Earth/Space Science Lessons
7 FREE Special Reports!
Written from my own classroom experience, the truths in them will simplify your life and cause better lessons.
27 Most-Used Things In A Science Classroom- Simplify Your Life With The Grade Sheet
- Increase Student Responsibility With The Science Folder
- Four Proven And Practical Parent Pleasers
- No More Surprises-Get Organized With The Yellow Sheet
- Never Forget Anything Important Again
- Time-Saving Teacher Tips
Get the first now. Next 6 delivered weekly.
Rock Cycle-Putting The Squeeze On Minerals
Instead of another forgettable lecture, how about an activity in which every student participates and later recalls the kinds of rocks, and how they change from one to another.
Key Terms: rock, mineral, sedimentary rock, metamorphic rock, igneous rock, heat, pressure
99.86% -Measuring Our Sun’s Mass
Our sun, with a mass that consumes 99.86% of everything in our solar system, is beyond enormous. But how do you actually grasp that? Simple- you draw a box.
Key Terms: solar system, mass, planets, comets, asteroids, moons, gravity, force
Moon Phases
What causes the moon phases- is it clouds? Earth’s shadow? No, and no. After this lesson, your students will wonder how there was ever confusion in the first place.
Key Terms: moon phases, first quarter, new moon, full moon, last/third quarter, rotation, revolution
Solar System To Scale
As close as we’ll get to understanding the vast distances and diameters of what’s in our solar system. (“Oh, that’s why they call it ‘space’ !”)
Key Terms: scale, Solar System, AU distance, diameter, 8 planets, comets, asteroids
Earth Clock-Timeline From Past To Present
Is Earth history fun? Yes! This lesson reaches back to the beginning of earth and presents its entire life, up to now, on the scale of a 24-hour clock. Now that’s serious fun (at least for us science people).
Key Terms: earth history, Theia, crust cooling, asteroid, volcanoes, prokaryotes, eukaryotes, Columba, photosynthesis, animals, dinosaurs, plants, fish, mammals, Pangaea, humans, mammals, Yucatan Peninsula, civilization
So What Is Soil Anyway?
Now there’s no excuse to not thoroughly enjoy a unit on dirt. Well, that might be overstating things, but maybe the lesson can help.
Key Terms: soil, dirt, air, water, minerals, organic matter, circle graph, percent, earthworms
Earthquakes-Plotting Recent Activity
In this 2-day activity your students will set up a World and U.S. map and then plot earthquakes that happened as recently as minutes ago on it. No telling how things will shake out.
Key Terms: recent earthquakes, plate boundary, tectonic boundary, convergent boundary, divergent boundary, strike-slip, lateral fault, North American Plate, South American Plate, ring of fire, usgs
Comets & Asteroids-What They Are, Where They Are, They And Us
Comets and asteroids capture our imagination with their unbelievable size (did you say a 50-mile-wide flying ice cube?!?!), and terrify us with the thought of what would happen should we (earth) and they meet, which we do with regularity.
Key Terms: comets, asteroids, frozen water, solar system, orbit, revolution, Oort Cloud, planets, gravity, solar wind, comet tail, comet nucleus, meteor shower, iron rock, KT, dinosaur extinction, asteroid belt
Living Solar System
Get ready to think big! We’re going to turn your classroom into a “living” inner solar system. Best part- students will notice things before you say anything. They’ll also wonder things they’ve never wondered before.
Key Terms: Solar System, Sun (size, location, nuclear) Mercury, Venus, Earth, Moon, gravity, tides, revolution, orbit
Drop of Ocean Water
What exactly is in ocean water? In this fun activity students color in 1,000 squares based on the composition of a drop of ocean water. Not as painful as it sounds…really.
Key Terms: drop of ocean water, percents, salt water, ingredients
Pinto Planets
Who would have thought that 10,000 pinto beans could help us understand gravity. Yes, anything is now possible.
Key Terms: solar system, planets, gravity, inner planets, outer planets, sun, composition, size, and mass of planets and moon and sun, bar graph
Weather Forecasting
Getting ready to teach weather? This lesson will introduce students to meteorologists, and get them interpreting weather maps.
Key Terms: cold front, warm front, stationary front, occluded front, precipitation, forecasting, high pressure, low pressure, isobar
Layers Of Air
Students go from hardly noticing there is an atmosphere to knowing there are 4 layers, their order, names, composition, and thickness.
Key Terms: troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, nitrogen, oxygen, estimation, density, air particles
Plate Tectonics Scavenger Hunt
When was the last time your students actually had fun digging through their text book? Has it ever happened? If not, then you could use this activity.
Key Terms: plate tectonics, continental drift, convergent boundary, divergent boundary, lateral, strike-slip boundary, fossils, climate, rocks, convection
Biomes-Temp, Precip, & Location Summary
A simple but powerful handout. After filling in a temperature and precipitation table, students color the map.
Key Terms: biome, temperature and precipitation of tundra, taiga, temperate deciduous forest, temperate rain forest, tropical rain forest, grassland, desert
Biomes-Precip Graph
Since students never get enough practice graphing, use this next time you’re going through the biomes.
Key Terms: biome, bar graph, temperature, precipitation, tundra, taiga, temperate deciduous forest, temperate rain forest, tropical rain forest, grassland, desert
Seasons-2 Reasons for the 4 Seasons
Using a flashlight and a globe, students will see with their own eyes what causes Earth’s seasons, even before you tell them.
Key Terms: tilted axis, revolution around sun, equator, north pole, south pole, prime meridian, intensity/directness/concentration of light, summer, winter, fall, autumn, spring, equinox, solstice
Coal Mining A to Z
A firsthand look at how coal is mined from 30 feet below ground.
Key Terms: topsoil, limestone, coal, explosives, front end loader, driller, dragline, boom, coal seam, reclamation
More General Science lessons coming soon-
- Interactive Notes-Plate Tectonics