Stars Lesson Plans

Young scholars create a travel brochure, poster, and presentation to encourage others to visit a star. In this stellar characteristics lesson, students research a star type based on its life-cycle. They create a travel campaign to convince their classmates to visit their star type.

Students research the multicultural stories and artistic representations of the Sun, Moon, and stars. In this multicultural space lesson plan, students discuss the symbols and stories for the sun in various cultures. Students construct a stained glass Sun symbol and design symbols of their own. Students write their own legends. Students read the folktale How Coyote Arranged the Night Sky and assemble a story box for the story.

Young scholars explore discrimination against Jewish people in World War II. In this world history and historical fiction novel study lesson, students read Number the Stars over five days. Young scholars define vocabulary words and use comprehension strategies such as making inferences, summarizing, and making text to text and text to world connections followed by group discussion of the text.

Students create a PowerPoint about a planet and a star. In this space science lesson, students use the Internet to research a planet and a star. In a group, they create two PowerPoint slides with their information.

Learners explore the moon, sun, and stars. In this space science instructional activity, students create a KWL chart about the moon and compare it to the characteristics of the sun. Learners research the phases of the moon and create "moon craters" using mud.

Students play a matching and sequencing game to discover facts about star life cycles. In small groups, they attempt to match their star stage and stage description cards in chronological order. Students can also research the terms and create their own definition cards.

Pupils discover the earth can be compared to the shape of an apple, having a spherical shape, and has a north and south pole. They listen to the story, "A Field of Stars" and then observe as the apple is cut open on the equator to reveal the stars inside (the seeds).

Students discover how to design and create a star quilt with the use of the following resources: the community, art, technology, and the teacher. They examine how to apply the skill of doing quality work to other areas of their life.

Learners explain why a transiting planet causes a periodic dimming in the light from its parent star. They determine the radius of a planet, and its orbital distance, by analyzing data and manipulating equations. Students compare the results obtained for the extrasolar planetary system to our own solar system, and they discuss the major differences.

Learners observe the brightness of stars and are introduced to the concept of apparent brightness as a measure of how much light hits a detector of a surface area during a given time. In this star lesson plan, students make connections between the solar constant and the apparent brightness as a measure of an energy flux.  Learners then are introduced to the magnitude system.