Monmouth University

School of Education
Department of Curriculum and Instruction

Days 4-8 Lesson Plan

Teacher Candidates Name: Achau Nguyen

Grade Level/Subject: 3rd Grade/Science
Unit Title: Exploring the Solar System
Lesson Title: Visiting the Eight Planets
Tentative Date: Thursday-Wednesday (Days 4-8)
Duration: 5 days / 40 minutes Day 4, 30 minutes Day 5, 40 minutes Day 6, 65 minutes Day 7,
and 40 minutes Day 8

I.

Standards (NJCCCS, CCSS, NJPST, and/or CEC):

NJCCC 5.44.A.4: Earth is the third planet from the Sun in our Solar System,
which includes seven other planets.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.R.1.3.5: Use text features and search tools (e.g., key

words, sidebars, hyperlinks) to locate information relevant to a given topic
efficiently.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.3.1.B: Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g.,

gaining the floor in respectful ways, listening to others with care, speaking one at
a time about the topics and texts under discussion).

NJPST Standard Seven Special Needs: Teachers shall adapt and modify
instruction to accommodate the special learning needs of all students.

CEC Standard 3.2: Beginning special education professionals understand and use
general and specialized content knowledge for teaching across curricular content
areas to individualize learning for individuals with exceptionalities

CEC Standard 3.3: Beginning special education professionals modify general and
specialized curricula to make them accessible to individuals with exceptionalities.

CEC Standard 5.2: Beginning special education professionals use technologies to

support instructional assessment, planning, and delivery for individuals with
exceptionalities.

CEC Standard 5.4: Beginning special education professionals use strategies to

enhance language development and communication skills of individuals with
exceptionalities

II.

Learner Outcomes & Assessments:

Learner Outcomes:
o SWBAT describe distinctive characteristics of one planet by working on a
collaborative project and presentation.
o SWBAT demonstrate their understanding of all eight planets by partaking
in a review game and by completing a quiz.

Assessments:

Planet Worksheet (Informal)

Presentation (Informal)

Planet Presentation Note Packet (Informal)

Group Participation (Informal)

Review Game (Informal)

Our 8 Planets Quiz (Formal)

Essential Questions:
o What is a planet?
o How many planets are there in the Solar System?
o What is a Solar System?
o How is Earth unique in comparison to other planets?

Enduring Understandings:
o A planet is a large natural objects that orbit, or travel around, stars.
o There are eight planets in the Solar System that orbit around the Sun,
which is a star.
o The Solar System has a star (Sun), planets, and moons.
o The Earth is unique in comparison to other planets within the Solar
System mainly because it has life.

III.

Procedures:
DAY 4 (40 min)
Anticipatory Set: (10 min)

Teacher will facilitate a class discussion on what was learned yesterday about the
Solar System. (Activating Prior Knowledge Wetzels, Kester, & Merrienboer,
2011).

Questions like, What is a planet? and How many planets are there in the Solar
System? will be asked. The challenge question will be, Who can name the eight
planets in order? (Challenging Questions Massey, Pence, Justice, & Bowles,
2008).

Teacher will explain the project to the class and put the students into eight groups
of 3-4 (Learning Communication Skills with Group Work - Odhayani &
Ratnapalan, 2011). Each group will be assigned one planet to research and will
have the Planet Worksheet as guidance. Students will be expected to present their
findings in four days.

Procedure: (10 min)

Students will log onto their Chromebooks with their group members and go to the
Ms. Nguyens 3rd Grade Astronauts website (the URL will be in large text and
posted on the whiteboard as usual). Students should be able to go onto the website
by themselves for the most part since they have already become familiar with it in
the beginning of the unit. However, the teacher will walk around to monitor the
students and to facilitate the process (Facilitating Thomas, 2010).

Students will be instructed to open the two websites on the Virtual Field Trip
(Days 4-8) tab and have the Planet Worksheet next to them.

Teacher will explicitly explain to students that they will be using the two websites
to answer the questions on the worksheet. The worksheet for each group will be
different due to the fact that each group has their own planet to research.

Guided Practice: (10 min)

Teacher will model how to navigate each website in order to find the information
needed to complete the worksheet (Modeling Haston, 2007).

Students will be instructed to find one fact on the Earth worksheet as an example.
Teacher will put the question from the Earth worksheet on the board and give
students some time to find the information (Scaffolding - Lin, Hsu, Lin, Changlai,
Yang, & Lai, 2012).

If students are struggling, teacher will remind them to press Ctrl+F like they have
in the past to find key words on the website. Red stickers should already be on
the keyboard for those specific keys. (Marking Keys on Keyboard Hagedorn,
2002).

Independent Practice: (10 min)

Students will have the rest of the class period to complete the first portion of the
worksheet, which will involve only the Solar System Tour website.

Teacher will walk around to each group and ensure that the students are
collaborating and on task. (Collaborating in Science Hall, Meyer, & Rose,
2012).

DAY 5 (30 min)

Students will log onto their Chromebooks and return to the two planet websites
and the VFT website.

Students will finish their worksheet and research portion of the project.

Students will think about their method of presenting the information on their
assigned planet to the class.

Students will begin to prepare for their presentation.

At the end of class, students will hand in their completed worksheet in the
Finished Work Bin for the teacher to look over before the next day.

DAY 6 (40 min)

Anticipatory Set: (2 min)

Teacher shows students examples of previous projects and encourages students to

be creative.

