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Hi, everyone! As a beginning third grade teacher, I am looking for additional activities for my students. We just finished our Solar System / Planets Unit. In reflecting and planning for next school year, I'd like to get ideas on how to make the unit more exciting for the students. The Solar System is very exciting to learn about and I believe there is an abundance of enjoyable activities that could go along with what we currently use. I am particularly interested in adding in some virtual field trips and STEM activites. Does anyone have ideas they would like to share that I could add to the Solar System / Planets Unit?  

Thank you,

Amy Carter

Amy and Everyone:

Perhaps the most extensive collection of astronomy activities for the classroom is 'The Universe at Your Fingertips', available from the nonprofit catalog of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific: https://myasp.astrosociety.org/product/DV122/the-universe-at-your-fingertips-20-dvd-rom

Some years back, Disney Publishing worked with me to develop a scientifically authoritative, illustrated book for kids all about astronomy and the solar system, with Disney characters and lots of illustrations, called Disney's Wonderful World of Space.  It's out of print, but you can find used copies on Amazon and elsewhere. (There is another book with that name, so it's best to include my name 'Fraknoi' in the search. 

Nest school year, there will be two eclipses of the Sun to help your students appreciate the grandeur of astronomy.  NSTA will have lots of materials abou this, but my guide to good classroom activities on eclipse, the Sun, and the Moon, can be found free at: http://bit.ly/teach eclipse 

Thank you for sharing. I am finishing my Earth, Sun, and Moon Systems, but I will keep this for next year.

Have the students skim through different picture books to get a beginning knowledge and then have them start to come up with questions to see what else they would like to learn.  Make a diarama of the solar system.