Solar System Lesson Plan

1) Stretch & pray. Read & discuss Psalm 19:1-6.

2) Read Me and My Place in Space by Joan Sweeney on the solar system.

3) Go over mnemonic phrase to remember planets' order: "My Very Excited Monkey Just Slurped Up Noodles" or if you want to include Pluto "My Very Excited Monkey Just Slurped Up Nine Pineapples." Have a drawing of the monkey eating up noodles or 9 pineapples and the mnemonic phrase written out to show the children as you go over it.

4) (If you have extra time) Read The Planet Hunter: The Story Behind What Happened to Pluto by Elizabeth Rusc.

5) Start making Planet Pizzas. Make enough dough so that each family can make 1 set of of the solar system (8 minature pizzas). First make the pizza dough.

Pizza dough amount per family:
6 cups all-purpose flour
2 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons sugar
¼ c. oil
2 cups warm water (110 degrees)
Combine flour, salt, sugar, and yeast in a large bowl. Mix in oil and warm water.

MOM 1: YOU WILL NEED: 8 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast (or 1 jar of yeast), 1 jar fettuccini sauce, 1 12-inch ruler, 1 rolling pin, 1 large mixing bowl, 1 mixing spoon, 1 cup measuring cup & measuring spoons, 2 baking sheets (round if possible)
MOM 2: YOU WILL NEED: 5 pound bag all-purpose flour, 16 oz. bag shredded cheddar cheese, 1 12-inch ruler, 1 rolling pin, 1 large mixing bowl, 1 mixing spoon, 1 cup measuring cup & measuring spoons, 2 baking sheets (round if possible)
MOM 3: YOU WILL NEED: 1 cup vegetable oil, ¼ c. salt, 1/2 c. sugar, 16 oz. bag shredded mozzarella cheese, 1 red & 1 yellow bell pepper cut into strips, 1 12-inch ruler, 1 rolling pin, 1 large mixing bowl, 1 mixing spoon, 1 cup measuring cup & measuring spoons, 2 baking sheets (round if possible)
MOM 4: YOU WILL NEED: blue food coloring, 4 pieces of pepperoni, 4 spinach leaves or 4 bite-size pieces of cooked broccoli, 3 jars pizza sauce, 1 12-inch ruler, 1 rolling pin, 1 large mixing bowl, 1 mixing spoon, 1 cup measuring cup & measuring spoons, 2 baking sheets (round if possible)

6) Pizza Decorations: Work as families (i.e. you're partnered with your siblings) to measure out the dough and decorate each of the dough planets. For the Mercury, Venus, Earth, & Mars pizzas, we just pinched and pushed with our fingers to get them to be the approximate right size. We used a ruler to measure each planet.

We listened to The Planets Orchestral Suite by Gustav Holst as we made the pizzas. I also showed pictures of each of the planets and quickly discussed some characteristics as we formed and decorated them. I used the pictures from Ten Worlds by Ken Croswell.

If the sun was 144 inches (12 feet), then the planets would be:

Mercury: ½ inch (0.50 inch) = It's barren, gray & dusty. Do not add anything to it.

Venus: 1 ¼ inches (1.25 inches) = Top with fettuccini sauce.

Earth: 1 ¼ inches (1.32 inches) = Top with fettuccini sauce that's been tinted blue with food coloring (water), a piece of spinach or broccoli (land), and then sprinkle with mozzarella (clouds)

Mars: 3/4 inch (0.70 inch) = Top with pizza sauce

6) Pizza Decorations (continued). We used a rolling pin to measure out Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, & Neptune. We rolled them out on pieces of floured wax paper. After you make the Jupiter pizzas, begin baking them immediately at 375 for 20 minutes so they'll be ready to eat by snack time. We were able to place all of the Mercury, Venus, Earth, & Mars pizzas along with some of the Neptune & Uranus pizzas together on one baking sheet. After we baked all the Jupiter pizzas, we baked the assorted planet pizzas (375 for 7 minutes for smaller ones and 12 minutes for Neptune & Uranus). Then we baked the Saturn pizzas (375 for 18 minutes). One mom stayed in the kitchen to take care of baking the pizzas.

