Blasting off to the Solar System

Hello darlings!  What have you been up to lately?  Well, we have been learning about the Solar System. (my most favorite unit ever!)  I love, love, love how I taught it this year because each subject incorporated the unit.  During reading, we were working on our Nonfiction Unit by Lucy Calkins, so kiddos did lots of reading about space.  They also picked a specific planet that they wanted to research and we learned how to Read like a Researcher.  In writing, we took all the info we had gathered and learned how to write a research report.  In Science, we were able to dig deeper into each planet, and also learned about the rotation and revolution of the Earth (among other things).  In Math we were doing measurement, so we completed a project that measured the distances between the planets.  My kiddos were like, "What subject are we doing?"   "When are we going to do reading?"  They were amazed that Science, Reading, Writing, and Math are all interrelated and you can do a part of each in each subject.  =) I know!  Weird, huh?

Here we are measuring planet distances...

Here is our Reading and Writing Research Project

We used lots of nonfiction planet books as well as the Internet.

Kidrex is a safe search engine for kids.

 Kids Astronomy  

Planet Info

Planets for Kids

Kids Nine Planets

Your Weight on Other Worlds

Now we are measuring our shadows to learn about Earth's rotation.

We also completed a poster about the phases of the moon.

Want to use the materials I already created?  Click here to go grab it at my store for $3!   

I'd like to leave you with an inspiring little reminder.

Share an inspirational quote with me in the comments section!  Pretty PLEASE!  =)

I'm "Over the Moon!"

If you teach phases of the moon, you know how hard it is to teach this abstract concepts to your kiddos.  How do you explain to them that the moon that is closest to the Sun is the moon that you can't see (New Moon)?  Well, I have tried many things.  I do all the traditional flashlight and balls demonstration, but kiddos have a hard time remembering the order of the phases.  I finally found a memorization technique that sticks with my kiddos! 

I teach them a mnemonic to remember the order of the Sun, Earth, and Moon.

Smelly Monsters Eat Nachos
Sun-Moon-Earth= New Moon

Smelly Elephants Make Farts  (yes, I just said farts)
Sun-Earth-Moon=Full Moon

These phrases are silly enough for kiddos to remember (and keep talking about...)  My kiddos LOVED it!  They still remember it and can draw me a diagram of the moon phases.  If you are freaking out right now and saying in your best British accent, "Oh my! Did she just say something about flatulence?" the answer is, yes.   Now, I know we all have different kiddos and different maturity levels in our rooms.  If your children can't handle a funny word... change it to "Silly Elephants Make Friends."  Yippy!  The world is right again. =)   I'll be sticking with the first one.

Download the freebies below!  I have a notes page, poster activity, smartboard lessons, and a quiz. 

I would love to know what you think!
Enjoy!
Amy