5th Grade Travels To The Moon

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5th GradeTravels To The Moon

• By Nora Fox
• Cathy Guennewig
• Katie Schlorff
• Matt Kantor

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Essential Question

• How will the different costs associated with
  traveling to the moon affect space travel?

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Subject Areas Addressed in Case Study

• Mathematics
• Social Science
• Language Arts
• Earth Science/Geography
• Space Science

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Moon Travel Contest

• There was quite a stir in Champaign. Just
  yesterday, the Mayor made a very important
  announcement. There was extra room on the space
  shuttle that was going to be traveling to the
  moon in just six short months! Our mayor had
  received an invitation from his friend at NASA to
  choose a family from Champaign to be on the
  shuttle. Because this would be the trip of a
  lifetime, the Mayor didn't want to just choose
  any family. So, in order to determine who should
  go to the moon, he decided to have a contest.
  Each family who enters the contest will submit
  three documents 1) a persuasive letter citing
  why they are the family who should travel to the
  moon, 2) how long it will take their family to
  save the 1 million dollars needed for the trip,
  and 3) a list of the benefits and costs
  (environmental and monetary) of traveling to the
  moon. Once submitted, the Mayor will decide whom
  he will send to the moon.Well, you can imagine
  that all the families in Champaign were quickly
  trying to gather these documents so that they
  might be the lucky family who gets to travel to
  the moon. Two of these families included the
  Smiths and the Jeffersons. Both families felt
  that they should be the family to go to the moon.
  However, there was one big difference between the
  families the Jefferesons could afford the trip,
  but the Smiths could not.

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Curriculum Framing QuestionFor Mathematics and
Social Science

• Unit Questions
• Will it be possible for the Smiths and the
  Jeffersons to come up with the money to finance
  their trip?

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Mathematics

• 6.B.4 Select and use appropriate arithmetic
  operations in practical situations including
  calculating wages after taxes, developing a
  budget and balancing a checkbook.

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Social Science(secondary focus)
18.B.3a Analyze how individuals and groups
interact with and within institutions
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Assignment

• Students will research how much money it takes to
  fund a space shuttle mission .
• http//ifmp.nasa.gov/
• (NASA budgeted 7,296 million for Human
  Exploration and Development of Space in 2002)
• Students will use web resources to research what
  income levels are above and below the poverty
  line.
• http//www.ssc.wisc.edu/irp
• Students will research how families spend money
  and use this information to develop a budget for
  the Smith family and the Jefferson family that
  include saving for the trip to the moon.
• http//www.bls.gov/ro7/cexkc.htm

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Finished Product

• Students will use poverty guidelines and
  budgetary information to create a sample budget
  for either the Smiths or the Jeffersons. Students
  choose income level, and practice calculating
  percentages while devising the budget. Budget
• Students create a graph indicating how long it
  will take their chosen family to save 1 million
  using the money left over in the other category
  of their budget. Poster

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Mathematics Assessment

• Student brochure
• Evaluation Tool for Brochure.doc
• Student graph
• (modify evaluation tool for brochure to include
  proper graph construction)

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Social Science Assessment

• As a closing activity for the math section,
  entire class discusses
• - whether they think it would be possible for a
  family to save enough money to go on the trip
• -how income level influences ability to take
  part in activities

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Using Language Arts to Explore Moon Travel
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Objective Students can identify defining parts
of a persuasive letter.

• Standards 3.C.2a Write for a variety of
  purposes and for specified audiences in a variety
  of forms including narrative, expository, and
  persuasive writings.
• Procedure Students will compose their own
  persuasive letters following an introductory
  lesson on components of the persuasive letter.
  Students will be provided with a copy of the unit
  story prompt and they will use the information to
  assume the role of one of the family members.
  They will then compose the letter as if they were
  a member of that family.

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Objective Students can identify important parts
of friendly correspondence writing.

• Standards 3.C.2b Produce and format
  compositions for specified audiences using
  available technology.
• Procedure Students will each assume the role of
  one character. Characters will write short
  correspondence notes to friends or family on
  earth. These notes will be written on a word
  processor so the office of communications can
  send the mail electronically.

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Objective Students can create and utilize story
maps that serve as a guide for their daily
journal entries.

• Standards 3.B.2a Generate and organize ideas
  using a variety of planning strategies.
• 3.B.2b Establish central idea, organization,
  elaboration and unity in relation to purpose and
  audience.
• Procedure In small groups students will create
  daily stories or adventures for the characters.
  These events will then be placed in the group
  journal.

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Objective Students can identify parallels
between a novel and their hypothetical situations.

• Standards 2.B.2a Respond to literary material by
  making inferences, drawing conclusions and
  comparing it to their own experience, prior
  knowledge and other texts.
• 2.B.2c Relate literary works and their
  characters, settings and plots to current and
  historical events, people and perspectives.
• Procedure Students will read P. Conrads Pedros
  Journal A Voyage With Christopher Columbus.
  They will then participate in class discussions
  that focus on how Pedros journey is similar to
  the one they are taking with their family.

