Appendix 1

LESSON PLAN
SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

LESSON 3 ORGANISATION
Year Level: 5

Time: 12.00-12.45pm

Date: 9.03.15

Students Prior Knowledge:

There are eight different planets in our solar

system (lesson 2)

Learning Area:

Science
Strand/Topic from the Australian Curriculum

Students will also know various information

about each including orbit time, distance from

Earth and space sciences

the sun and number of known satellites

The Earth is part of a system of planets orbiting around a

(Lesson 2)

star (the sun) (ACSSU078)

The eight planets orbit around the sun (Lesson

2)

General Capabilities (that may potentially be covered in the lesson)

Critical and
Literacy
Numeracy
ICT

competence

creative thinking

Ethical

Personal and

Intercultural

behaviour

Social

understanding

competence

Cross-curriculum priorities (may be addressed in the lesson) N/A

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

Asia and Australias engagement with Asia

Sustainability

histories and cultures

Proficiencies:(Mathematics only) N/A

Lesson Objectives (i.e. anticipated outcomes of this lesson, in point form beginning with an action verb)
As a result of this lesson, students will be able to:
1. Visually and physically represent the correct order of the planets of our solar system in relative distance from
the sun.
2. Produce at least 15 flashcards with questions and corresponding answers about the different planets in our
solar system.
Teachers Prior Preparation/Organisation:

Get all planet props

Provision for students at educational risk:

Extra supervision for students weaker with use

Hat with Mars bar wrappers on it

of technology e.g.

Hoola-hoop

a) iPads

Sunglasses, suncream, sunray head cut-out

Have name selector app on iPad ready to go. iPad

attached to Smartboard via dongle or Apple TV/ airplay


optional.

Have Google Slide document open in internet tab on

Smartboard ready for access when needed.

Whiteboard is clean and whiteboard markers are

working.

LESSON EVALUATION (to be comp+leted AFTER the lesson)

Assessment of Lesson Objective and Suggestions for Improvement:

Teacher self-reflection and self-evaluation:

[OFFICIAL USE ONLY] Comments by classroom teacher, HOPP, supervisor:

LESSON DELIVERY (attach worksheets, examples, marking key, etc, as relevant)

Resources/References

Time

Align these with the

segment where they will be
Motivation and Introduction:
1. The teacher has a box of props at the front of the classroom. Students
are seated at their desk and there is a large space cleared at the front

introduced.
Box with props

of the class.
2. In the box there is are props for each planet e.g.
-

Sunglasses, sun cream and a Sun-ray paper cut put for around
their head (Sun)

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hat with Mars bar wrappers on it (Mars)

hoola-hoop, (Saturn)

etc
3. The teacher uses a random name selection app such as Random

Random Name Selector

Lite (iPad app)
https://itunes.apple.com/
us/app/random-nameselectorlite/id589498393?mt=8


Name Selector Lite to choose nine students to come up and dress up
as each planet and one as the sun.

Lesson Steps (Lesson content, structure, strategies & Key Questions):

1. Have a class discussion about the importance of the sun in our solar
system (referring back to lesson 1) and how each of the planets orbit
around the sun (referring back to lesson 2).

Google Slide Document

2. As a class come up with at least one interesting fact they remember

about each of the planets.
3. Bring up the Google Slide document (completed as a class in groups
from lesson 2) on the Smartboard. Look specifically at how far each
planet is away from the sun and how long it takes that planet to orbit
the sun once.
4. Have each student planet walk around the sun. Discuss how the
student planet walking around the sun is like the planet orbiting once
around the sun. For instance, It takes Jupiter 4,333 Earth days to
orbit the sun once! That means if Carl [student who is Jupiter] was the
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planet Jupiter it would take him 12 Earth years to walk around Simone
[student who is the sun] once! This is because Jupiter is very far away
from the sun, 778, 340, 821 km away!
5. Students give props back to the teacher and sit down.
6. Next students are to bring up the Google Slide document on a
computer (laptop or iPad) and create a set of revision flashcards

FlashCards+ (iPad app)

https://itunes.apple.com/
au/app/flashcards+/id40
8490162?mt=8

(using the app FlashCards+) on their iPads for an activity later on.
These flashcards will also become an effective study tool for their
upcoming test on the Solar System!
7. Students work on creating flashcards for 20 mins and testing their
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knowledge in partner pairs or small groups.

Lesson Closure:(Review lesson objectives with students)
1. After 20 mins the teacher gets everyones attention. Now class as
you have all been working so hard, I think its time we played a game
of Celebrity Planets!

3 classroom chairs
Whiteboard, Whiteboard
markers

2. Three (3) students volunteer to be a Celebrity Planet. They sit in front


of the whiteboard and a planet name is written behind their head so
that they cannot see it but the rest of the class can. Each student
takes turns in asking questions about their planet such as Am I an
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inner planet? Students may not ask what order their planet is (e.g.
Am I the fourth planet?) until their 5th or 6th question if they still have
not guessed which planet they are.
3. After a few rounds the teacher concludes the lesson by summarising
what they have learnt. Wonderful work everyone! I can see you are
all becoming experts on all the interesting planets we have in our Solar
System! We are all becoming masters in the order of the planets, how
long they take to travel (or orbit) around the sun and some pretty cool
facts about them too!
Transition: (What needs to happen prior to the next lesson?)
1. Have 3 celebrity planet students return the 3 chairs to where they
came from.
2. All students sitting quietly at their desks.
3. Teacher will dismiss student rows/groups who are sitting quietly to go
out to get their lunch first.
Assessment: (Were the lesson objectives met? How will these be judged?)
1. Correctly order students (dressed as planets) into the planet order of
our solar system.
2. Create at least 15 flashcards based on gathered information from the
Weebly and documented in the Google Slide document.