Submitted by Laura Benscoter
ECE 8814/01
Summer, 2005
GPS Standards
S2E2 / Earth Science
Students will investigate the position of the planets, and the sun and moon to
show patterns throughout the year.
S2CS1 / Habits of Mind
Students will be aware of the importance or curiosity, honestly, openness, and
skepticism in science and will exhibit these traits in their own efforts to
understand how the world works.
M2N2 / Mathematics / Numbers
Students will build fluency with multi-digit addition and subtraction.
M2N5 / Mathematics / Numbers
Students will represent and interpret quantities and relationships using
mathematical expressions including = , < , >
Where in the world do we begin?
Our class survey revealed your areas of interest.
What we want to learn about the Solar
System
3
3
Sun
2
6
Let’s start
Moon
here!
Planets
Space Travel
Stars
8
Let’s start here!
Put your space suits on…

From Mercury to Pluto – we’ll learn about all nine planets
– work with a partner to help fill in the table
– visit a website and do some interactive learning
– learn a trick to help you remember the order of the planets
– learn about gravity from Miss Frizzle and see how much you would
weigh on the planet Mars

Space Travel
– have you ever wondered what it would be like to step on the
Earth’s moon? See for yourself!
Lots of Trivia Questions along the way. For example… Do you know
what is at the center of our solar system? Here’s a hint….
The Planets
Planet Name
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Pluto
Solid
Gas
Orbit Time
88 days
365 days
248 Years

The sun is SO big that almost 1 ½ million
Earths could fit inside it!
That’s
amazing!
http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/solar
_system_level1/solar_system.html
It takes the Earth 365 days to orbit (go
around) the sun. We know that as one
year.
 It takes Pluto 248 Earth years to go
around the sun just one time!

Now you can
remember the
order of the
planets from the
Sun!
Mercury
Pluto
Venus
My - Mercury
Very - Venus
Neptune
Earth
Sun
Excellent - Earth
Mother - Mars
Just - Jupiter
Served - Saturn
Us - Uranus
Nine – Neptune
Uranus
Mars
Saturn
Pizzas - Pluto
Return to quiz page.
Jupiter

Jupiter is known for its giant red spot
which is actually a storm on Jupiter’s
surface. This huge, swirling storm is
bigger than Earth!
 So…
If you weigh 85 pounds on Earth…
How much do you think you would weigh
on planets that have more gravity? What
about less gravity?
Here we go…
If you weigh 85 pounds on Earth you would
weigh…
32 pounds on Mercury
77 pounds on Venus
32 pounds on Mars
215 pounds on Jupiter
91 pounds on Saturn
97 pounds on Neptune
6 pounds on Pluto
If you weighed 85 pounds
on earth, how much would
you weigh on other planets?
250
200
150
100
50
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Pl
Ur
an
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Ne
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Ju
pi
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Ea
rth
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ry
0
Put your math hat on…
Insert the correct symbol: < > =
32 pounds on Mercury
77 pounds on Venus
85 pounds on Earth
32 pounds on Mars
215 pounds on Jupiter
91 pounds on Saturn
97 pounds on Neptune
6 pounds on Pluto
1. Weight on Mercury ______ weight on Pluto
2. Weight on Mars _____ weight on Mercury
3. Weight on Jupiter _____weight on Saturn
4. Weight on Neptune _____ weight on
Saturn
Find the sum:
Weight on Pluto plus weight on Mercury.
Weight on Neptune plus weight on Pluto.
Weight on Earth plus weight on Venus.
Can you remember all the planets
in order from the sun?
Click above to check your answer.

Venus and Mercury
are the only planets
without moons.
Saturn has 20 known
moons. There are at
least 60 moons in the
solar system. How
many moons does
Earth have?
What if you were the very first person to
step onto the moon? Can you imagine!
Watch this video of Neil Armstrong’s first
landing on the moon.
This was in 1969. How many years ago
did this happen?
http://www.firstscience.com/site/video/part2.asp
Click on ’56k” under the picture of the astronaut.
We’ve learned so much about the solar
system but there is still so much to learn.
Let’s think about what we’ve learned and
what we want to learn more about in the
next couple of weeks.