The Solar System

Introduction

Imagine the world around you started shrinking until everything you knew could fit inside of a ping-pong ball. Imagine that ping-pong ball floating in an olyimpic sized pool. The ping-pong ball is like our planet earth and the pool is like our solar system. Now, imagine shriniking the olympic sized pool solar system with our ping-pongearth shrinking even more so all of it fits inside a tennis ball. The tennis ball represents our milky way galaxy. Think about throwing that tennis ball into the middle of the ocean. The gigantic sized ocean represents our universe. You and everything you know are inside that iddiy-bitty ping-pong, floating in the olympic pool inside a tennis ball floating in the ocean! Look through each link to find out what all the bold words mean and what else the universe is made up of!

Task

  1. Name the planets according to the distance from the sun.
  2. Describe the properties and characteristics of each planet.
  3. State the other elements other than planets that could be found in the solar system.
  4. Explain why Pluto is no longer considered as a planet.
Process

1. Visit Star Child website.

  • List the names of the planets
  • Click on different links to know interesting facts about these planets.
  • List some facts that catches your interest most.

2. Create a table specifying the properties of each planets including its size, characteristics and distance from the sun.

3. List the other elements that could be found in the solar system.

4.Find reasons why Pluto is no longer considered as a planet.

Evaluation
Evaluation Rubric
 
 
  Beginning 1 Developing 2 Very Good 3 Exemplary 4 Score
Inner and outer planets Little work with no understanding or knowledge of material Some work but little grasp of knowledge of material Show good work and understanding of material covered Above and beyond work and understanding of material covered and more %25
List of Planet Distances from Sun No work completed, no understanding of alignment of planets Work provided is incomplete or incorrect with little understanding of material Good work shown and relative understanding of planet order Excellent: colorful, neat and correctly organized with great grasp of planet order %25
Pluto research Cannot explain why Pluto is not considered planet, no work Some work but difficulty explaining what a dwarf planet means Answers all questions and has good understanding of Pluto Answer all questions in detail and has great understanding of Pluto %25
Research on other heavenly bodies No attempt to list and name other elements found in the atmosphere Listed and named some but incomplete original and complete  Listed and named different heavenly bodies in a creative way %25
Total  Score: %100

 

  
   
Conclusion

THE SOLAR SYSTEM

 

Among his siblings Mercury is fast, 
Compared to Neptune who is always last. 
Venus is always extremely hot, 
While life-supporting Earth has a comfortable spot. 
Mars' surface is very rocky, 
About his size Jupiter is cocky. 
Saturn is always surrounded by his rings, 
While Uranus is strange because of many things. 

With each other the planets compete, 
With the special things each of them keeps. 
And each of them has compensation, 
For something each has wanted since its creation. 

Mercury's small size is compensated by his speed, 
While Venus' poisonous atmosphere makes beauty her greed. 
Earth may be a planet considered small, 
Yet this blue and green marble sustains all. 
Mars is much smaller than Earth, 
But canyons and mountains are his mirth. 
Although Jupiter may take years to orbit the Sun, 
His large size gives him lots of fun. 
Saturn is inferior to Jupiter in more than one way, 
But his lovely rings and moons surround him and he feels okay. 
Uranus feels odd, spinning on his side, 
Around the Sun, he is compensated by a lazy ride. 
Though Neptune is known for his furious tides, 
At least he does not roll on his side. 

The planets orbit one of many stars, 
Like the center of a racing track circled by cars. 
They circle a yellow star having lots of fun, 
Their parent star known as the Sun.

Rayna Loh

Credits

http://zunal.com/teacherspage.php?w=21784 by Billy Herb 

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-solar-system-2/

all the resources and weblinks that is included in this page that serves as a big help in the making of this webquest.

Teacher Page

FOCUS

This webQuest is intended to let the students explore and learn about the solar system

OBJECTIVES/GOALS

As a supplement for the subject matter is the main objective of this page. As a facilitator I will guide the students in knowing and gathering knowledge about the solar system.

Students will:

  • be able to name and classify each planet
  • describe the different characteristics of each planet
  • Explain the new classification of pluto