Lesson Plan Format

Teacher:
Rene Cruz
Lesson Title:
Space It Out
Standards
5-ESS1-2
Represent data in graphical displays to reveal patterns of
daily changes in length and direction of shadows, day and
night, and the seasonal appearance of some stars in the
night sky.
CCSS.Math.Content.4.MD.B.4
Generate measurement data by measuring lengths using
rulers marked with halves and fourths of an inch. Show the
data by making a line plot, where the horizontal scale is
marked off in appropriate units whole numbers, halves,
or quarters.
CCSS.Math.Content.4.MD.A.1
Know relative sizes of measurement units within one
system of units including km, m, cm; kg, g; lb, oz.; l, ml; hr,
min, sec. Within a single system of measurement, express
measurements in a larger unit in terms of a smaller unit.
Record measurement equivalents in a two-column table.

Description of Habits of Mind

Meta Cognition: Students will need to be aware
of their thinking. Recall back on past information
to state facts about the solar system.
Thinking interdependently: After individual
calculations, students will merge into groups to
compare their data. Once this is done, students
will come up with a plan to bring their
measurements to size, using toilet paper to
display their work.

Date: 29 September 2015

Lesson Objective:
All students will be able to measure the distance of
planets from the sun using a roll of toilet paper with
100% accuracy.
Measurement of Learning Outcomes
Students will be required to calculate the number of
sheets of toilet paper required for the correct
spacing of the planets from the Sun. Their work
will be done on a worksheet that will later be turned
in. Along with this, groups will be formed to
display their data in a scale model of the solar
system.
For homework, they will convert the current
distance (km) to miles and AU. They will be asked
to form three graphs using the data they have
collected.

Materials
1 roll per group or per class
Pictures of the solar system
Rulers (optional)
Distance worksheet
Long hallway or space outside
Number of sheets = real distance (km)
50,000,000 km
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5c_lL6I3OaA
(The Magic School Bus)
http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/
(Computer Generated Graphs)

Vocabulary List:
Solar System, Astronomical Unit (AU), Kilometer, Division, Conversion, Mile, Earth, Sun, Mercury,
Venus, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, and Jupiter.
I DO:
To introduce this lesson, I would first have students watch an episode of The Magic School Bus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMUlTLAva0s. As students are watching the video I would ask
them write down any scientific or mathematical information they heard in the video. Students should be
able to write down at least 10 points of information they learned from the video. This would prompt a
discussion of how math and science work with one another and how we'll implement this in the next
activity.

Questions to help discussion could be;

How are math and science related?
Can someone tell me an interesting fact they learned about one of the planets?
Do we know what measurement is used to describe the distance between planets?
How do you think we can use math to solve this problem to make a model scale of the solar system?
At this point, I would introduce what I expect the students to learn (Objective), explaining the process of
the project so that students are aware of what they must do for the remainder of the period. A list of
vocabulary would be introduced and later completed by the students. Once this is done, students will be
separated into groups of 5 and given the Distance Worksheet.
WE DO:
Modeling:
Students will do one measurement calculation with the teacher. This is to show them how to find the
distance they will need which directly translates to the number of toilet paper they'll need to display
their data.
Guided Practice:
Students will be handed out a Distance Worksheet with three columns. The first column will list the
names of the planets. The second column will have the distances of each planet from the sun in km.
Finally the third column will be a blank space for students to write down the number of toilet paper
sheets needed to show the actual distance of planet from the sun. Students will be reminded that 1 sheet
of toilet paper = 50,000,000 km. Students will begin to work in their groups completely filling out each
line and demonstrating their work on the back of the worksheet.
Checking for Understanding
Students will come together after they have completed their calculations. They will need to be approved
by me or an aid to make sure they have the correct calculations. If students do not, they will be asked to
go back and look at the steps they took for division to see where they went wrong. If students are still
not able to get the correct data, they will be paired up with other students to help with their
understanding of division and later steps of conversion.
YOU DO:
Independent Practice
Within their group, students will begin making a model scale of the solar system in relation to the sun.
They will need to display the measurement on the toilet paper marking each distance of the planet from
the sun. They will need to explain how they arrived at their calculations to measure for understanding.
Once completed we will come together again and talk about the activity and what the students learned
contributing two points of information to the discussion.
Assignments/Homework:
For homework, students will be asked to take home their worksheet and convert their findings in miles
and Astronomical Units (AU). This is to ensure that students understand how to convert units of
measurement. They will need to show their work so that I can see how they arrived at their new
distance. They will then be asked to create graphs using this website
http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/ to help them visualize the newly converted data. This should
be done with 80% accuracy.