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Home , Moons of Mars

Lesson 1: and of the

Aims: 1. To learn that the Solar System (SS) consists of different objects such as star, planets, moons, dwarf planets, and . 2. To learn that almost all the planets in the SS have moons. 3. To summarize basic facts about the ’s . 4. To learn about other interesting moons ( and )

Age group: Year 5 and 6 ​ ​ Time: 60 minutes ​ ​ Materials: ​ 1. Solar System image ​ https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/03/SolarSystemUnmarked.png 2. Planets and Moons image http://i.imgur.com/jxS5RQZ.jpg?1 ​ ​ 3. Phobos and Deimos explained video ​ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw0IZg7_4mo&t=7s 4. Information sheet 1 The Moon: Motion ​ 5. Information sheet 2 The Moon: Physical Properties ​ 6. Information sheet 3 The Moon: Appearance ​

Introduction: ​ In this lesson, children write down what they already know about planets of the SS and then take turns to read out their facts, look at the image of the SS and learn that almost every has moons and that our Moon is not unique, divided into three groups they study various facts about the Moon and then present the information to the rest of the class, learn how many moons other planets have, watch a video about the moons of - Phobos and Deimos and play a Space Bingo game at the end.

Procedure:

1. Solar System: planets ● Show the image of the Solar System (1) ● Ask the children to name the objects of the SS (ie , planets). With more advanced class ask to name the objects in size order starting from the biggest (Sun) ● Ask the children to write down what they already know about planets (suggest to make a list of facts about each planet). Give them 5 minutes to complete the task. When finished, call out the name of the first planet () and ask the first child to read out

ONE fact about this planet. Then ask the next child the same question and so on until the next child you ask has no more facts on his list. Then move on to the next planet.

2. Solar System: moons ● Tell the children, that Sun and planets are not the only objects in the SS. There are also dwarf planets, moons, asteroids and comets. ● Show the image (2) to the class. ● Explain to the children, that our Moon is not unique and that other planets also have moons. Let them try and guess how many moons each planet of the SS has and then tell the numbers (Earth - 1 Moon, Mars - 2, - 67, - 62, - 27, - ​ 14). Ask the children if they can see a connection between the size of a planet and the ​ number of its moons.

3. The Earth’s Moon ● Arrange the children into 3 groups: Motion, Physical Properties and Appearance and give each group an information sheet (4),(5),(6) to study. The “Motion” group is going to learn facts about Moon’s motion: orbiting, spinning, synchronous rotation, very small axis tilt. The “Physical properties” group will learn about the Moon’s size, temperature, atmosphere, surface features. The “Appearance” group will study phases of the Moon. Allow 10 minutes for the groups to study their information sheets and quietly discuss the topic within the group. Then ask a volunteer from each group to explain the information to the rest of the class. ● Ask the children a few questions about what they have just learned. For example: How long does it take for the Moon to orbit the Earth? What is the day/ night temperature on the Moon? Why are there craters on the Moon?

4. Other moons ● Tell the children that even though we know a lot about our Moon, moons of other planets are still waiting to be explored and we know very little about most of them. ● Ask the children moons of which planet they would like to explore in the future and why. ● Watch video (3) about the two moons of Mars Phobos and Deimos.

5. Space BINGO ● Play a Space Bingo game at the end of the lesson to reward the children for their hard work. To play the game give each child a whiteboard and a marker and ask to draw a 4*4 grid. Ask the children to write 12 space related words, objects or names (ie Earth, orbit, planet, eclipse), in empty boxes. Call out a space word. Whoever has this word on his card should cross if off. Continue calling out the words until somebody has all the words crossed off. Bingo!