Lesson Plan

Day: Friday Date: 11/08/17 Time: 10.10am (10mins) Year: 5

Learning Area: Science Topic: Planets in Our Solar System

Curriculum content description: (from ACARA)
Earth and Space Sciences - The Earth is part of a system of planets orbiting around a star (the sun) (ACSSU078)
Students prior knowledge and experience:
(Outline what the students already know about this topic)
- Knowledge that earth is one of the planets that is part of a larger solar system
- The sun is the centre of that solar system
Learning purpose: (May refer to the Elaborations of the curriculum content description here)
- identifying the planets of the solar system and comparing how long they take to orbit the sun modelling the
relative size of and distance between Earth, other planets in the solar system and the sun recognising the role
of the sun as a provider of energy for the Earth
Learning objectives: Evaluation:
On completion of this lesson, students will be able to: - Small quiz the following week
- Identify 8 planets in the solar system
- Place planets in place order from the sun

Preparation and Resources:

(Detail what resources will be used and what other preparation of the learning environment will be required)
- Use of whiteboard to draw planets in place order from sun and explain the orbit of planets
Catering for diversity (detail any adjustments considerations for educational/resource adjustments)
NA
Timing: Learning Experiences:

10.10am Introduction:
(1min) Morning greeting and teacher introduction. Remind students that when teacher places hand in air
and counts down - 3,2,1 students are to stop their work and pay attention.
Introduce topic - clap hands once to maintain attention

10.11am Identify Planets & Solar System

(4mins) Ask questions of students to see what they already know about the solar system:
What is our solar system? Why is it important for us to learn about our solar system?
What planet do we live on? What are some of the things you know about planet Earth?

Ask questions of students about what they know about the planets within the solar system:
What other planets do you know? - Draw the sun on whiteboard
List planets on whiteboard as called out - Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus
Neptune

Ask students to help you place the other planets in the correct order:
Does anyone know what planet is closest to the sun? Draw a circle closest to the sun to
represent Mercury
To help students figure out where the planets go draw a line to separate rock planets from
gas planets there are four on either side of the line
Explain inner planets mostly made of rock, outer planets made of gases with rings around
them - ask students which planets they think are made of rock, and which are made of gas
Which planet do you think would be the hottest/the coldest?
 Explain the idea of orbits and generally show students how planets orbit the sun through the
10.15am drawing on the whiteboard:
(4mins) Closer planets have smaller orbits, further planets have a larger orbit
Mercurys full orbit = 88 days, Neptunes full orbit = 165 years
Let students guess how long the Earth takes to do a full revolution around the sun

Conclude
10.19am Explain there will be a short quiz next lesson to see what students remember. Remind them not to
(1min) panic just memory test.
Thank students for their behaviour and say goodbye
Lesson Evaluation:
(Reflect on the lesson. What worked? What did not work? What would you change? Why?)

- I did a lot of talking about what I knew which I should have asked students to write down, but I found this
difficult in terms of creating a lesson when they are avatars
- I was panicked and spoke quite fast at times.
- I spent a lot time drawing on the board so wasnt in full view of students at all times
- I was unsure how to approach quiet and shy students and tried to prompt an answer, but I did feel a bit
useless trying
- It was a different experience and I was very nervous to begin with but once I had actually started the lesson it
became easier
- I did a lot of practice using my brothers as students in the classroom. I asked them to ask silly questions or
misbehave, which I do think helped