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• Environmental Factors Involved with Moon
  Travel

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Questions to ask the class

• What is an Environmentalist?
• What have we done on Earth to make it a cleaner
  place to live?
• What are some environmental problems that will
  occur on the Moon if people were to live there?
• What similar problems will the Moon have that the
  Earth must deal with?
• What different set of problems will the Moon
  face that the Earth has not?

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The students should divide up into groups to
discuss these main questions before starting in
on the activity. The main objective in doing
this is to

• Putting them in an environmentalist shoes.
• Getting students to think about environmental
  issues concerning the planet Earth.
• Getting students to understand what a huge
  strain the moon would go through with such a
  heavy influx of people moving to live there.
• What has to be done in order to keep the Moon
  looking in good shape and keeping it clean.
• Getting them to critically think about potential
  problems that they will encounter before a
  possible move to the Earth
• Help them improve upon their problem solving
  skills.

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Critical Thinking Activity 1No Mess, No Stress.

• With moon travel comes a lot of concerns about
  how people will keep it clean once they start
  inhabiting and moving to the new area. A good
  critical activity lesson would be to have the
  students start writing down ways they can dispose
  of trash and waste effectively without trashing
  the planet. This will get the students to be
  creative in coming up with new revolutionary ways
  to deal with trash and pollution. This activity
  can be done in groups or individually. These
  websites can be used to help the kids see what is
  done on earth and how those ideas can possibly be
  translated to life on the Moon.

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Critical Thinking Activity 2Mini Moon Town

• Give students in their groups a blue print of a
  part of the Moon.
• Have them work together to create their own town
  with some houses and factories, taking into
  consideration the small amount of area they have
  to work with.
• Then have students look at what types of waste
  and pollution they will encounter with the new
  buildings and houses and how they plan to fit a
  recycling center or some sort of waste management
  center to keep the town clean.
• Then have students pass around to each group
  there little town and have the different groups
  critique them. Have them consider what type of
  waste and pollution they will have to deal with
  in each of the different town settings, as well
  as explain how the town will be dealing with this
  problem.

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Illinois Teaching Standards

• Stage E Science Assessments
• 11.A.EInquiry Overview Students will apply the
  concepts, principles, and processes of scientific
  inquiry within classroom investigations.
• 11.B.EDesign Overview Students will apply the
  concepts, principles, and processes of
  technological design within classroom
  investigations.
• 12.E.EIllinois Without the Ice Students will
  apply the processes of scientific inquiry to
  analyze topographic features.
• 13.B.EChoices Affect the Environment Students
  will apply their understanding of the
  interactions of societal decisions in science and
  technology innovations and discoveries.

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Space Science Objectives

• Students will be able to
• Explain and chart the phases of the moon
• Successfully take and pass a test regarding basic
  facts about the moon
• Tell their peers about a mission to the moon

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Science Standards

• 11.A.2c Construct charts and visualizations to
  display data.
• 11.A.2d Use data to produce reasonable
  explanations.
• 11.A.2e Report and display the results of
  individual and group investigations.
• 12.F.2a Identify and explain natural cycles and
  patterns in the solar system (e.g., order of the
  planets moon phases seasons as related to
  Earth's tilt, one's latitude, and where Earth is
  in its yearly orbit around the sun).

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Space Science Connections to the Theme

• To begin this unit, a 2-3 day
• discussion about the moon and
• other space components will
• need to take place. Use the
• classroom science book as a
• guideline, so that all of the
• essential information is covered.
• We have highlighted some fun
• and interesting facts about the
• moon for you

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Fun Facts about the Moon

• The Moon
• Is a satellite of the Earth and orbits around it.
• Is the only object in space that man has ever
  visited. This is because the Moon is much closer
  to Earth than the other planets (on average about
  240,000 miles)
• Has a diameter of about 3,476 kilometers
• Takes 27.3 days to make one orbit around the
  Earth. It also takes the Moon 27.3 days to
  complete one rotation on its axis
• Causes many of the tides in the Earths oceans.
  This is caused by the force of gravity between
  the Earth and the Moon
• Is said to have been created when early Earth
  collided with another space object. This
  collision could have caused a large chunk of
  Earth flying into space, which eventually formed
  the Moon we see today.

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• However, there are MANY more!
• Teachers, be resourceful and find
• information that your students will learn
• from and enjoy!

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Activity 1-Missions to the Moon

• Students will use the internet to search for
  information on different missions to the moon.
  After learning about many of the missions to the
  moon, students will focus on a mission they would
  like to learn more about. In groups, students
  will further research a mission and present their
  findings to the class.
• http//starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/spac
  e_level2/travel.html

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Activity 2- Phases of the Moon

• Students can create their own phases of the moon
  by using paper plates.
• Have students use their textbook or a handout as
  a guide to the phases of the moon.
• Students will draw the phases of the moon on the
  paper plates, and then cut out the shapes.

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Activity 3- Charting the Moon

• Over the course of one month, students will
  observe the moon each night and note its shape,
  brightness, and any other observations that they
  see.
• Once the notes are complete, students will
  convert their notes into a poster board with
  pictures and symbols.