Earth is Special: Reading Comprehension Lesson
Lesson Plan
2 hours 35 minutesGradesK, 1, 2Earth and Space Sciences, English Language Arts
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Written by Angelique Hammack
About this lesson
In this reading comprehension lesson, students participate in activities to understand that the Earth’s location and orbit influence its features.
Inquire: Student prior knowledge is activated through modeling and questioning about the Earth and space.
Investigate: Students learn about our solar system and the patterns that make the Earth special through a video and a read aloud.
Inspire: Students go outside to explore and appreciate what makes Earth special, then brainstorm to create an Earth Is Special wall.
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Suggestions
- This lesson is best taught during times of the year when the sky is clear enough for students to participate in the moon journaling and stargazing activities in the Bilingual Information Packet.
- This lesson explores SEL concepts of fostering self-awareness through a fun space-race brain break, self-assessment, and feelings check-in.
- This lesson highlights our Earth as students create an art piece to recognize how special it is.
Prerequisites
- Teacher should locate the read-aloud text: Our Solar System by Rachel Walker (Epic! book) or Solar System by Jill McDonald (book).
- Review the chosen video prior to using it in the lesson.
- Students should have a basic knowledge of things in the night sky and time changes (sun, stars, moon, day, night etc).
- Collect enough small blow-up beach balls (suggested 1 per group), permanent markers (to draw land markings), portable lanterns or lamps, and play dough beforehand.
Differentiation
- Students can use the provided sentence frames in the Teacher Document and Teacher Slideshow for class or group discussions.
- Visual sentence boards are provided to support student responses.
- Videos can be watched at 0.75 playback speed to allow emerging multilingual students access to the content.
- Anchor charts with essential vocabulary are in the Teacher Document and can enhance academic language and various developmental stages.
- Earth Is Special Worksheet and Student Self Assessments are differentiated and can be distributed according to student ability.
- Optional Virtual Nature Walk videos for classrooms where a nature walk is not possible.
- Optional Activity: Playdough Solar System and Math Activity Worksheets can be found in the Student Document.
- Optional Activity: Students use playdough to make a model of the solar system (See Student Document: Playdough Solar System Mat).
- Other books/videos that may be used to discuss this topic include:
- I Am Earth by Rebecca and James McDonald
- On Earth by G. Brian Karas
- Are You My Planet? by Lori Haskins Houran, illustrated by Edward Miller
- On Earth by G. Brian Karas (seasons)
- Let’s Make the Solar System by SciShow Kids and complete the task.
- Let’s Look at Constellations! by SciShow Kids
- Our Solar System by Rachel Walker (Epic!)
From the scientist review
Learners can explore the solar system and gain knowledge about the significance of Earth and its planets. Also, activities pertaining to Earth conservation are included to further engage learners. After reviewing all the resources used in creating this lesson, we have concluded that the lesson passes our science review procedure.
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About the teacher writer
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Angelique Hammack
K-8 General and Special Education Teacher
Angelique Hammack is a K–5 educator with a Master of Arts in Education from California State University, San Marcos. She has been teaching since 2017 and specializes in reading, mathematics, and writing in both general and special education settings. Angelique is a certified CALTPA Multiple Subject Scorer and holds an Education Specialist Credential.
