Sci-ber Text - 6th Grade

Solar System - The Trip of a Lifetime!

Create a Solar System Travel Journal

Here is a way to demonstrate your understanding of the solar system. Suppose when you were ten years old, you took it into your head to travel the entire solar system. You jump into a very fine, fast spaceship, and you start your journey; leaving from the sun. Write a story about what you would do during your journey and what it would be like at each stop. Include in your story:

One page about the sun, which would include facts about the sun along with an illustration.
One facts page about each planet (extra pages about the planet’s moons would be extra credit). The facts page will include other names for the planet, it's diameter, it's distance from the sun, its orbit time, its temperature information, its age, its atmosphere, whether or not the planet is a solid or a gas planet, and any other factual information that you can find.
One illustrated page for each planet, which would include accurate color and feature of the object being drawn.
One narrative page of your travels which makes the story fun to read. This is where you can include personal information and add creativity.

You can find research information for this assignment in a few places. Here are some ideas to help you out.

Your local library
An Encyclopedia book or Computer CD - ROM
Your teacher
The Web Site: http://www.nineplanets.org for some basic information.
The Web Site: http://kids.msfc.nasa.gov,A NASA site that is a great tool for kids learning about space.

Teachers - you may use the rubric to score this assignment.

This Sci-ber Text was developed by the Utah State Office of Education and Glen Westbroek.