The students will be introduced to moon craters.

The students will learn what objects have made these craters

The students will make their own craters and compare them in size and shape.

Materials:

newspapers

shallow pan

meter stick

tape

6 cups salt

6 cups flour

index card

cinnamon in shaker

2 marbles

ruler

meteoroids - rocks, pebbles, erasers, shells...

computer with Internet

 

Activities:

Ask: What do we know about the moon?.

Make a list of things students know about the moon already.

Have students go to Moon Web site and The Melbourne Planetarium to study pictures of the moon

Discuss how the moon is covered with craters. Explain how craters are scars from chunks of things that have hit the moon.

Make craters with the students:

1. Spread newspaper on the floor.
2. Fill the pan with salt and flour. Mix them together. Then smooth out the top.
3. Shake cinnamon on top. This will help the craters show up better.
4. Set pan against the wall and place the measuring stick between the pan and the wall
5. Hold marbles and various lengths and drop them.
6. Discuss and record the results.

Evaluation:

The students will be evaluated by answering questions regarding the results from the crater activity.

• Which meteoroid made the biggest crater? 

  How are the two craters different?

  How are they the same?

Extension: Create a Space Dictionary

• Explain that a dictionary is a collection of words, phrases or quotations with information about a word

• Discuss a typical dictionary entry: pla*net (pla' net) n. a celestial body that revolves around a sun or other body -word in syllables, word pronunciation, part of speech and definition

• Brainstorm words for dictionary: planet, star, constellation, moon, phase, meteor, gravity, Milky Way, galaxy, universe, sun, Mercury, asteroid, comet, core, mantle, crust, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto... 

• Have students then design their dictionaries

• Choose different fonts, types, effects

• Add pictures- clip art, graphics, pictures from Internet, scanned photos

• Plan layout

• Words can contain pictures, quotations and word art

• Edit

• Proof read

• Publish

Homework:

Have students go outside to look at the moon and draw a picture of what they saw. Visit the Moon Web site and determine what phase the moon is in: new, full, waxing, gibbous, crescent, quarter, half, waning...