Lesson Plans and Worksheets
As the International Teacher for Miina Härma Gumnaasium in Tartu, Estonia, I teach classes in English that include children from Estonia, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania, and even Pakistan besides Britain and the United States. Lesson Planet helps me find many worksheets and lessons that feature hands-on activities, good graphic organizers, clear, simple language and diagrams, step-by-step math explanations. It is basically very useful for helping a teacher with a largely ESL population. Moreover, I must develop my own teaching materials since I follow the Estonian national curriculum PLUS the national standards of the students, which can be difficult to reconcile together -- never mind, trying to find a textbook that suits (and, I might add, English-language texts are not easily obtainable here).
- Wakefield, RI
- 04-06-12
Neptune Lesson Plans
Find teacher approved Neptune lesson plan ideas and activities
Students develop a sense of the scale of our solar system by creating a one to ten billion scale model. They calculate the relative sizes and distances for the planets and asteroid belt using a guiding worksheet. To create the model they place traffic cones at the appropriate distances on a field or sidewalk and use food items such as poppy seeds and gum balls to represent each planet.
Students in a special education classroom are introduced to how the universe and solar system was formed. Using the internet, they research the characteristics of Earth that support human life. In groups, they compare and contrast Earth's characteristics and other planets. To end the lesson, they discuss the possibility of traveling further into the solar system.
Students identify the main components of the solar system. In this earth science lesson, students order the planets according to their distances from the Sun. They differentiate planets from dwarf planets.
Students build the Voyage scale model of the Solar System on a playground and "travel" to each planet. They recognize that the Sun and planets are tiny worlds in a vast space, giving them a new perspective on the Solar System, and allowing them to gain a new sense of home.
Learners construct a scale model of the solar system in a long hallway or playing field. They discuss the fact that most of the solar system is empty space, and that outer planets are much farther apart than inner planets. They also talk about how long it takes to travel through the solar system.
Students experience and participate in a journey through a "Voyage" exhibition of the Solar System and the frontier it covers. They build a dynamic model of the Earth and Sun. Descriptions are given on the relative sizes of the Sun and selected planets and how they are positioned from the Sun.
Young scholars determine measurements and distances using trigonometric ratios. In this astronomy lesson students demonstrate the difference between a positive and negative slope using the Pythagorean Theorem.
Learners investigate the positions of the planets relative to Earth and calculate distances and the time needed for radio signals to travel these distances.
Students explore the concept of scale. In this scale activity, students determine appropriate units of measure for places such as the US, a particular city, their home, solar system, and others. Students put large distances in perspective by comparing them to small distances such as the diameter of a quarter.
Students construct a solar system from candies. They learn general information about the order of the planets and a few clues about their basic color and size characteristics.
