3rd Grade Science Standard 1: Students will understand that the shape of the Earth and the moon are spherical and that the earth rotates on its axis to produce the appearance of the sun and moon moving through the sky
Objective 1 Describe the appearance of the earth and the moon
a describe the shape of the Earth and the moon as spherical
c List the differences in the physical appearance of Earth and the Moon as viewed from outer space.
| Location | Activity Description | Google Earth Content |
| 1.Earth | Remember the geometric shapes we went over last week? What shape does the earth look like? Can you identify other items that are the same shape as the earth? | Picture of geometric shapes Link to wikipedia information about the earth |
| 2. Moon | The moon is also in the shape of a sphere, just like the earth. But it looks different from the earth. List 5 main differences that you see. For one difference measure the diameter of the earth and the diameter of the moon to compare their sizes. | Link to wikipedia information about the moon |
| 3. Plato Moon Crater | Explanation of moon craters. Does the earth have any craters? Research earth crater's on Google to see if there are any. If you find one, write down its name and find a picture for your blog. If there aren't any write on your blog why you think there are no craters on earth | picture of moon crater overlay |
| 4. Sea of Tranquility | Is there water on the moon? There aren't oceans like the ones we have on earth. Descriptions of what the "seas" are on the moon and why they are called seas. What are some seas that we have on earth? Find an ocean or a sea on the earth, write down where it is and 5 interesting facts about it. | picture of moon "sea" overlay |
I chose to do a virtual tour of the moon because I thought it would be so exciting for the students to "travel" to the moon like the astronauts do. I think it is much more exciting for them to learn about the craters and "seas" on the moon through google earth because they get to explore and look around at the different features of the moon. They can even see "the dark side" of the moon - which is never seen from earth. AND they get to watch little video clips from satellites that went around the moon!
Kids love space, so any type of lesson you do on the moon would be fun for them. But I think google earth lends more to the imagination and really let's students see what the moon is like.
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