The Earth, the Sun, and the

Moon
5th Grade
By: Josie, Rebecca, and Margaret

Overview of lesson
Students will work together with their Big Buddies to complete a take-home model of the
solar system and narrate a reflection in their journals in 30-45 minutes.
Description of Learners
15-20 elementary students
5th grade students
Low-income or below poverty line students
15-20 college students that act as mentors to the elementary students
Description of Learning Environment
Room has small whiteboards for each individual student
Wireless internet
Projector in the class room
Lesson takes place in large classroom with round tables
Intended Learning Goals
To describe to students how the Earth revolves around the Sun and how the Moon revolves
around the Earth.
Lesson Content
Students will gain an understanding of how the Earth revolves around the Sun and how the
Moon revolves around the Earth by partaking in two activities.
Motivation

After completing the computer simulation, students will be motivated to learn more about
why the Earth revolves around the Sun and why the Moon revolves around the Earth.
Standards
ESS1.A: The Universe and its Stars
The sun is a star that appears larger and brighter than other stars because it is closer. Stars
range greatly in their distance from Earth. (5-ESS1-1)
ESS1.B: Earth and the Solar System
The orbits of Earth around the sun and of the moon around Earth, together with the rotation
of Earth about an axis between its North and South poles, cause observable patterns.
These include day and night; daily changes in the length and direction of shadows; and
different positions of the sun, moon, and stars at different times of the day, month, and year.
(5-ESS1-2)
5.2.1 Recognize that our earth is part of the solar system in which the sun, an average star,
is the central and largest body. Observe that our solar system includes the sun, moon,
seven other planets and their moons, and many other smaller objects like asteroids and
comets.
Learning Objectives
Within fifteen minutes, the students and their Big Buddy will construct a diorama of
the Sun, the Earth, and the Moon with complete accuracy.
Within fifteen minutes, the students will demonstrate that they can accurately put the
Sun, the Earth, and the Moon in their correct positions using the computer interactive
simulation.
Within ten minutes, students will record in their journals what they learned to
demonstrate that they understood all aspects of the lesson.

Required Materials
1 paper plate
white card stock
earth and moon cutouts
hole puncher
crayons/markers
two brass fasteners
scissors

Interactive simulation program

Lesson Procedures
The class will start by completing the computer interactive simulation. Volunteers will
be taken to complete the simulation or students will be chosen to encourage
students to participate and to create excitement for the lesson.
An explanation of how the relationship between the Earth, the Sun, and the Moon
will be given. The Earth revolves around the Sun and the Moon revolves around the
Earth because of the pull of Earths gravity.
The students will move into pairs with their Big Buddy and make the diorama using
the materials provided.
After constructing the diorama, the students will demonstrate how to use the diorama
to their Big Buddy. The goal is for the student to correctly describe what is
happening in the system as the Earth rotates around the Sun and the Moon rotates
around the Earth. It is also important for the students to demonstrate that they know
how to use the diorama.
The students will then complete a journal entry about what they learned. Students
will then be asked to share what they wrote in the journals with their Big Buddy.
Assessment
After constructing the diorama, students will explain to their Big Buddy how to
accurately use the diorama.
After the lesson, students must write a journal entry explaining the details of the
lesson and share what they wrote with their Big Buddy.
Closing
As a closer, the teachers should remind the students how important it is to know this
information and all the career fields they could go into that uses this information.
References
Anderson, W., Banerjee, U., Drennan, C., Elgin, S., Epstein, I., Handelsman, J., ... Warner,
I.
(2011). Changing the Culture of Science Education at Research Universities.
Science, 331, 152-153.
This article discusses how important STEM Education is. The Howard Hughes Medical
Institute (HHMI) explored research on how important the STEM Education is in schools.
Now they are educating universities on how to incorporate STEM Education into their
curriculum. HHMI uses seven initiatives to help universities.
Nicholls, G., Wolfe, H., Besterfield-Sacre, M., Shuman, L., & Larpkiattaworn, S. (2013). A
Method for Identifying Variables for Predicting STEM Enrollment. Journal of
Engineering Education, 96(1), 33-44. DOI: 10.1002/j.2168-9830.2007.tb00913.x
This article discusses ways to show the differences in identifying between students
choosing STEM majors and students choosing non-STEM majors. Seven different
population groups were chosen to test in small subgroups. The subgroups were divided by
school attended, gender, and race/ethnicity. The differences were measured by how

consistent the differences were found within the subgroups. Results showed that STEM
students were most identifiable by qualitative and quantitative measures.