Introductory lessons to the Solar System & the Sun

 

 This year for Science we are studying Apologia Astronomy.  My kids really wanted to learn about the solar system this year and were so excited about outer space.  I picked this curriculum because I wanted something that emphasized how incredible God is in everything he created.  Apologia so far has not disappointed.  

 

The first week we were introduced to our solar system and everything in it.   The kids then sat down and drew the solar system using chalk pastels.  They had a blast doing this.  The Sun is so huge that it only is on the corner of the page with most of it off the page.   We discussed how large the Sun is compared to the planets.  We also discussed the size of each of the planets.  I think the kids did a pretty good job trying to draw the Solar System to scale. 

 As the kids drew we discussed what would happen if the Earth was closer to the Sun or further away than we are now.  I was told if we were closer the Earth would be hotter and if we were further we would be colder.  We also talked about what would happen if one of the planets got off orbit.  Matthew told me it would mess up all the other planets do to the gravitational pull!  I was impressed he picked this up just from one reading. 

 

We read "The Planets in our Solar System" to help reinforce what we learned. 

After we got done drawing our Solar System we used balloons and pom poms to create our own Solar System on our school wall.  This also gave the kids a visual for the difference in sizes.  Especially planet Earth compared to the Sun. 

The next week we discussed the Sun as a star and how powerful it is.  We read "The Sun our Nearest Star" as part of our read out loud that week.  

We then went outside and melted frozen chocolate with a magnify glass and burnt holes in leaves.  We discussed how our eye has a lens like a magnify glass and if we look at the Sun it can hurt our retina just like it burns the leaf. 

We also spent time discussing the difference in power with the magnify glass close to the leaf and far away from the leaf.  The kids noticed they had more power the smaller the light on the leaf or chocolate.  They really enjoyed making the leaf smoke.   Ever since we did this project they discuss how we should not look at the Sun when we go outside. 

I needed to add a picture of my baby girl and her Solar System that she was so proud of!