Day 9

What a day to start off on. Mrs. Mac and I planned science inquiry lesson, and it turned out to be pretty awesome! What we did was we split the planets in half. I took Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. She took Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. After learning about each planet, we chose three different facts about each planet. Then we found “artifacts” that represented these facts. The actual fact was typed out and taped to the underside of the artifact. For example, Venus has clouds that are full of poisonous yellow acid. So I got wet cotton balls, colored them orange with a marker, put them in a little bowl, and underneath the bowl it said, “Venus has an atmosphere covered in yellow clouds full of acid.” The students were placed in specific groups to provide accommodations, putting three in each group, and they were each assigned to become an expert on a specific planet. They first explored the artifacts, making guesses as to what they could be representing. After they each took a guess, they looked at what the fact was. Once they learned about their planet, they were given post cards to write their three facts on. We explained that these post cards would be put in out space unit book for everyone to read and learn about.

It was so neat, and such a great experience not only seeing these students work together, but see them explore, and making guesses or predictions. They became true scientists. When they explored their facts, they didn’t just immediately go and write them on the postcard, there was a lot of discussion! I could not have been more pleased! A successful lesson.