CU 3.01The Solar System

1. 1

   Unroll the mat. Place the sun: 'This is the sun. It is a star. It is at the center of our solar system.'

2. 2

   Take out the earth: 'This is our planet, the earth.' Hold it near the sun and trace its path around.

3. 3

   Say: 'The earth is one of eight planets that travel around the sun.'

4. 4

   Place the planets one at a time from the sun outward, naming each: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.

5. 5

   Walk each planet once around its path to show it travels around the sun.

6. 6

   Give a three-period lesson on the first four planets.

7. 7

   Invite the child to lay out the planets and check with the control chart.

What catches the child’s eye

• Jupiter dwarfing the earth when the two models sit side by side
• Saturn's rings, the easiest planet to spot on the mat

Extensions, easiest to hardest

1. Place the label cards next to each planet
2. Sort the planets into small rocky planets and big planets made mostly of gas and ice
3. Name the planets from the outside in
4. Hear that Pluto is now called a dwarf planet and find where it would go