How can I teach 4th graders about the solar system?

Question

Most of it is space--all of the posters, textbooks, and whatnot have it all messed up. How should I give kids a real perspective on how far apart everything really is?

Answer 1

Have them make a scaled model of where everything is... Use those white foam circles, they come in several different sizes and can be painted or colored.

Answer 2

Start off with a golf ball and a tennis ball, and say that this is the earth and moon, and position them in the room.

then explain that the Earth is the fifth largest planet of the solar system. The reason why earth is in a spherical shape, is because of the gravitational pull. It is 12,756 km in diameter, or 7926 miles round the middle. There are actually two diameters of Earths: equatorial and polar. The equatorial diameter is 40 kilometers wider than the polar diameter, or 26 miles.

The Moon The natural satellite of Earth, visible by reflection of sunlight and having a slightly elliptical orbit, approximately 356,000 kilometers (221,600 miles) distant at perigee and 406,997 kilometers (252,950 miles) at apogee. Its mean diameter is 3,475 kilometers (2,160 miles).
1 inch = 2000 miles, thus the distance between the Earth and the moon is ...
then you go out into the playground and put the tennis ball down and measure out the curcumference of the tennis ball, = aprox 8000 miles (4 inches) is 111 inches in summer (9 feet 4 inches)
and 126 inches in winter (10 feet 6 inches)

Then you have to say that the sun, is 149,597,890 km or 92,955,820 miles away from the earth.

You can do the maths for each of the planets, when you go back into the classroom and plot them on the local map, you will need a big map, 50 miles or more. and you can find objects to show the scale.

Before you go back inside, use coloured chalk, and draw the diameter of each planet. the sun will be 432 inches, on this scale. 32 feet in diameter, which you can measure out on the playground.

Answer 3

You know how the world is this one big box, and most people fit into that box, go with the flow and are like everyone else, well, then there are people who do not fit into the box, HIS MISBEHAVING, and this is why, they don't want to fit in the box, the want to MAKE THE BOX and are different thinkers, they enjoy fiction and not NON FICTION, they want to learn whats REAL not, whats not real. The little red riding hood is not true, so they are not interested, a fox doesn't TALK. My son is like yours, he likes REALITY, presidents, what they did and when, mental math, no need for paper, the thing about school is, he needs someone who knows how to teach a child like him. He likes attention probably, and loves ENCYCLOPEDIAS! They thrive on things that are real. The thing is Virtues, these books even though not real have TRUE meaning. They need to learn that these books teach you something you should know. I would try going to a library and finding a set of books of Virtues, explain to him how these relate because by the third grade, where my son is now, they need to understand these things and also, things he will lose, is how to read with Emotion, does he read with emotion? His voice, does it change? This is learned from reading non fiction usually. Help him now, so his years to come will be less stressful. Make sure you have the diagnostician in your school, test him, I think by second grade they do this.

Answer 4

I remember when I was in 4th year (long time ago LOL) my teacher made each of us to make a planet made of modeling clay on a scale. Don't remember which scale though. Maybe it was 1:10000 or so. I had to make planet Earth. Other had to make Saturn, and all the 9 planets (at that time there where 9 planets). One student made the Sun. Then, in other class period, the teacher brought a roll of string, and we began with the sun in the middle. Then put the orbit of each planet with string in scale, and we could put the orbits until Jupiter. The other planets where left out because their orbits didn't fit into the room. It was a really interesting activity. You know, I still remember!!! LOL.

Hope this helps!!

Answer 5

Make differnet sections in the class different plants. The students can rotate around to diffenet planets. At each section they can make a model based on instrcutions and detials you give to them. They can play travia games with each other at the section. They can get little prizes or candy for getting an answer right. You can pick these things up for very cheap and the children will enjoy it very much. Theses are some things you can do. I hope it helps.

Answer 6

A lot of times a visual aid can help. I know a guy that teaches 4th grade and to help his students better learn the geography of the United States he painted a map of the country on his naked body. The only state the kids could consistently identify however was Florida.

Answer 7

In my freshman year, our class went outside in groups of 2 or 3 and we were each assigned a planet. Then we would walk a certain number of steps to illustrate the distance. We walked pretty far, but with fourth graders less would work.

Answer 8

let's see...I had to do 3 different solar system projects throughout my schooling...

the first one I had to make a poster, maybe you could try making it to scale somehow to emphasize the distance? we used styrofoam balls cut on half for planets, and powdered paint

second, we formed teams and painted the planets authentically, that was cool

last and most favorite: again formed groups responsible for making a planet..BUT the catch here is we mounted the planets outside the classrooms all the way down the hallway and had to place them the correct distance..to show which planets were really closer and farther. again, not exactly to scale, but it gives a better idea ..good luck! the solar system is fun and has lots of cool project opportunities.

Answer 9

paint foam balls of various sizes to represent the planets and sun and hang them around the room in order.

get some of the brighter students in a group to make their own book/poster/presentation showcasing the mathematical statistics of each of the planets (we did this back in the good ol days)

oh, and we had a project where we were a tour company and present a brochure/presention/video advertising the planet we were transporting to containing facts and interesting/odd imformation about the planet, that was quite fun.

Answer 10

Im in 5th grade so...
Make them stand very far apart( like on play ground ) Then say like x's 457 of this amount of space is the suns distance from mars or whatever.

Answer 11

Make them involved in it, physically involved. Have them build a solar system in groups, have them do their own physical explorations, show them videos/movies of the planets, have them build recreate a planet's surface of their choice so they can feel what a planet would feel like to walk on. Lots of fun stuff to do, just get them actively involved.