Making the Solar System

For my lesson I focused on the planets in the solar system and how they move around the sun. We created a model of the solar system, and then used that model to see how the earth rotates on an axis while it revolves around the sun.
Having them make the model of the solar system seemed particularly effective, because it gave them a visual of the information that we were discussing in class. I also feel that it was useful to have them act out the rotation of the planets, because that gave them two different ways to think about the information. Labeling the model of the solar system also helped reinforce the names of the planets as well. There favorite was Pluto. I explained to them that Pluto was no longer considered a regular planet, because it was too small, and they felt sad for it. That made me laugh.
This lesson went very well, and there is not much that I would change in the future. One thing that I would like to change would be to have them make more then one model of the solar system. I would split them up in groups instead of having them all work on one model together. With my small class that would not be as possible, but with a bigger class I think that would be more effective. I Would also plan to spread this lesson out over a couple of days, because I did not think about the fact that I was going to have to wait for the planets to dry. We had to finish putting the solar system together the next day, so we finished the lesson then.