Jupiter: 14 ¾ inches (14.79 inches) = Top with pizza sauce. Sprinkle with alternating stripes of mozzarella & cheddar cheese. Place a pepperoni "red spot" on top.

Saturn: 12 inches (12.05 inches) = Top with pizza sauce. Sprinkle with alternating stripes of mozzarella & cheddar cheese. Lay two or three lines of bell pepper strips across the middle for the rings.

Uranus: 4 ¾ (4.86 inches) = Top with fettuccini sauce that's been tinted blue with food coloring

Neptune: 4 ¾ (4.70 inches) = Top with fettuccini sauce that's been tinted blue with food coloring and sprinkle with a small amount of mozzarella cheese. If desired, add more blue food dye to a small amount of fettuccini sauce and place on top as the "blue spot."

7) Show pictures from Kingdom of the Sun by Jacqueline Mitton or The Planet Gods by Jacqueline Mitton to quickly go through from where the names of the planets came.

8) Assign each child a planet. If you have more than 10 children, you can partner some of them up. Give each child a planet stick (dowel rod, stick, or wooden skewer with a picture & name of the sun or planet taped to the top) and a costume/accessory (listed below). I used pictures from Appendix D in this other unit for the pictures of the planets.

-Planet Costume/Accessory:
SUN = a yellow hat or something else sun-related
MERCURY = running shoes or something else messenger related
VENUS = (assign to a girl) Valentines or something else love-related
EARTH = Ziplock bag of dirt & Ziplock bag of water.
MARS = foam sword or something else farming-related war-related
JUPITER = crown
SATURN = a trowel & farmer's hat or something else farming-related
URANUS = a t-shirt with a sun on it or something else sky-related
NEPTUNE = scuba mask & snorkel or something else swimming-related
(PLUTO & the other KUIPER BELT DWARF PLANETS = a jacket and scarf or something else cold-related)

If you can't get one of the books by Jacqueline Mitton, this Astronomy unit can provide you with the background of how each planet got its name:

MERCURY - swift and speedy messenger of the Roman gods. Mercury orbits the sun very quickly compared to Earth, taking only 88 Earth days for Mercury to orbit the sun, so it would zip across the evening sky.
VENUS - Roman goddess of love and beauty. Venus shines brightly and beautifully in the sky.
EARTH - Not named after Roman mythology. Either means "oceans" or "water" because it's the only planet with water or means "soil."
MARS - Roman god of war. The red color of Mars is like blood and war.
JUPITER - Roman king of the gods. It's enormous in size.
SATURN - Roman god of the harvest. Saturn was only visible in the northern hemisphere during the growing seasons of summer.
URANUS - father of all the Greek gods and god of the sky. Often wealthy Greeks and Romans lounged around at meals or in conversation and the typical position for them to do this would be to recline on pillows on their side. Just as they reclined on their sides, Uranus is "lying on its side" as it rotates on its side.
NEPTUNE - Roman god of the sea. It' s blue in color and resembles the sea.
(PLUTO - Roman god of the underworld. Romans believed that the underworld had two distinct areas, one of extreme heat and fire and one of extreme cold and ice. Because of Pluto's distance from the sun, it is very dark and cold.)

9) Children bring planet rods and their costume/accessories for the planet walk on which we'll measure the distance between the planets (distances came from Exploring the Solar System by Mary Kay Carson). Choose a very long sidewalk, path, parking lot, or yard. Decide where the sun begins and plant the rod in that place. Follow the below steps. At each location, the person or group who's been assigned that planet will place the planet rod in the ground. As you walk back, ask the children what they learned about the distance between the planets. Where do they think is the half-way point is in the journey out to the Kuiper Belt/Pluto? It's not Jupiter or Saturn. The surprising answer is Uranus.

