The students were put into groups today and assigned two different planets. They were provided with a chart telling them how many sheets of toilet paper each planet is away from the sun. Mercury, the closest planet to the sun, was 3 sheets of toilet paper from the sun. Neptune, the farthest planet from the sun, was 224 sheets of toilet paper from the sun. The kids did quite a bit of counting today!
I was very proud of the teamwork efforts. The students seem to take every assignment seriously in Science! Even if it does involve toilet paper!
After this activity, we went back to the classroom and made bar graphs in the science notebooks!Solar System tips-
Students need to know the following:
The Earth Rotates as it revolves around the sun
One rotation of the Earth is one day...24 hours
one revolution is a year.
the Earth revolving around the sun is also called an orbit...
gravity holds all the planets in orbit
My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nachos...is a good way to help remember the order of the planets...Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
the sun is a star made up of gases
Today was "out of this world!"
Mrs. M
I remember doing that with Mrs. Jensen!
ReplyDeletecan you provide the exact toilet paper measurements for each planet? great idea!
ReplyDeleteI would love to use this idea. I was also wondering if you could post the toilet paper measurements for each planet? I'm hoping to use this idea in about two weeks. Thanks!!
ReplyDeleteNice idea! Thanks for the post. I also would love to know the measurements for each planet.
ReplyDeleteWow! That is so neat. Could you send me the measurements for each planet? That would be excellent!
ReplyDeleteI want the measurement for each planet.
ReplyDeleteAny chance to get the tp measurements for all the planets?
ReplyDeleteI would love to get the tp measurements for all the planets as well. Great idea!
ReplyDeleteI would also love to have the measurements.
ReplyDeleteHello all! I googled the activity to find the amount of toilet paper to use for each planet. There are several links. I am using this one:
ReplyDeletewww.astrosociety.org/education/family/materials/toiletpaper.pdf
Hope this helps.
What about the Balls representing the solar system? Where did you get those?
ReplyDeleteadjusting to use for 1st grade! So excited!
ReplyDeleteThis is great! How did you determine how your measurements in sheets of toilet paper related to the actual distance?
ReplyDeleteI have this blow up planets on the ceiling of my classroom. I ordered them from Oriental Trading.
ReplyDeletethis site has a nice table with distances... http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/AtHomeAstronomy/activity_10.html
ReplyDeleteI found this site the most helpful with printouts included using either 100 sheets of toilet paper or 200 and it is written as an at home exploration (nice option)
ReplyDeletehttp://astrosociety.org/edu/family/materials/toiletpaper.pdf
I'm was looking for a neat way to show my pre k class about the solar system and love this idea could you send me info in the count of tp?
ReplyDelete