MY

SPACE
PROJECT
ON
_________________________
by

NAME ______________________________________________________________________

SECTION ___________________________________________________________________

EARTH MONTH AND YEAR _______________________________________________

1

Dear Space Explorers,

Greetings! You have just settled down to read some fun facts about the universe. Are you sitting
still? No! You are turning an Earthly somersault every twenty-four hours and spinning at about
1,000 miles per hour. You are also circling the Sun at about 6,500 miles per hour.
The Sun is a medium-sized star. It contains 99% of all the matter in our solar system. It is only
one of billions of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy. The Sun appears brighter than other stars
because it is many, many times closer to us than any of the other stars. It is only 93,000,000
miles away from Earth. Yet, if we were to take field trip to the sun, your field trip permission
form would read something like this:
Dear Parents,
We will be departing for our field trip to the Sun on May 15, 2015. We will be traveling
by commercial jet and traveling about 600 miles per hour (970km/hour). It will take us
seventeen years to reach the Sun and seventeen years to return, thus our anticipated year
of return is 2049. Given that we will be gone for thirty-four years, please pack for your
child 37,256 meals and some snacks. Also, since your child will be approximately fortyfour years old upon our return, please feel to use her allowance on something really
special for yourself. Bon voyage!
Ms. Bean
You are located in a solar system with seven other planets that revolve around the Sun. Mercury,
Venus, and Mars resemble the Earth in size, chemical composition, and density. Along with the
Earth, these four rocky planets are known as the terrestrial planets or the Inner Planets. Jupiter,
Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are known as the gas giants because they are much larger in size
and have thick, gaseous atmospheres and low densities. These Outer Planets are also sometimes
referred to as the Jovian planets. You and the rest of the solar system are traveling at about
twelve miles per second toward a star called Vega which is further out in the universe.
Our universe contains matter, space, and energy. It contains stars, planets, moons, comets,
asteroids, meteoroids, and black holes. It is unimaginably large. Look up at the night sky. All
the stars you see with your naked eye are stars in our Milky Way Galaxy. You can only see a
small number of them. Assuming there are about 300,000,000,000 stars in the Milky Way, if we
gathered them all together and gave them away, there would be enough to give about fifty to
every person on Earth. The Milky Way is one of millions of galaxies.
The light your eyes see left far away stars hundreds or even thousands of years ago. The starlight
you see has come from the past. How can this be? Light travels at a speed of 186,000 miles (or
300,000 km or 300,000,000 meters) per second. It travels so quickly, light can circle the earth
7.5 times in one second. As far as we know so far, nothing can travel faster than light.
2

If light travels 186,000 miles (300,000 kilometers or 300,000,000 meters) per second, how far
does it travel in a year? Check out the math:
a.) 186,000 miles/second x 60 seconds/minute x 60 minutes/hour x 24 hours/day x 365 days/year
= 5,865,696,000,000 miles/year = approximately 6,000,000,000,000 miles/year;
b.) 300,000 kilometers/second x 60 seconds/minute x 60 minutes/hour x 24 hours/day x 365
days/year = 9,460,800,000,000 kilometers/year = approximately 9,500,000,000,000
kilometers/year;
c.) 300,000,000 meters/ second x 60 seconds/minute x 60 minutes/hour x 24 hours/day x 365
days/year = 9,460,800,000,000,000 meters/year = approximately 9,600,000,000,000,000
meters/year.
The distance light travels in one year is called a light year. A light year is how we measure
distances in space. Even at the incredible speed of light, it takes light about eight minutes to
travel from the Sun to Earth. The light you see right now actually happened eight minutes ago.
It takes more than four years for light to travel from the Sun to the next star, Alpha Centauri.
When you look at the star Betelgeuse, the light you see left Betelgeuse over 500 years ago, about
the time Columbus was landing in America. When we see the light of a distant star, we do not
know for sure if it still exists, but we know it existed hundreds of years ago when it gave out the
light that is arriving on Earth today. Want to see light that is the same age as you are? Look for
the star Sirius, also known as the Dog Star. It is about nine light years away. That means that
starlight from Sirius is about nine Earth years old.
Now, where are you?! How would an alien send you a letter from across the universe? Your
complete universal mailing address, as far as we understand things today, is:
The National Cathedral School for Girls
3612 Woodley Rd., N.W.
Washington, DC 20016
United States of America
Planet Earth (about 13,000 kilometers across)
Earth-Moon System
Solar System (about 10 billion kilometers across)
Solar Neighborhood (about 10 light years across)
Irion Spur (a section of the Milky Way Galaxy)
Milky Way Galaxy (about 150,000 light years across; contains about 400 billion stars)
Local Group of Galaxies (about 3 million light years across)
Virgo Supercluster of Galaxies (contains thousands of clusters of galaxies)
Laniakea (Hawaiian for immeasurable heaven) Region (about 520 million light years across)
Observable Universe (currently extends more than10 billion light years in all directions)
3