To Get From:
Sun to Mercury walk 3 steps
Mercury to Venus 2.5 steps
Venus to Earth 2 steps
Earth to Mars 4 steps
Mars to Jupiter 27.5 steps
Jupiter to Saturn 32.5 steps
Saturn to Uranus 72 steps
Uranus to Neptune 81.5 steps
Neptune to Kuiper Belt/Pluto 71 steps

10) Sing Planets Go Spinning song.
(Tune: "When Johnny Comes Marching")
(Revised version from Ranger Rick Naturscope: Astronomy)

The planets revolve around the sun in Orion's Arm. (Flex arm muscle)
The planets revolve around the sun in Orion's Arm. (Flex arm muscle)
The planets revolve around the sun (Twist index finger in a circle)
And spin on their axes every one. (Spin around in place)
As they all go spinning, (Spin around in place)
Around and around in the Milky Way. (Spin around in place)

Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars (Terrestrial planets) (Hold up 1, 2, 3, & then 4 fingers)
Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars (Terrestrial planets) (Hold up 1, 2, 3, & then 4 fingers)
Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, (Hold up 1, 2, 3, & then 4 fingers)
All whirling and twirling among the stars (Spin around in place)
As they all go spinning, (Spin around in place)
Around and around in the Milky Way. (Spin around in place)

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune (The Gas Giants) (Hold up 1, 2, 3, & then 4 fingers)
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune (The Gas Giants) (Hold up 1, 2, 3, & then 4 fingers)
We now have to leave Pluto out of this tune (Hold out both hands, shake head, & frown)
As they all go spinning, (Spin around in place)
Around and around in the Milky Way. (Spin around in place)

11) Read book on our galaxy, My Place in Space by Robin Hirst.

12) Point out the tiny dot of our solar system in the Milky Way on the photograph in Galaxies by Seymour Simon. Remind the children of how enormous God is and how He created and takes care of all of this and us.

Check out http://htwins.net/scale2/scale2.swf?bordercolor=white&fb_source=message, which is an interactive website that deals with the relative sizes of things in the universe, from the smallest known objects to the largest. Scroll in to see gamma wavelengths and atoms. Scroll out into the universe to see galaxies and superclusters. Amazing!

13) Eat pizza planets. (I provided old pizza boxes for each family to use to take home their remaining pizzas.)
MOM 1: YOU WILL NEED: 13 cups for water & 13 napkins

14) Let children each draw the name of a planet. They will present on that planet at the end of the unit.

15) 5 Minute Review what we've learned.

The links below will take you to the first lesson in each of my units. From there you can navigate to the other lessons in that particular unit by viewing the featured lens links toward the bottom of the page. I'm uploading more lessons as time allows.

Science:
Astronomy (4 weeks)
Earth Science (6 weeks)
Zoology (5 weeks)
Human Anatomy (7 weeks)
Simple Machines and Inventions (6 weeks)
Floating & Flying (5 weeks)
Five Senses (4 weeks)
Weather (4 weeks)
Plant Parts (1 week)
Forensic Science/Detectives (1 week)

History:
Medieval Period (4 weeks)
Explorers (4 weeks)
Early American Settlers (4 weeks)
American War for Independence (6 weeks)
The Constitution and President George Washington (1 week)
Native Americans (4 weeks)
Westward Expansion and Pioneers (4 weeks)

Geography:
Japan (1 week)
Africa (4 weeks)
World Geography (26 weeks)

Holidays:
Christmas (2 weeks)
Thanksgiving (2 weeks)

Homeschool Curriculums:
My Math Curriculum, Games, and Books
My Homeschool Curriculum Choices for Elementary Grades

Complete List of Units and Lessons:
Fun, FREE Hands-on Unit Studies

Specific to Classroom Teaching:
8th Grade American History

Konos Curriculum
I use Konos Curriculum as a springboard from which to plan my lessons. It's a wonderful curriculum and was created by moms with active boys!

Konos Home School Mentor
If you're new to homeschooling or in need of some fresh guidance, I highly recommend Konos' HomeSchoolMentor.com program! Watch videos on-line of what to do each day and how to teach it in this great hands-on format!