and moons in terms of rotation on axis and orbits due to gravity.
I was also able to use a variety of technological resources for my students in this unit. The METS that applied directly to my unit were:
1. By the end of fifth grade, each student will be able to use Web search engines and built-in search functions of other various resources to locate information.
2. By the end of fifth grade, each student will be able to use a variety of technology tools and applications to promote creativity.
The students will be doing these things when we use Google Earth to see 3-D images of the solar system and of the Earth's rotation and revolution, as well as when I have the students visit the tagged websites to play interactive games to learn more about the positioning and movement of the solar system components.
For this project I used the tag Solar System and Earth so that my resources could be pulled up quickly. The first day of the unit (Monday) will be very introductory. I want to see what the students know about the solar system, such as how many planets there are (8, not 9 anymore), the names of the planets, the order of the planets, etc. For this day, I plan to have all the students at a computer exploring the Our Solar System website because it is very informational about basic topics for learning the composition of the solar system. My favorite part about this site is how many large, clear pictures there are so that the students can see many images of each planet. At the end of the day, I will have the students play an interactive game from the website about identifying the planets and the order in which they are positioned.
Day 2 of the unit (Tuesday) will go a little bit more into depth about the planets. We will start to focus on the actual surface of each planet, the distances between each one, how far they are from the sun, if they can support life, etc. The site used on this day will be the NASA website, Solar System Exploration. On the site, the students will examine each planet individually and their most prominent characteristics. After researching on the website, I will have the students go back to their desk and construct an illustration of one specific planet of their choosing. I will let them know that I will be grading according to how well they depict the unique characteristics of their planet.
Day 3 of the unit (Wednesday), we will start to talking more specifically about the Earth. This day the students will be utilizing the National Geographic website called Our Solar System and the main focus will be the students understanding how the Earth is tilted 23.5 degrees and rotating on its axis while revolving around the sun. This website is great for this day because it is VERY interactive and includes videos, maps, diagrams, and music, which I will be sure to direct the students to. There is a game at the bottom of this website that is especially for Elementary students to learn about the Earth's movement as well as the rest of the planets, so I will have the students perform this task before the day is over.
Day 4 of the unit (Thursday) is going to continue with a focus on the Earth. We will begin the lesson with a Bill Nye video on the Earth and Planets. As a young student, I always enjoyed these videos and I specifically remember watching this moving and having the information actually "stick" with me, so I hope it can do the same for some of my students. The video clip is very good because Bill Nye acts out what the Earth is doing when it moves and also WHY night/day and seasons are different depending on the position of the Earth. Even though some of this information may be a little over their heads, I do think it is important to touch on it as an introductory talk because this topic is covered more in-depth in the sixth grade GLCE's. After the video, we will construct our own human model of the solar system using the students in the class and then at the end of the lesson I will have students draw what we made with appropriate arrows indicating movement of the planets.
The final day of the unit (Friday) is going to be the most "fun" because I am going to introduce the students to Google Earth, which is a fairly new technology that has just amazed me. Using this tool, students could actually use satellite to see their own home in real-life, but we are going to use the tool to mostly view and talk about the solar system. I am going to first teach the students how to navigate through the program and how to use its different features. Then, as a final assessment project, I am going to have them create the solar system using all the information they have learned (distances, characteristics of planets, etc.). My hope is that even though I am testing the students' knowledge, they are enjoying themselves with this new, cool technology at the same time.