Summary These activities could be completed as part of a unit of work on the Earth in space. Teacher-led discussion and desk-based group activities would be a suitable supplement to these activities. Suitable for Year 5 and 6 Using a non-interactive whiteboard Activity 1 and activity 2 can be carried out using a non-interactive whiteboard from the host computer, although it may be useful to find alternative annotation tools. Prior learning required Initial teacher-led discussion should focus on night and day, the seasons and the changing appearance of the moon in the sky. Aims and objectives - To understand what causes night and daytime.
- To understand how the Earth rotates and orbits the sun and how this causes the pattern of our seasons.
- To understand that the moon is a natural satellite of Earth and how its orbit between the sun and Earth causes the phases of the moon.
Timings 15 minute brainstorm or discussion, raising awareness of topic
1 hour activity 1
45 min activity 2 and further discussion
Choice of follow-up activities Suggestions for group activities - Carefully structured group work following each of the activities could include research using reference books, CD-rom or the internet for information about other planets (eg size, mass, orbit, day, night or year length, distance from sun, number of moons, atmosphere).
- Resulting work could be displayed as a spreadsheet or PowerPoint presentation for the rest of the class.
Suggestions for differentiation - The interactive activities are differentiated by outcome.
- The worksheet could be adapted for very able pupils by omitting the key words list.
- For special needs pupils, picture captions could be inserted in an adapted worksheet to help pupils choose the correct key word.
Further activities - A variety of linked language and art work could be undertaken, eg describe an imaginary planet as you step out of a space ship or paint the view of the surface of a planet.
- Pupils could design and make a planetary exploration vehicle from scrap materials.
- Using technical construction kits and computer control pupils could program a vehicle to explore a model surface.
Curriculum links KS2 science Physical processes: The Earth and beyond
| 4.1 | the sun, Earth and moon are approximately spherical | | 4.2 | the relative position of the sun, Earth and moon in the solar system | | 4.4 | the Earth spins around its own axis, and how day and night are related to this spin | | 4.5 | the Earth orbits the sun once each year and the moon takes approximately 28 days to orbit the Earth |
IT Modelling ? exploring aspects of real situations and changing variables in real time. Communicating and handling information ? interpret and analyse information presented on screen. |