Your own personal space adventure begins now, as you set out to explore the space topic of your
choice. Enjoy the journey, wherever it may take you. Before you know it, you may be the first
NCS explorer in space!
May all your explorations be filled with great adventure and discovery!
Ms. Bean

Resources
1. Allison, Linda. The Reasons for the Seasons: The Great Cosmic Megagalactic Trip Without Moving From Your Chair. Little Brown & Co.
1975.
2. Bosak, Susan V. Science is . Scholastic. 1991.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

There are five parts to this research project. They are:
1. You will do a little research to identify the topic in or about space that most captures your
attention and about which you would like to learn more. You may pick anything in space except
Earth, constellations, and a destination on which you have already reported.
2. Once you have selected your topic and discussed it with Ms. Bean, you will research the
topic using books, magazines, articles, and Internet sources as information resources.
3. You will create a poster-sized brochure that tantalizingly displays your discoveries about
your topic. (Poster board will be provided.)
4. You will also create a three-dimensional (3D) component of your topic. This might be a
model, a shadow box, or even a demonstration for the class. You may be as creative as you wish
in the presentation of your museum exhibit. In fact, creativity and beauty are encouraged in
order to captivate your audience. (You may not use a store-bought kit of any kind.) Always
remember, however, that the information you present must be based on the facts.
5. After you have completed your research and museum exhibit, you will present your findings
to the class through an oral presentation.
You will be using class time and homework time to work on your project. Before you move
from one part of the project to the next, you must have Ms. Beans teacher approval or TA.

PART I

TOPIC SELECTION

TOPIC SELECTED: __________________________________________________

Teacher Approval (TA) ___________

WRITE THE TITLE OF YOUR PROJECT ON THE FRONT OF YOUR BOOKLET.

TA ___________

PART II

RESEARCH

Following are the required research guidelines:

1. You must include at least twenty-five (25) different facts about your space topic. These facts
must be in your own words. (No copying and pasting of information you research.) Do not
write down things you do not understand. You must understand the facts well enough to explain
them and answer your classmates questions about them. Feel free to ask Ms. Bean for help
understanding the material!
If you discover facts that conflict with one another, what should you do? First, check your
sources of information. Are they reliable sources? Second, check the copyright date of the
information. What is the most current information? Based on this research, which of the
conflicting facts are the most accurate to use in your report?
2. You must have at least three (3) different print sources (books, magazines, articles, etc.)
referenced in your bibliography. Use the cart in the NCS Library and any reliable sources you
have available to you at home. You may use information from 13 Planets only after you have
included 25 facts from other resources.

3. You must have at least three (3) different Internet sources referenced in your bibliography.
See page eight (10).

4. ALL YOUR WORK MUST BE COMPLETED IN THIS BOOKLET.

RECORD YOUR BIBLIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION

& RESEARCH NOTES FROM A PRINT SOURCE HERE.
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BIBLIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION FOR A BOOK
Author of the book (last name, first name):___________________________________________
Title of book: __________________________________________________________________
Date of publication or copyright: ___________________________________________________
RESEARCH NOTES List the notes as bullet points.

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RECORD YOUR BIBLIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION

& RESEARCH NOTES FROM A PRINT SOURCE HERE.
******************************************************************************
BIBLIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION FOR A BOOK
Author of the book (last name, first name):___________________________________________
Title of book: __________________________________________________________________
Date of publication or copyright: ___________________________________________________
RESEARCH NOTES List the notes as bullet points.

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RECORD OUR BIBLIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION

& RESEARCH NOTES FROM A PRINT SOURCE HERE.
******************************************************************************
BIBLIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION FOR A BOOK
Author of the book (last name, first name):___________________________________________
Title of book: __________________________________________________________________
Date of publication or copyright: ___________________________________________________
RESEARCH NOTES List the notes as bullet points.

