Acceleration Approach

Standard has been accelerated by moving grade level 5 up to the standard used for grade level 8.

Organizing Overarching Concept (e.g. systems, patterns of change, models, scales)

Systems: Student will understand any collection of things that have an influence on one another can be thought of as a system.

Organizing Higher Order Skills (e.g. Bloom's, Paul's Model of Reasoning)

Hypothesizing, analyzing, predicting, inferring, evaluating

Differentiation Features -- Students:

	Use multiple higher-level skills
	Have additional variables to study
	Make reasoning explicit
	Design and/or construct a model based on principles or criteria
	Present oral and written communication to a real world audience

Archetypal Model

	Read about the movement of one of the planets as it orbits the sun, using textbooks, encyclopedias, and Internet sites.
	Design a kinetic model that can show the effect of that planet's movement with relation to the sun and any satellites it has.
	Present the model and position the parts to explain celestial phenomenon.
	Demonstrate phases of Jupiter's satellites.

TASK DEMAND

Sample Task Activity

	Have students read about the movement of the Earth and moon as they revolve around the sun.
	Make a model of the sun, Jupiter and its satellites so that their size and distance are to scale. Demonstrate the movement of Jupiter and its satellites around the sun explaining how the revolution and rotation relate to days/years, seasons, solar and lunar eclipses.
	Direct them to create a model that will explain day/night years, seasons, moon phases and eclipses. (Balls on pedestals or held by students.)
	Students will be able to place the individual pieces of their model in the proper position to answer the following questions:

Questions

	How do the planets in our solar system move around the sun?
	How does the movement of the Earth cause us to experience days, seasons, years?
	How does the moon interact with Earth and the sun so that we see phases of the moon?

MOON JOURNAL

	Have students keep a moon journal in which they make moon observations 3-4 times a week. Included in each observation will be a drawing of how the moon appears including the direction in the sky, its height (0° is horizon, 90° is straight up) and the time of the observation.
	After they collect this data, they will analyze it for patterns concerning the moon's phases and the time of day it is visible.
	As part of the journal, they will make a chart or table that shows the moons' phases over a complete cycle. Based on their observations or research (daily newspaper or web site) they will include data on moonrise, also.
	Students will write an expository paper that explains their moon set conclusions citing their observations.

Questions

	What is the position of the earth relative to the sun at noon and midnight in Oregon? Demonstrate this.
	What is the position of the Earth and moon, related to the sun, for the following for Oregon:
		Spring, half moon
		Summer, half moon
		Winter, full moon
	If the earth were in this (teacher given) position relative to the sun now, what position would it be in 15 months?

Implementation Time

2 weeks with intermittent journal time.

Resources

	Ask Jeeves www.askjeeves.com
	International Earth Rotation Service www.iers.org
	Astronomy 161: The Solar System, University of Tennessee csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/ lect/index.html
	How Stuff Works - Solar Eclipses www.howstuffworks.com/solar-eclipse.htm
	How Stuff Works - The Seasons Explained www.efni.com/~brentt/tourist/earth2.htm
	How Stuff Works - Lesson on Seasons www.lalc.k12.ca.us/laep/smart/Sunrise/ 4-7les4.html