Learners label a diagram of the Earth rotating about the sun and indicate the direction of the rotation and the seasons at each location. They indicate the seasons, the poles, the hours of daylight at each pole, the direction of rotation...

Why do shadows look different in the summer than in the winter? What causes day and night? How can a sundial be used to tell time? Answer these questions and more through two engaging lessons about light and shadows. Fourth and fifth...

A three-week unit designed to be completed in an elementary level, dual-language immersion classroom, this resource includes several lessons intended to introduce young learners to the solar system, the Earth and how the Earth compares...

A scripted lesson can be a big help for new teachers. This fully scripted three-day learning activity provides teachers with the means to demonstrate how to compare and contrast two topics in two texts. Learners will work as a class to...

Explore the sun in a lesson plan about space. The lesson spans ten weeks, with students performing activities to answer weekly questions about the Sun and Earth.

A superb interdisciplinary approach highlights this lesson which incorporates space science knowledge and narrative skills. After reading The Magic School Bus, two excellent poems, and watching a video, all about our solar system, young...

Facts and opinions are clearly defined in this organized PowerPoint. Following the definitions are a few examples that students must identify as facts or opinions. Tip: After viewing this presentation, ask students to share some of their...

How are the stars similar to the sun in our galaxy? Learn all about the solar system with a reading excerpt about the sun and the stars. Kids read an informational passage before they answer questions about reading comprehension,...

Good Night, Moon is a classic little ones absolutely love. It's a sweet book that can be used, as in this lesson plan, to start a conversation about the difference between night and day. After reading the story, the class brainstorms...

Have you ever looked up at the moon and wondered why it looks different every night? Learn about the moon's orbit and the lunar cycle with a reading comprehension exercise. Using context clues, kids find the definitions of unfamiliar...

Young astronomers read an informational text passage and then answer questions based on what they read.

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.

Mathematicians can be famous, too! Introduce your class to Eratosthenes with a reading passage. After they complete the passage, learners respond to five questions, some of which require opinions and others reading comprehension skills.

Students explore the relative sizes of the Sun, Earth and Moon as they make an impressive large-scale model for classroom use throughout the unit.

Students become familiar with different times around the world through the reading of 9 O'clock Lullaby.  In this Earth, sun, moon instructional activity, students recognize the movement of the Earth and the relationship to the sun...

What is a Leap Year and why do we have it? Find out with this Leap Day/Leap Year response to reading worksheet in which scholars read a short passage and use their new-found knowledge to answer five questions with short...

Using a Maori legend, How Maui Tamed the Sun, youngsters are introduced to the importance of sunlight to civilization. Teach them about nuclear fusion that occurs to produce the solar energy we later receive on Earth as...

Here is a fantastic, nine-page, multi-session lesson plan on the Zia Sun Symbol (found on the New Mexico state flag), and the seasons of the Earth. Everything you need to implement the lesson is here, and the many engaging activities are...

After reading five short paragraphs about planet earth, students must answer 4 comprehension questions about the topic. This worksheet provides great practice for state testing in language arts. 

Middle schoolers are asked to identify the alliteration used in John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address, Emily Dickinson's "May-Flower," and a passage from Robert Lewis Stevenson's Kidnapped.

In this identify the part of Earth that is nighttime worksheet, students view sets of pictures of locations of the sun and Earth and shade in the part of Earth which is in darkness. Students shade 6 pictures.

Students discuss what heat is and how it travels. They discover that one way to cool an object in the presence of a heat source is to increase the distance from it or change the angle at which it is faced.

In this layer of the earth instructional activity, students label and color each layer of the earth. Then students are asked to describe each layer below.

After reading a review of the meaning and usage of affect and effect, pupils complete a practice exercise to demonstrate their understanding of this tricky pair. An answer key is provided.