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Interactive
CK-12 Foundation

Venn Diagrams: Planets and Dwarf Planets of the Solar System

For Students 6th - 8th
Yes, Venn diagrams are helpful in science, too. Learners use an interactive to classify celestial bodies as having moons, as dwarf plants, as both, or as neither. They answer a set of challenge questions based on the Venn diagrams they...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

The Webb Space Telescope: Detecting Dwarf Planets

For Students 9th - 12th
For this detecting dwarf planets worksheet, students read about the Webb Space Telescope that will be launched in 2014 to detect dwarf planets using an infrared telescope. Students solve 3 problems and create a graph for each using given...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Exploring Dwarf Planet Eris

For Students 8th - 10th
In this planet Eris worksheet, students read about the discovery of this dwarf planet and its characteristics. Students answer 3 questions about the planets, the classification of planets and the definition of planets. Students define 7...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Seeing a Dwarf Planet Clearly: Pluto

For Students 9th - 11th
In this dwarf planet worksheet, learners use images from the Hubble Space Telescope and they determine the scale of the image, they identify the largest features in the images, they calculate the volume of Pluto and they create a model...
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Activity
Education World

Every Day Edit - Pluto, the Dwarf Planet

For Students 3rd - 8th
In this everyday editing activity, students correct grammatical mistakes in a short paragraph about the planet Pluto. The errors range from punctuation, capitalization, spelling, and grammar.
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Activity
NASA

Mineral Mystery Experiment

For Teachers 2nd - 12th Standards
One way to study something is to try to replicate it. Young scientists do just that as they use solutions to recreate mineral structures on a dwarf planet. They make solutions with different types of salt, evaporate them, and observe the...
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Lesson Plan
Virginia Department of Education

Solar System Model

For Teachers 9th - 12th
How many planets can you name? Did you get all 13 in our solar system, including the dwarf planets, or were you surprised when you read there are 13 planets? The instructional activity helps scholars understand the scale of the universe...
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Lesson Plan
Virginia Department of Education

Planet Line-Ups

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Should Pluto be considered a planet or a dwarf planet? Scholars research planets in our solar system to understand their similarities and differences. It also includes memory activities related to the order of the planets. 
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Writing
Curated OER

Planet Pluto and Personification

For Students 5th - 6th
In this writing prompt worksheet students are asked to use personification in discussing the redefinition of "planet Pluto" to "dwarf planet." Students are asked to communicate the feelings of the planet as it pertains to its...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Our Changing View of the Solar System

For Teachers 2nd - 5th
Students identify and name the eight planets and the five dwarf planets in our solar system. In this space science activity, students view a slideshow of the planets and label them on an included Solar System chart.
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Lesson Plan4:08
TED-Ed

Tycho Brahe, the Scandalous Astronomer

For Teachers 8th - 11th
Who says scientists are boring geeks? Certainly not the narrator of a short video who dishes up the scandals associated with Tycho Brahe, a Danish scientist and alchemist (now that's two labels you don't often see together) who used...
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Unit Plan
Core Knowledge Foundation

Third Grade Skills Unit 6: Gods, Giants, and Dwarves

For Teachers 3rd Standards
The halfway mark of a series offers final skills practice in spelling patterns, suffixes, and building sentences with conjunctions in preparation for assessments that gauge proficiency. Remediation and enrichment follow the test results...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Ceres and Pluto: Dwarf Planets as a New Way of Thinking about an Old Solar System

For Teachers 5th - 12th
Students examine the new categories of planets and how planets were reclassified.  In this solar system lesson students complete activities using Venn diagrams and images of planets. 
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PPT
Curated OER

Star Facts

For Teachers 4th
Throughout the elementary grades students explore the galaxy. This simple presentation listing the types of stars could be used as a quick review of the information students have learned. It could be augmented with additional information.
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App
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Vosonos

Interactive Minds: Solar System

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Travel through space as you learn about the galaxy, solar system, planets, and much more. An extensive resource for studying astronomy in upper-elementary and middle school classrooms.
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Handout
Mr. Hill's Science Website

Solar System Fact Sheet

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Here is a fantastic, educational handout packed with information and facts not only about the planets in our solar system, but also regarding major moons and their surface features, dwarf planets, comets, and asteroids. 
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Lesson Plan
Journey Through the Universe

A Scale Model Solar System

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Between the time scientists discovered Pluto and reclassified it as a dwarf planet, it did not even make one full revolution around the sun. In two activities, scholars investigate scale models and their properties. Pupils find that it...
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Printables
Research Parent

Universe Cards

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
A 9-page packet comes with 24 cards that have pictures and informational text about each object in the universe. From nebulae to dwarf planets, objects we see—or don't see—are represented in the cards through pictures and words.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Descriptive Writing-The Hobbit

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Young readers write a descriptive paper on the fantasy characters in The Hobbit. They take notes as they read the novel in order to provide descriptions of the character traits of hobbits, dwarfs, trolls, wizards, and goblins. They pay...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Commas Exercise

For Teachers 7th - 8th
In this commas worksheet, students identify where to correctly add a comma in fifteen given sentences. He was a bashful dopey sleeping dwarf, is one example.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Narrative Writing - The Hobbit

For Teachers 10th - Higher Ed
Hobbits, dwarfs, wizards, trolls, and goblins. Readers track these fantastic creatures through J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit noting passages of character description and habitats. Using specific passages from the novel, class members craft...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Descriptive Writing - The Hobbit

For Teachers 11th - Higher Ed
Hobbits, dwarfs, wizards, trolls, and goblins. Readers track these fantastic creatures through J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit noting passages of character description and  scenery changes. Using specific passages from the novel, class...
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Activity
Star Date

Astronomy Day from McDonald Observatory Solar System Scale Activity

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Add a visual aid to your solar system lessons. Enthusiastic astronomers create a model depicting the nine planets and their distance from the sun. 
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Lesson Plan
University of Colorado

Star Light, Star Bright? Finding Remote Atmospheres

For Teachers 6th - 9th Standards
People might be able to breath there. Learners view a simulation of a planet passing in front of a star. Using data from occultations of planets with known types of atmospheres, scholars determine whether the simulated planet has an...