Use Crayola® Gel Markers to add a colorful diagram to a report on the natural cycles of the solar system.

• 1.

  Explore a variety of resources to gather information about the solar system. View models, visit a planetarium, and search school libraries and the Internet.

• 2.

  Form groups of 10. Choose to be a specific planet or the sun. Make your own name tag with Crayola Gel Markers and an index card. Attach your name tags with masking tape. Arrange group members in order in relation to the sun. Simulate planet rotational cycles.

• 3.

  Write short reports on the solar system, explaining its cycles and patterns. Prepare final reports with Crayola Colored Pencils on colorful construction paper.

• 4.

  Plot the planets using crayons and colored pencils in a large diagram to illustrate your report.

Standards

• LA: Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
• LA: Draw on information from multiple print or digital sources, demonstrating the ability to locate an answer to a question quickly or to solve a problem efficiently.
• LA: Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
• LA: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade level topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
• LA: Participate in shared research and writing projects.
• LA: Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.
• MATH: Know relative sizes of measurement units within one system of units including km, m, cm, kg, g; lb, z; l, ml; hr, min, sec. Within a single system of measurement, express measurements in a larger unit in terms of a smaller unit.
• SCI: Obtain and communicate information about the sizes of stars, including the sun, and their distances from Earth to explain their apparent brightness.
• SCI: Develop explanations for how patterns in the positions of stars and constellations can be used to navigate on Earth.
• SCI: Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the roles of science and technology in the design process for developing and refining devices to understand the universe.
• VA: Use different media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas, experiences, and stories.
• VA: Use visual structures of art to communicate ideas.

Adaptations

• Possible classroom resources include: National Geographic Little Kids First Big Book of Space by Catherine D. Hughes; The Planets in Our Solar System by Franklyn M Branley; What do you see? Our Solar System by Carme Sevenster
• Organize a field trip to a local planetarium. Prior to the visit, students brainstorm questions that they would like answered and topics to focus on while on the trip. After the trip, students post learning to a class blog.
• Challenge students to create a fictional solar system. Provide large, black paper on which to draw 16 planets one in each of the 16 Crayola Crayon Colors. Use Crayola Colored Pencils to give each planet an original name. How far is each from the fictional solar system's sun? Which planets contain life as we know it? How do we know this? Which planets have vegetation? How is this vegetation able to survive?
• Encourage students to create a tour book about our solar system. Each planet's page can include a drawing of the surface of the planet, significant facts about that planet, a drawing of a native of the planet, as well as information about life there.