A Journey Into Space

Introduction

ATTENTION! ALL STUDENTS CLEAR THE LAUNCH PLATFORM!

WE WILL BE TAKING OFF IN 5....4...

3-2-1 Blast Off Clip Art

HOUSTON! WE HAVE A PROBLEM!!

CALLING ALL AVAILABLE 5TH GRADERS! WE NEED YOUR HELP!

The Milky Way is in trouble! We're calling upon all available cadets for this matter. Can you help NASA realign the missing planets? It is up to you to work alongside your fellow future astronauts, and save the galaxy together!

We need you to realign the planets to their proper order!

It's time to adventure into the mysterious depths of space to discover just exactly what is going on outside of this Earth!

How much do you think you know about our planets?

How much more can you learn about the galaxy?

Continue on to...

START YOUR INTERGALACTIC INVESTIGATION!

Task

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CADETS! It is up to you to blast off alongside your friends into space, and realign the planets in the correct order!

FIRST OBJECTIVE

-Your NASA coordinator (teacher) is going to split you up into 4 separate investigation groups. There will be 5 space cadets in each rocket ship. It is the job of you and your group to decipher the hints about the planets in order to help with your investigation. You will work will your fellow group astronauts to complete this space mission before class is over. There will be multiple hints that go along with each planet that you might need to research in order to complete the assignment.

SECOND OBJECTIVE

-Once you have deciphered all of the clues, you will arrange the planets in correct order FROM THE SUN and come back to Earth to submit your answers to your coordinator! Be sure to use ALL your resources to be sure that you get the planets in the correct order.

THIRD OBJECTIVE

-Write down your final answers on a sheet of paper to turn in to the NASA coordinator. Be sure to spell all of the planets correctly as this will be apart of your final grade! It's a race to the finish, so work as efficiently and quickly as you can to be the first space team finished!!

Remember...the galaxy is depending on the success of YOUR mission!!!!!

You must function as a team of well experienced astronauts, and work together to solve this galactic mishap!

We're all counting on your success!

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Process

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Alright students! Now it's time to put your skills to the test. Given below are 3 facts/hints about each mystery planet. It is your job to assign each planet with their real name from the solar system (ex: Mars, Jupiter, Neptune...)! Be sure to record all your final answers on a sheet of paper to turn in as a group! Let's see which team of space cadets can finish the outer space mission first! Some useful links for helping you find the answers are located below all the hints and pictures. Ready, Set, GO!!!!!!

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Mystery planet #1

This planet is the second – smallest planet in our solar system
This planet is also described as “the red planet”
The diameter of this planet is 4220 miles

Mystery planet #2

This planet was formed 4.54 billion years ago
This is the only known planet to support life
This planet is the densest planet in the solar system

Mystery planet #3

This plant is twice as massive as all the other planets
This planet spins faster than any planet, so it’s day is only about 10 earth hours’ long
This planet has the most moons of any planet in our solar system

Mystery planet #4

This planet has the longest rotation period of any planet
This planet was named after the goddess of love and beauty
This planet is the brightest planet in our solar system

Mystery planet #5

This planet is the smallest planet in our solar system
This planet consists of a molten core
This planet has a diameter of 4,879km

Mystery planet #6

This planet is the seventh planet away from the sun
This planet is often referred to as the “ice giant” planet
This planet hits the coldest temperature of any planet

Mystery Planet #7

This planet is also referred to as a “gas giant” planet
This planet has 5 rings
This planets discovery date was September 23, 1846

Mystery Planet #8

This planet is the second largest planet
This planet is the flattest planet in our solar system
Four spacecrafts have visited this planet

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Here are a few links that can help you complete your journey. Feel free to use others as well!

- http://www.planetsforkids.org/planet.html

- https://space-facts.com/planets/

- http://www.kidzone.ws/planets/

To find out how well you did at answering the questions, please see the scoring rubric located under the Evaluation tab.

Evaluation

Score Levels	4 Excellent	3 Good	2 Fair	1 Poor
Planet Order Accuracy	All 8 planets are in the correct order! You used all of the hints to find the exact order that the mystery planets belong in.	6-7 planets were in the correct place in the sequence. You used most of the hints to help you, but you mixed up the planets order just a little.	4-5 planets were in the correct place in the sequence. You only used some of the hints to your advantage and only placed half of the planets in the correct spot.	0-3 planets were in the correct place in the sequence. You did not use the hints to your advantage and you did not place enough planets in the correct order.
Use of Evidence and Criteria	You used the websites given to help find all the correct answers.	You used most of the resources, but guessed on a few resulting in a few missed planets.	You only used the websites for some resulting in half of your answers being wrong.	You did not use the resources given and got nearly all the planets order incorrect.
Planet Facts (nicknames, # of rings..,etc)	You excelled at solving the identify of each planet on the practice quiz.	You observed all your resources but missed 2-3 questions on the practice quiz.	You missed 4-5 questions on the practice quiz.	You could not identify any of the mystery planets.
Teamwork	All the members in your team worked together to complete this assignment.	Most of the team worked together but some did not contribute as much as others.	Half of the team worked on the project while the other half did not participate.	One person worked on the whole project while the others just watched.