Astronomy Unit Part 3: Inner Planetary Topics

This lesson bundle now contains 15 lessons (50 minutes each) and a 19 page work bundle that chronologically follows the entire lesson bundle. Students and teachers follow a slideshow road map that includes important fill-in notes, video and academic links, questions and answers, graphing exercises, built-in quizzes, games, end of the the bundle assessment, and much more. This bundle converts nicely to google classroom and also includes both a printed and digital version of the work bundle if working remote.

Major Topics - Mercury, Venus, Earth, Moon, Moon formation, Axial Tilt / Seasons, Tides, Phases of the Moon, Mars, Features on Mars. Also included is my solar and lunar eclipse lesson with HW, and notes. Please do not purchase that lesson if buying this one.

This PowerPoint begins having the students guess the name of the inner planet with an arrow pointing activity over several slides. A "Not Smartboard" Activity has the teacher minimize out of slideshow mode and the students move the Inner Planets into the correct order with the teacher controlling the movements on the computer. The habitable zone is then discussed and related to Goldilocks and the Three Bears. (Not too hot, Not too cold, Just Right) Astronomical Units are described and an activity has the students make predictions. A step by step layout for gathering research about the inner planets allows students to create a neat two page spread of the Inner Solar System for research gathering. Links for the Sun and the planet Mercury are provided. Mercury is then discussed in detail over a series of slides. This allows students who may have missed some important pieces of information when collecting research. Venus is then covered in similar fashion and great links are displayed. Venus is presented in the beginning by asking how cool would be to go Venus. When we find out all of the ways the planet would kill us. Earth is described, axial tilt and seasons are covered, solstice, equinox, composition of atmosphere and other key elements to allow for life.