Description
What our Planets: Mars lesson plan includes
Lesson Objectives and Overview: Planets: Mars is a high-interest reading comprehension lesson plan. As such, students will practice various close reading and comprehension skills. In addition, they will learn about the red planet. This lesson is for students in 3rd grade, 4th grade, and 5th grade.
Classroom Procedure
Every lesson plan provides you with a classroom procedure page that outlines a step-by-step guide to follow. You do not have to follow the guide exactly. The guide helps you organize the lesson and details when to hand out worksheets. It also lists information in the yellow box that you might find useful. You will find the lesson objectives, state standards, and number of class sessions the lesson should take to complete in this area. In addition, it describes the supplies you will need as well as what and how you need to prepare beforehand. The activity requires a number of supplies, including CDs, foam balls, and paperclips. You may want to cut the foam balls in half ahead of time.
Teacher Notes
The teacher notes page provides an extra paragraph of information to help guide the lesson and remind you what to focus on. It explains that you can teach this lesson in a whole-class setting or as an independent, small-group activity. The blank lines on this page are available for you to write out thoughts and ideas you have as you prepare the lesson.
PLANETS: MARS LESSON PLAN CONTENT PAGES
Introduction to Mars
The Planets: Mars lesson plan contains two content pages. Mars is one of the most fascinating planets in our solar system. It is named after the Roman god of war because its reddish color reminded ancient people of blood and battle. It is the fourth planet from the sun, about 142 million miles away from Earth. Even though it’s so far away, scientists have learned a lot about it using telescopes, robots, and satellites.
We often call Mars the Red Planet because of its rusty red appearance. The surface is rocky and dusty, with iron-rich minerals that give it that distinctive color. Unlike planets mainly made of gas, like Jupiter or Saturn, Mars has a solid surface that scientists can study closely. It even has mountains and valleys, just like Earth!
Moons and Temperature
Mars has two small moons named Phobos and Deimos. These moons are not round like our moon. Instead, they are oddly shaped like potatoes! Phobos is the larger of the two and orbits very close to Mars, while Deimos is much smaller and farther away. Scientists think these moons might be captured asteroids, making them extra interesting to study.
Could there be life on Mars? Scientists haven’t found any yet, but they keep looking! If life exists there, it would probably be tiny, like bacteria, and would have to survive in extreme conditions. The planet has no flowing water on its surface today. However, scientists have found signs that it may have had rivers and lakes long ago.
Mars has some of the most extreme weather in the solar system. Dust storms can cover the entire planet and last for weeks! These storms result from strong winds and the fine, powdery dust on the surface. Scientists have used special tools, like rovers and orbiters, to measure the temperature and study the planet’s weather. The planet is very cold, with temperatures dropping to -200° Fahrenheit at night.
Atmosphere and Geological Features
One of Mars’ most famous features is Olympus Mons, the tallest volcano in the solar system. It’s about three times taller than Mount Everest! Mars also has a massive canyon called Valles Marineris. It is over 2,500 miles long. These unique features make the planet a fascinating place for scientists to study.
Mars is smaller than Earth, but it has a day that is only a little longer than ours. A day on Mars lasts 24 hours and 37 minutes. A year on Mars, however, is almost twice as long as a year on Earth. This is because it takes Mars 687 Earth days to orbit the sun. So time on Mars is very different from time here on Earth.
Scientists have sent many missions to Mars, like the Spirit, Opportunity, and Perseverance rovers. These robots explore the planet and send back pictures and data. One of the most exciting discoveries was of some frozen water beneath the surface. This raises the possibility that life may have existed on the planet or might exist in the future.
Humans might even visit the Red Planet someday! NASA and other space agencies plan to send astronauts there in the future. Imagine walking on a planet that’s millions of miles away from Earth. Until then, we’ll keep learning more about Mars through science and technology. This amazing planet is mysterious and has captured our curiosity for centuries. There is much to explore and learn, from its red surface to its strange moons and gigantic volcanoes. Who knows what new discoveries about Mars are waiting to surface?
PLANETS: MARS LESSON PLAN WORKSHEETS
The Planets: Mars lesson plan includes two worksheets: an activity worksheet and a practice worksheet. Each one will help students solidify their grasp of the material they learned throughout the lesson. You can refer to the classroom procedure guidelines to know when to hand out each worksheet.
ROVER ON MARS ACTIVITY WORKSHEET
For the activity, students will research a Mars rover and create an exciting presentation to share their knowledge. They will follow the steps on the worksheet page to complete the project. They must work in groups as they uncover their chosen rover’s history, challenges, discoveries, and impact.
PLANETS: MARS REVIEW PRACTICE WORKSHEET
The practice worksheet lists 10 questions based on the content. These questions all relate to the content pages, so students will need to refer to them often for the answers. In addition, each question provides which reading tool the question corresponds to, such as text feature, vocabulary, or comprehension.
Worksheet Answer Keys
At the end of the lesson plan document is an answer key for the practice worksheet. The correct answers are all in red to make it easier for you to compare them with students’ responses. If you choose to administer the lesson pages to your students via PDF, you will need to save a new file that omits these pages. Otherwise, you can simply print out the applicable pages and keep these as reference for yourself when grading assignments.
