In fifth grade, we are starting an Integrated Reading Unit about our solar system! The students are ecstatic to learn about space. Although we’ve only just begun, we have already learned so much!
To start out our unit, we used a Kagan structure called “Jot Thoughts”. The students worked with their teams to come up with information they already knew about our solar system. The students were given two minutes to brainstorm as many facts they could recall from schema about space. They would write their thought on a post-it, put it on their Kagan mat in the center of the table, and then read it aloud to their group. The students continued this for two minutes and then we shared as a class. We realized that we knew a lot more about space than we originally thought!
We also took the opportunity to discuss what we would like to learn about in this unit. Some of the questions we came up with are:
- How do shooting stars occur?
- Why does Uranus rotate sideways?
- How do planets form?
- Why do things orbit in the solar system?
With peaked curiosity, we read a book titled Exploring the Night Sky by Terence Dickinson. We answered some of our questions, but were left with many more. During independent reading time, we had the opportunity to explore a variety of books about our solar system and the universe.
In the next few weeks, we look forward to adding to what we already know on our Journey through Our Solar System!
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