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INTERNET RESEARCH
A. TRY THE SOLAR SYSTEM APPS ON YOUR IPAD
B. USE THE NCS HOME PAGE
1. Log onto the NCS Home page at http://www.ncs.cathedral.org.
2. Click on Library.
3. Click on Lower School Library.
4. Click on G4 Projects. You MAY NOT USE Wikipedia for this project.
5. Look for:

A. Windows to the Universe (http://www.windows2universe.org)

B. Zoom Astronomy Be sure to check out Levels 1 & 2!
(http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy)
C. Star Child (http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov)
D. The Space Place by NASA (www.spaceplace.nasa.gov)
E. Kids Astronomy (www.kidsastronomy.com)
F. Space Images by NASA (www.SpaceImages.com)
G. Eight Planets or Nine Planets (www.eightplanets.org or
www.nineplanets.org)
H. NASA (nasa.gov)
I. National Geographic (nationalgeographic.com)
J. Try the search engines duckduckgo.com and www.refseek.com to find
additional Web sites.
K. For amazing photographs, visit Astronomy Picture of the Day
(apod.nasa.gov).
L. Astronomy for Kids (www.astronomy.com)
M. Spacekids (www.spacekids.co.uk)

6. Click any of these sites and you will be taken to their Home page.
7. Be sure to scroll down the pages you find!!! Also be sure to check out the tabs!!
C. OTHER WEBSITES OF INTEREST YOU KNOW ABOUT
10

RECORD YOUR BIBLIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION

& RESEARCH NOTES FROM AN INTERNET SITE HERE.
******************************************************************************
BIBLIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION FOR WEB SITE

Web address: _______________________________________________________

Title of article: ______________________________________________________
Date you looked at Web site: ___________________________________________
RESEARCH NOTES List the notes as bullet points.

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RECORD YOUR BIBLIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION

& RESEARCH NOTES FROM AN INTERNET SITE HERE.
******************************************************************************
BIBLIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION FOR WEB SITE

Web address: _______________________________________________________

Title of article: ______________________________________________________
Date you looked at Web site: ___________________________________________
RESEARCH NOTES List the notes as bullet points.

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RECORD YOUR BIBLIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION

& RESEARCH NOTES FROM AN INTERNET SITE HERE.
******************************************************************************
BIBLIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION FOR A WEB SITE

Web address: _______________________________________________________

Title of article: ______________________________________________________
Date you looked at Web site: ___________________________________________
RESEARCH NOTES List the notes as bullet points.

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RECORD YOUR BIBLIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION

& RESEARCH NOTES FROM AN INTERNET SITE HERE.
******************************************************************************
BIBLIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION FOR A WEB SITE

Web address: _______________________________________________________

Title of article: ______________________________________________________
Date you looked at Web site: ___________________________________________
RESEARCH NOTES List the notes as bullet points.

__________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
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__________________________________________________________________
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TA_______________________
14

PART III: POSTER BROCHURE

Your goal now is to entice, or to tempt, an audience that knows absolutely nothing about your
destination to visit it. Create a poster-sized brochure that is factual, creative, and will tempt
your audience members to take a trip to visit your destination in space.
A. REQUIREMENTS

Your poster must:

_____ be on the poster board provided by Ms. Bean.

_____ include a title that clearly identifies the subject of your research.
_____ include at least twenty-five (25) interesting facts about your space topic. Use bullet
points, NOT paragraphs. If you use complete sentences, you must use capital letters and
periods.
_____ be written in your own words.
_____ include at least one colorful, labeled drawing you create about your topic.
_____ be colorful and attractive.
_____ be neat and well-organized.
_____ include your bibliography somewhere in the bottom portion of your poster board. Refer
to the citations in your research section. Do not include the labels; include the reference
information only. Example: Bean, B. Planet NCS. 2015.
_____ include your names and section.
_____ Photographs may be used, but color photographs are preferred. Also, they must be
labeled and their source credited. You may print color photos at school.
_____ Select two facts from your poster you think are fabulously interesting. Write the facts
on a properly headed piece of paper, with your topic as the title, and give to Ms. Bean.

