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For Grades 3-5

Classroom Activities, Grades 3-5

Activities on this page can help teach these National Science Education Standards (USA):

      • The earth is the third planet from the sun in a system that includes the moon, the sun, eight other planets and their moons, and smaller objects, such as asteroids and comets. [grades 5-8]
      • Most objects in the solar systems are in regular and predictable motion. those motions explain such phenomena as the day, the year, phases of the moon, and eclipses. [grades 5-8]
      • Gravity is the force that keeps planets in orbit around the sun and governs the rest of the motion in the solar system.... [grades 5-8]


Illustration of the
Step 1 of the "gravity trick" for the activity "Questions of Gravity"

Questions of Gravity -- It's uncommon to have activities pertinent to the subject of gravity, other than high school or college level physics labs in mechanics. This activity is designed to be an introduction to the idea of gravity intended to lead to awareness of the pervasiveness of gravity in our everyday lives.

Step 2 of the
Step 2 of the "gravity trick" for the activity "Questions of Gravity"

Kepler starwheel photoKepler Starwheels (Grades 4–adult). One of the "Uncle Al's Starwheels" series of planispheres, inexpensive star maps, adjustable for any time of night in any month of the year. There are interchangeable star wheel disks designed to help people find constellations with a "Basic Constellations" wheel, locate objects with a "Coordinates Wheel" and, with the "Kepler Wheel" to find the location of the Kepler target field of view as well as naked eye stars known to have exoplanets visible from the northern hemisphere. These Star Wheels are based on the Lawrence Hall of Science (LHS) Sky Challenger star wheels that have even more star wheels: a set of 6, available at the LHS store.


Venus diagram
Diagram to go with the Morning Star/Evening Star activity

Morning Star and Evening Star (PDF, 452 KB) - Grades 3-8 - This activity will help your students to see why Venus appears to us sometimes as the morning "star" and sometimes as the evening"star." This is one of the classroom activities from the Lawrence Hall of Science's Planetarium Activities for Student Success (PASS) series, Volume 11: Astronomy of the Americas.


Moon phase slide
Slide from the Moon phase presentation set

Simulated Moon Phase Observations - Grades 4–5 - a simulation for use when weather or other conditions preclude direct observations of Moon phases, as called for in the GEMS Space Science Sequences (grades 3–5) or FOSS. Students stand in a large semicircle around a large screen display so that thay are all around the same distance from it. For each view of the Moon, students (1) draw the shape of the Moon phase on a sheet of paper, (2) measure the separation between the Sun and Moon in "fingerwidths" at arms-length, (3) record that separation next to the Moon phase shape.



Nifty things to put on your computer to stay up-to-date on exoplanet discoveries: