Hannah Conger

Lesson Plan Components

Content Standard:

What standard(s) are most relevant to the learning goals?

o Compare and contrast the planets in terms of
Size relative to the earth
Surface and atmospheric features
Relative distance from the sun
Ability to support life
o L6-8RT9 Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: Compare and contrast the information
gained from experiments, simulations, video, or multimedia sources with that gained
from reading a text on the same topic.

Student Learning Goal(s)/ Objective(s):

Students will compare and contrast the nine planets in size, atomic features, distance from the sun,
and ability to support life.
Instructional Strategies and Learning Tasks
Launch: ___5_____Minutes
I will begin my lesson by showing my students the size comparison of the planets using
http://callumprentice.github.io/apps/planet_compare/# . This will allow me to show the students using
a visual the actual size comparison of the planets to each other.
Instruction: ____15______ Minutes
I will begin my instruction by stating the objective for this lesson which is, Students will
compare and contrast the nine planets in size, atomic features, distance from the sun, and the
ability to support life. Next, I will pass out an article titled The 9 Planets which will serve as the
basis of the lesson, as well as a graphic organizer. The graphic organizer will be formatted to
include the nine plants in order as well as specified places for the students to record the
planet size, atomic features, distance from the sun, and the ability to support life. The graphic
organize will suffice as my scaffolding during the lesson and will allow the students to clearly
see how they will be comparing and contrasting the nine planets. I will begin to read the first
two paragraphs using shared reading. After reading I will model for my students and
demonstrate how I want the students to fill out the graphic organizer and also how I expect
them to compare and contrast the first two paragraphs. I will also explain that comparing
means similar characteristics and contrasting means different characteristics, therefore the
students know exactly what the objective of the lesson is and know how they are expected to
complete the activity given. Then I will ask the students to read paragraph 3 and 4 by
themselves, and we will fill out the graphic organizer together. I will ask the students what
points they feel we should write down on our graphic organizer, and then I will tell them what I
think we should have in the graphic organizer. During this portion of the lesson I will be
observing weather the students were able to pick out the important facts out of the paragraph
and translate those facts to their graphic organizer in the right category. Lastly, I will ask the
students to complete the rest of the graphic organizer or their own after reading the article.

Hannah Conger

Closure: ____2______ Minutes

I will close this lesson my restating the objective which was to compare and contrast all 9 planets in
size, atomic features, distance from the sun, and the ability to support life. I will then ask the children
how comparing and contrasting using a graphic organizer helped them organize their thoughts to help
me plain my next lesson.

Assessments

Evaluation Criteria

Type of assessment
Description of assessment
(Informal or Formal)

Informal

I will assess this assignment

by reviewing the students
graphic organizers where
they compared and
contrasted the nine planets.

What evidence of student learning (related to the

learning objectives and central focus) does the
assessment provide?

I will look to be sure that students have

in their chart the atomic size, atomic
features, distance from the sun, and the
ability to sustain life in their graphic
organizer for the nine planets.

Worth 25 pts

5 points for focus/standard/objective alignment

10 points for completed/coherent instructional strategy/learning task section
10 points for completed/coherent assessment section

Hannah Conger

Hannah Conger

The 9 Planets
Planets

Mercury

Venus

Earth

Mars

Jupiter

Saturn

Uranus

Neptune

Pluto

Size Relative to
Earth

Atomic
Features /Life?

Distance from the

Sun