B. SOME ARTISTIC TECHNIQUES TO CONSIDER AS YOU DESIGN AND DRAW

Your poster should:
_____ 1) present the most important information the most visible spots on the board.
_____ 2) have a good flow from one item to the next.
_____ 3) be easy to read from 1-1.5 meters away.
_____ 4) have text done in neatly handwritten letters.
_____ 5) be illustrated with neatly presented, pertinent data and images.
15

C. DESIGN TIPS
1. Try several different layouts, or arrangements, of all the information before deciding on the
final design. Cluster similar facts together.
2. Draft with a whispering pencil! Make only ghostly marks, because dark lines are hard to
erase AND make permanent dents in the poster board. Erase lightly for the same reasons.
3. Using a ruler, draw very faint false lines so your writing stays in straight lines across the
poster and so your letters are approximately the same size.
4. Leave white space between words and lines.
5. Write all text lightly in pencil before writing it in ink. You may not use anything
permanent until the entire board is drafted in pencil.
6. Step away from your poster, observe it as a visitor would, and ask yourself, Is the
poster interesting and balanced? That is to say, do your eyes follow a smooth path
through the design? Is it a logical path through the information? Do all the parts work well
together to make your ideas clear?
7. Use large letters for more important headings.
8. Proofread often for errors and omissions. Correct errors before starting the final version.
9. Hand print or cut out letters and labels neatly.
10. Place labels neatly in appropriate location.
11. If you use pictures, use pictures that are in focus, in color, and clearly printed. Also, they
must be labeled and their sources credited.
12. Use glue to attach pictures and text to the presentation board.
13. For emphasis, you might mount text and images on colored paper.
14. Spray painting must be done at home.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN THE FINAL POSTER, DRAFT A VERSION ON

PAGE 17 & REVIEW IT WITH MS. BEAN.
16

DRAFT YOUR POSTER/DISPLAY HERE & REVIEW IT WITH MS. BEAN.

You do not have to list every fact on your draft, but you do have to mark a spot on your draft for
every fact you will use.

Slight adjustments on your final poster are acceptable.

TA_______________________
17

PART IV: THREE-DIMENSIONAL (3D) COMPONENT

Your space project will also have a three-dimensional aspect to it. This means that you will have
a hands-on display as part of your presentation. It might be a model, a shadow box, a
demonstration, or some other idea you have in mind. You are not allowed to use any storebought kits or models. You need to create your 3D display using your own ingenuity and simple
materials you have available to you. Draw or explain your 3D display idea below and then
discuss it with Ms. Bean. You must also make a label with your name, section, Earth year,
and a description of what your 3D piece represents.
BEFORE YOU BEGIN CREATING YOUR FINAL CREATION, YOU MUST DRAFT
YOUR IDEA HERE, DISCUSS IT WITH MS. BEAN, AND HAVE IT APPROVED.

Slight adjustments on your final 3D piece are acceptable.

TA_______________________
18

PART V: ORAL PRESENTATION

Did you remember to make a label for your 3D piece that includes your name, section,
Earth year, and a description of what your 3D piece represents?
Once your poster brochure and 3D portions are complete, you will make an oral presentation to
the class about your topic. You will be expected to speak from your poster brochure and your 3D
piece. You will not be allowed to read your project to us. More on that later

LIKE

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SPACE PROJECT ASSESSMENT: RESEARCH, POSTER,

3D COMPONENT, & ORAL REPORT 2015

NAME

SECTION

PERFORMANCE CRITERIA

TOPIC

POINTS
POSSIBLE

POINTS
EARNED

RESEARCH
You used your time in class well.
3 (x3)
You had at least three print and three web
sources of information presented in the
assigned bibliographic format.

4 (x4)

You completed your research on time.

1
Subtotal
POSTER
The title on your poster clearly identified
your topic.
Your poster was labeled with your name
and section.
You included at least twenty-five accurate
facts.
You used your own words to describe your
findings.
You included at least one informative,
well-labeled, original drawing.
Your poster was well-organized, attractive,
neat, and tempted the reader to visit your
destination.
You included complete and accurate
bibliographic material.
Spelling and punctuation were correct on
your poster.
You used class time well.

(26)
3
1
4 (x4)
3 (x2)
3
3 (x3)
3 (x2)
3
3

You completed your poster on time.

1
You wrote two fun facts on a separate
piece of paper.
Subtotal
3D COMPONENT
Your 3D project educated us about a
specific point of your topic.
Your 3D piece was labeled with your
name, section, and what it represents.
Subtotal

4
(55)
4 (x4)
3
(19)

20

COMMENTS

ORAL PRESENTATION
You introduced yourself and topic.
1
You spoke to us (rather than read to us).
3
Your voice was loud and your words were
enunciated clearly.
You did not use the word like
inappropriately.
You maintained good eye contact with the
audience.
You answered questions accurately.

3
3
3
3

You were able to answer questions from

the audience in a poised manner.
You demonstrated a solid understanding of
your topic.
Overall, you presented a clearly delivered
and knowledgeable presentation of your
project.

3
3(x3)
3(x3)

Subtotal
TOTAL & GRADE

(37)
137

21