Grade 6 : Standard 6 - The Universe

Conceptual Strand 6

The cosmos is vast and explored well enough to know its basic structure and operational principles.

Guiding Question 6

What big ideas guide human understanding about the origin and structure of the universe, Earth’s place in the cosmos, and observable motions and patterns in the sky?

Grade Level Expectations Checks for Understanding State Performance Indicators

GLE 0607.6.1 Analyze information about the major components of the universe.

GLE 0607.6.2 Describe the relative distance of objects in the solar system from earth.

GLE 0607.6.3 Explain how the positional relationships among the earth, moon, and sun control the length of the day, lunar cycle, and year.

GLE 0607.6.4 Describe the different stages in the lunar cycle.

GLE 0607.6.5 Produce a model to demonstrate how the moon produces tides.

GLE 0607.6.6 Illustrate the relationship between the seasons and the earth-sun system.

GLE 0607.6.7 Describe the causes of lunar and solar eclipses.

607.6.1 Use data to draw conclusions about the major components of the universe.

607.6.2 Construct a model of the solar system showing accurate positional relationships and relative distances.

607.6.3 Investigate how the earth, sun, and moon are responsible for a day, lunar cycle, and year.

607.6.4 Explain why the positions of the earth, moon, and sun were used to develop calendars and clocks.

607.6.5 Illustrate the positions of the earth, moon, and sun during specific tidal conditions.

607.6.6 Diagram the relationship of the earth and sun that accounts for the seasons.

607.6.7 Model the positions of the earth, moon, and sun during solar and lunar eclipses.

SPI 0607.6.1 Use data to draw conclusions about the major components of the universe.

SPI 0607.6.2 Explain how the relative distance of objects from the earth affects how they appear.

SPI 0607.6.3 Distinguish among a day, lunar cycle, and year based on the movements of the earth, sun, and moon.

SPI 0607.6.4 Explain the different phases of the moon using a model of the earth, moon, and sun.

SPI 0607.6.5 Predict the types of tides that occur when the earth and moon occupy various positions.

SPI 0607.6.6 Use a diagram that shows the positions of the earth and sun to explain the four seasons.

SPI 0607.6.7 Explain the difference between a solar and a lunar eclipse.

Lesson Plans

Day 1 Planets -  Inner Planets

  1. Review acronym to remember the order of the planets (My very eager Mother just served us nine pancakes.)
    Remind students that scientists no longer consider Pluto a planet.

  2. Sequence flash cards with the correct order or Exploring Space EMC 853 page page 15 "Put the Planets in Order"

  3. Explain that the inner planets are those closest to the sun. (Mercury Venus Earth Mars) are small and rocky

  4. Exploring Space EMC 853 page 37-50 booklet "The Planets" & fact sheets for each

  5. United Streaming A Closer Look at the Planets, A Space Science Series - Segments 1-3

Day 2 Planets - Outer Planets

  1. Review planet order

  2. Review facts about inner planets

  3. Outer Planets - large, cold, and gaseous planets

  4. Continue using Exploring Space EMC 853 page 37-50 booklet "The Planets" & fact sheets for each

  5. Magic School Bus Gets Lost in Space

  6. United Streaming A Closer Look at the Planets, A Space Science Series - Segments 4-5

Day 3 Stars, Planets, Comets, Asteroids, Meteors

  1. Magic School Bus Gets Lost in Space Out of this World

  2. Exploring Space EMC 853 page 9 "Objects in Space"

  3. Exploring Space EMC 853 page 10 "What is It?"

  4. Exploring Space EMC 853 page 11-13 booklet "Our Solar System"

  5.  

Day 4 Stars, Planets, Comets, Asteroids, Meteors

  1. United Streaming Spin Around the Solar System: The Small Pieces: Asteroids, Comets, and Pluto

  2. Exploring Space EMC 853 page 18-20 booklet "Stars"

  3. Make flash cards with the words star, planet, comet, asteroid, and meteor. Have students find the correct word to go with each definition.

    star - celestial body consisting of a mass of gas held together by its own gravity
    planet - celestial body that orbits the sun, has sufficient mass to assume nearly a round shape, clears out dust and debris from the neighborhood around its orbit, and is not a satellite of another planet
    comet - big chunks of rock, metal, and ice - a celestial body moving about the sun consisting of a central mass surrounded by an envelope of dust and gas that may form a tail that streams away from the sun
    asteroid - frozen balls of ice, gas, and rock - any of the thousands of small bodies of from 480 miles to less than one mile in diameter that revolve about the sun in orbits lying mostly between those of Mars and Jupiter
    meteor - chunks of rock - falling star - a small mass or body traveling very quickly through space which appears very bright after entering the earth's atmosphere
     

Day 5 Day, Month, & Year

  1. Using models of the sun, earth, and moon have students illustrate a day and a year.

  2. Review moon phases and discuss that it takes approximately one month for the moon to cycle through the phases.

  3. Exploring Space EMC 853 page 60-62 booklet "Moons"

  4. Exploring Space EMC 853 page 24-24 booklet "Our Sun"

  5. Exploring Space EMC 853 page 71-74 booklet "When the Earth Moves"

    Differentiate between the Earth’s rotation and its revolution.

    1. Using a flashlight, the picture of a person glued to Tennessee,  and a globe illustrate how the globe rotates to make day and night. Rotate several times saying day and night. (Talk about the rotation of the Earth.)

    2. Worksheet page 271 (Day and Night)

    3. Workbook p. 71-75 Make a mini book "When the Earth Moves" (5 pages cut in half to make a 10 page booklet) and read and discuss.

    4. Have students experiment with this by sticking a pencil through the center of an orange.

      1. Does the Earth really have a pole sticking through it?

      2. What does the Earth spin around?

    1. Place a lamp in the center of the room and move the globe around the lamp (the sun). Keep the globe titled in the same direction. Discuss that when the North Pole is tilted toward the "sun" or away from the "sun" we have summer or winter.  Revolution

    1. Make sure students understand terms revolution and rotation.

Day 6 Four Seasons

During winter in the Northern Hemisphere the axis at the North Pole points away from the sun.
During summer in the Northern Hemisphere the axis at the North Pole points towards from the sun.

 

  1. United Streaming The Reasons for the Seasons

  2. Using models of the sun and  earth have students illustrate the four seasons.

  3. Have students draw pictures showing the positions of the earth and sun for each of the four seasons.

Day 7 Eclipse

  1. Exploring Space EMC 853 page 55 Uses a lamp, globe, and ball to illustrate lunar eclipse http://www.kidseclipse.com/pages/a1b3c1d1.htm OR http://www.eyeonthesky.org/lessonplans/11sun_eclipseclass.html

  2. Giant Science Resource Book - EMC 398 page 275 "Eclipse"

  3. Solar Eclipses from Enchanted Learning http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/sun/solareclipses.shtml

  4. Lunar Eclipses from Enchanted Learning http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/moon/Lunareclipse.shtml

Day 8 Tides

  1. United Streaming A Closer Look at the Moon, A Space Science Series - Segment 8 Tides

  2. Enchanted Learning http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/ocean/Tides.shtml

  3. http://www.cmdowns.com/tides-notes.htm

  4. http://kurs.cfl.se/javaapplets/Fysik/java/Physlets/physletprob/ch2_JiTT/2.2.fig_4.tides.html

  5. http://www.edumedia-sciences.com/a475_l2-tides.html

Day 9 Gravity

  1. Magic School Bus Gets Gains Weight