Weekly Challenge Three – SPACE

SPACE – what a HUGE topic! Have a look at the famous photo on the right. The "Pale Blue Dot" photo was taken by Voyager 1 thirty years ago. Can you guess what that pale blue dot is? Yes, it’s , taken from a distance of about 4 billion miles away. It shows Earth as a single, bright blue dot in the vastness of space, caught within a ray of sunlight. This week you will be learning about our and space.

Activity 1 – Research space and our solar system. Make up a quiz for someone in your household. You could include questions such as ‘How many does have? Remember to use question marks at the end of your questions and full stops at the end of statements (the answers). Use the activity 1 sheets to review the skills for today’s activities. Remember to give capital letters because they are proper nouns.

Activity 2 – Read about astronauts who have travelled into space using the profiles or research online. Remember your internet safety - check any websites are reliable and ask an adult if there is anything you are unsure about. Make notes about the astronaut’s . Act out an interview with your chosen astronaut. You could use a family member or puppet to interview you as the astronaut. Then write a news report about their life or an exciting event in it. Use features of a news report from the activity sheets.

Activity 3 – Learn the order of the planets in our solar system. Create a poem or song to help you remember the order. Write down as many rhyming pairs as you can which you could use (example: space – race) Can you use rhyming words at the ends of some of the lines of your poem? Use prepositions (under, next to, around) to show where the planets are in relation to each other. Here is a song I like tinyurl.com/ya3doe8o .

Activity 4 – Make a model of our solar system – you can make this in anyway you like. You could use junk modelling, cardboard cut-outs painted, modelling clay or the mobile template provided for you. Remember to place the planets in the correct order from the . You won’t be able to show the sun to scale, but think about the scale of the planets and what they look like. Write a short explanation of your model to say what it is. Use commas carefully when you list the planets. Remember to use pronouns for names. You could include labels for each planet with facts on.

Activity 5 – Present this week’s learning in any way you want. Here are some of my ideas, but I know you will have lots of your own! Film a Space TV Special, make a book, leaflet, poster, fact sheet or become an astronaut in Space telling us what you have learnt. It’s up to you. Have fun!

Key words and their meaning Voyager 1 -a spacecraft used by NASA to explore Jupiter and Space – everything beyond the earth's atmosphere. Planets- A planet is an object orbiting a star that is large enough to be rounded by its own gravity. Solar system- our solar system includes the Sun and all the objects that orbit around it due to its gravity, There are eight planets in our solar system including Earth. Planet Earth – the planet we live on. It is the fifth largest planet in the Solar System and third from the Sun. Astronauts- someone trained to be a team member of a spacecraft.

Space Glossary

• : are small solar system bodies that orbit the Sun. Made of rock and metal, they can also contain organic compounds. Asteroids are similar to but do not have a visible (fuzzy outline and tail) like comets do.

•: The asteroid belt lies roughly between the orbits of and Jupiter in the Solar System. It is home to a large amount of irregular shaped asteroids that range in size from dust through to the .

•Astronaut: An astronaut (also known as cosmonaut) is someone trained to be a crew member of a spacecraft. While the word astronaut usually refers to space travel professionals it can also include normal people who have the privilege of travelling into space.

•: A comet is a relatively small solar system body that orbits the sun. When close enough to the Sun they display a visible coma (a fuzzy outline or atmosphere due to solar radiation) and sometimes a tail.

•Dwarf planet: An object orbiting the Sun that is large enough to be rounded by its own gravity but is not gravitationally dominant in its orbital area and is not a . There are currently five recognized dwarf planets: , Ceres, , & .

•Earth: Earth is the fifth largest planet in the Solar System and third from the Sun. It was formed around four and a half billion years ago and is the only place in the where life is known to exist.

•Galaxy: A galaxy is a large group of stars, dust, gas and dark matter held together by gravity. They vary in size with some containing millions of stars while others could contain as many as a trillion. They can also form in different shapes such as elliptical galaxies and spiral galaxies.

•Halley’s Comet: Halley’s Comet (or Comet Halley as it is also known) is the most well known comet in the Solar System. It orbits the Sun and can be seen with the naked eye from Earth around every 75 years, returning for its next visit sometime in 2061.

•Jupiter: Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system. It features the famous ‘Red Spot’ and a large number of orbiting moons.

•Mars: Mars, or the 'Red Planet' as it is sometimes known, is the fourth planet from the Sun. It features a dusty, rocky surface, relatively calm conditions and a thin atmosphere.

•: Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun in the Solar System. As well as being very hot, it features a barren, crater covered surface which looks similar to the Moon.

•Meteor: A that burns up as it passes through the Earth’s atmosphere is known as a meteor. If you’ve ever looked up at the sky at night and seen a streak of light or ‘shooting star’ what you are actually seeing is a meteor.

•: A meteoroid that survives falling through the Earth’s atmosphere and colliding with the Earth’ surface is known as a meteorite.

•Meteoroid: A meteoroid is a small rock or particle of debris in our solar system. They range in size from dust to around 10 metres in diameter (larger objects are usually referred to as asteroids). •: The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy where our Solar System and Earth are located.

•Moon: The Moon is a which orbits the Earth. It is around a quarter the size of Earth and can be easily seen in the night sky. While other planets in the Solar System have ‘moons’, they are usually referred to by name, such as Jupiter’s , or as natural satellites.

•: Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun and is nearly four times the size of Earth. It features strong winds and violent weather.

•Planet: A planet is an object orbiting a star that is large enough to be rounded by its own gravity. It is also gravitationally dominant in its orbital area but not large enough to cause thermonuclear fusion (like stars do). There are eight planets in the Solar System.

•Pluto: Pluto was the furthest planet from the Sun until it was demoted from a planet to a dwarf planet in 2006.

•Saturn: Saturn is the second largest planet in our solar system, the sixth planet from the Sun and features an impressive system of rings.

•Small Solar System Body: Objects that orbit the Sun but aren’t planets or dwarf planets are known as small solar system bodies, these include comets, asteroids and other small bodies.

•Solar System: The solar system includes the Sun and all the objects that orbit around it due to its gravity, including Earth.

•Star: A star is a huge, bright ball of burning gas that is held together by gravity. Stars contain mostly as well as helium and smaller amounts of other elements. The Sun is the closest star to Earth.

•Sun: The Sun is a star and the biggest object in the Solar System, it burns brightly in the center as planets and other objects orbit around it. It has a diameter around 110 times bigger than the Earth’s and is located around 150 million kilometres (93 million miles) away.

•Universe: The Universe is made up of everything that exists, including planets, stars, galaxies and all forms of matter and energy.

•: Uranus is the third largest planet in the Solar System and seventh planet from the Sun. Uranus rolls like a barrel rather than spinning like Earth and was the first planet discovered by telescope.

•: Venus is the second closest planet to the Sun. It is similar in size to Earth and features thick a thick atmosphere which locks in heat as the surface rages with active volcanoes.