Procedure: (5 min)

Teacher reviews the list of tools that students can choose from to present their
project. The options will include PowerPoint, Prezi, poster, and song. Students
have had a lot of practice using each tool prior to this lesson.

Teacher hands out the detailed rubric for the presentation and goes over each
requirement (Detailed Rubrics Lipnevich, Mccallen, Miles, & Smith, 2014).
Teacher will explicitly explain that students should look at the 4 Exceptional
column in order to receive full points on the project. They will be encouraged to
use a spreadsheet to create a graph of the usual temperatures of their planet.

All of the information on the Planet Worksheet needs to be in their presentation.

Students are encouraged to ask any questions at this time.

Guided Practice: (3 min)

Teacher models the kinds of questions group members should be asking one
another. Who should be the one to find pictures? How can we make our project
more creative? Did we proofread our work? (Teaching Students to Question by
Modeling Donohue-Smith, 2006).

Independent Practice: (30 min)

Students will spend the rest of the class period working in their groups and
preparing for the presentation.

Teacher will walk around to make sure students are using their time wisely,
staying on track, and working collaboratively.

DAY 7 (65 min)

Anticipatory Set: (2 min)

Class discusses their experience with preparing for the presentation.

Teacher asks students to name the planets in order and writes them on the board.
This will be a quick way to activate and assess their prior knowledge. It will also
be the order in which each group will present, and the teacher will explain this to
students afterwards.

Procedure: (1 min)

Students sit with their group and quickly gather their materials for the
presentation.

Teacher hands out all of the Planet Worksheets to each group member in packet
form, which is called Planet Notes Packet.

Guided Practice: (2 min)

Teacher models the presentation requirements for the students and quickly
reviews the rubric. Teacher demonstrates the Dos and Donts when presenting as
a group and listening to classmates present (Learning Communication Skills by
Watching Teachers Odhayani & Ratnapalan, 2011).

Teacher will explain to students that they will writing down answers to the Planet
Notes Packet as each group presents their planet. The students will be quizzed on
the information the next day, so students must pay attention. This will be a way to
keep students engaged with each presentation (Note-Taking Boyle, 2010).

Independent Practice: (30 min + 30 min)

Each group will have no more than 7 minutes to present their planet to the class.

Groups Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars will go before the first class period is
over (30 min). The rest of the groups will present during another class period
(Language Arts 30 min).

Once all presentations are done, teacher will provide feedback to the class on their
performance and inform remind them of the quiz tomorrow. Students will take
home the Planet Notes Packet (after it has been checked by the teacher while the
students are at Specials) at the end of the day.

DAY 8 (40 min)

Anticipatory Set: (2 min)

Teacher will explain that the class will quickly review for Our 8 Planets Quiz
by playing a game. The game will involve splitting the students into five groups

and each group working together to answer questions (taken directly from the
quiz and a few additional questions from the Planet Notes Packet).
Procedure: (3 min)

Teacher will put the class into five groups while making sure to have a mix of
low- and high-performing students in each group (Mixed Grouping Fiero, 2012)

Teacher will write the group numbers on the board and remind students that
points will be taken off for any inappropriate behavior (Aware of Consequences
for Bad Behavior Hallahan, Kauffman, & Pullen, 2012)

Guided Practice: (15 min)

The game will begin when all the groups are quiet and ready.

Teacher will ask a question to the first group. If the group answers the question
correctly, they would receive one point. If they do not answer the question
correctly, the next group would have a try at answering it. If none of the groups
are able to answer the question, the teacher would give the answer to the students
and emphasize the need to remember it for the quiz.

If the game ends early, the students would have whatever time is left to look over
their Planet Notes Packet.

Independent Practice: (15 min)

Teacher will instruct students to put away all the notes, go back onto Ms.
Nguyens 3rd Grade Astronauts (the URL is already on the board) on their
Chromebooks, and scroll to the very bottom of the Virtual Field Trip Tab (Day 8).

Students will take the quiz and teacher will tell students to try their very best.
Students will have about 10 minutes to complete it.

Those who finish early will be able to quietly play the games and activities found
on the website.

IV.

Accommodations for diverse learners and students with special needs:

Teacher and group members will wear an FM system for students with hearing
loss.

Low-performing students will receive a lot of assistance from teacher. They will
also be put into a group with helpful and higher-performing students.

Low-performing students will receive a printed version of the Science for Kids
website (where most of the answers on the Planet Worksheet are found) with
highlighted areas to focus. The highlighted sentences will have the answers in
them.

Students with ADHD and hearing loss will have instructions in various forms,
including orally and in written.

V.

Modifications for students with disabilities:

No modifications are needed since students with special needs have either ADHD
or hearing loss. These students are absolutely capable of doing the same work as
the rest of the class. Only minor accommodations are necessary.

VI.

Materials:

Website URL on poster: http://3rdgradeastronauts.weebly.com/

Chromebooks

Planet Presentation Rubric

Planet Worksheets

Planet Notes Packets

Highlighted Science for Kids printout

Posters

Glue

Markers

Colored Pencils

Scissors

Website Links:
o http://nineplanets.org/tour/
o http://www.scienceforkidsclub.com/planets.html

VII.

Quiz link: http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/story.php?title=mtcynteyoa1201

References
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Hall, T. E., Meyer, A., & Rose, D. H. (2012). Universal design for learning in the
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Hallahan, D., Kauffman, J., & Pullen, P. (2012). Exceptional learners: An introduction to
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