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The earth is our home. The cycles and systems and rhythms of the earth determine our days, our seasons, our years.

Earth is the only planet in our solar system that can provide a home for living things. It has sufficient light, heat, and water to support a wide range of plants and animals. Everything about the earth works together in just the right combinations to support life.

Sample some of the following activities to learn more about our home planet.

Places To Go

The following are places to go (some real and some virtual) to find out about our planet, earth.

Travel thousands of miles above the earth and see real time satellite images of the earth.

Visit Hansen Planetarium and see spectacular views of the earth.

Did you know that earth is the only planet whose English name does not derive from Greek/Roman mythology and that 71% of the earth's surface is covered with water? Visit a virtual tour of the earth and learn even more fascinating facts.

Visit the American Museum of Natural History and explore its exhibits about the wonders of planet earth.

Visit Mount St. Helens, the most famous volcano in the United States. Find out what happened to the people near the eruption, what happened to the plants and animals during the eruption and in the years since the eruption, and about the geological events that lead up to this famous 1980 eruption. While you're at it, visit Kilauea in Hawaii, Mount Vesuvius in Italy, Pinatubo in the Philippines, and Krakatau near Java and Sumatra. In fact, here is a list of just about every volcano on the earth that you can think of. Check out the book Hill of Fire by Thomas P. Lewis which tells about the unexpected volcano that occurred in a farmer's field in Mexico. The volcano was named Paricutin. This book is also available as a Reading Rainbow selection.

Field Guide to the Universe - Visit the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis and go on a cosmic quest of the earth.

Earth’s Atmosphere

National Center for Atmospheric Research

PBS: Nova: The Atmosphere - Virtually visit the earth’s atmosphere. It reaches over 348 miles from the surface of the earth and consists of 4 distinct layers. In which layer do storms and other weather happen? In which layer do airplanes fly?

Ask-a-Geologist your questions about the earth's surface, volcanoes, earthquakes, mountains, rocks, and water.

NASA's Ask the Expert - Ask all your earth-related questions.

NASA's Ask the Space Scientist - Ask more earth questions or read through past questions and answers.

Many volcanologists believe they have the best jobs in the world. They have the exciting chance to study active volcanoes in beautiful and often exotic places. Meet seven professional volcanologists and learn what it is like to study volcanoes for a living.

Ask an Astronomer - From Lake Afton Public Observatory in Wichita, Kansas. Ask new questions or read through old ones.

After you've visited with Earth Dog, talk to Eddy the Eco-Dog. He helps kids discover interesting facts about the earth, nature, andscience.

Chat with Earth Dog. He a crusader who educates children about problems facing our environment and gets them involved in creating the solutions.

Meet 28,000 notable men and women who have shaped our world from ancient times to the present day.

Ask-an-Earth-Scientist - Send in your questions about the earth and read other’s questions and answers.

Things To Do

There are a lot of things to do on the Third Rock from the Sun web page. You can read all about cool science topics, find links to other neat science pages, and do experiments and activities.

Keep yourself informed about any space objects speeding toward the earth by frequently visiting the Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking Home Page. Did you see the movie Armegeddon?

See a real-time current satellite image of the earth.

Figure out the earth's plate tectonics.

Memorize earth statistics. What is the diameter of the earth? What is its mass? What is its density? How far away is it from the sun? What is the tilt of its axis?

Earthquakes occur every day some place in the world. Find out where an earthquake happened today. This site is very interesting! You can see earthquake activity for the past week as well. Look at the data for world earthquakes for this week. Is there one general area of the world that had more earthquakes than any where else? What was the magnitude of most of the earthquakes? This site from the United States Geological Survery also shows current earthquake activity--and the data goes back for about a month.

Check out the latest scientific news about earth science at Live Science.

View incredible images of the earth in the Earth From Space : An Astronaut's Views of the Home Planet.

Earth Day is in April. Find out what individuals can do to help raise awareness of earth conservation issues.

Kids Care About the Earth gives tips and ideas for how we can save the earth.

Planet Earth is a suite of interactive learning activities about the earth. Participate in internet treasure hunts and webquests about ecology and environmental issues.

Find information about earthquakes, dinosaurs, fossils, evolution, volcanoes, landslides, rocks and minerals, plate tectonics, mountains, canyons, caves, rivers, waterfalls, conservation, the greenhouse effect, global change, oil and gas, energy, mining, ice ages and glaciers, faults, erosion, geological time, planets and space, and geoscience careers at EarthNet.

Compare the earth's moon to one of Mars's two moons, Deimos or Phobos. Of all the moons in the solar system, the orbit of Phobos is closest to its planet. Find out what scientists think may eventually happen to Phobos because of its nearness to Mars. Do you think this same thing could happen to the earth's moon?

Explore these hands-on activities for the dynamic earth.

Read the PlanetDiary. It is very cool. It has a calendar of eclipses and other important planetary dates. Find out what the earth's perihelion is. EarthDiary also has a section about current earth phenomena. Click on different area of the map to find out what is happening in the world that is impacting the planet.

The history of the earth is recorded in the igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks of the outer crust called the outer lithosphere. The science of geology studies these rocks. Explore the resources at the US Geological Society.

Learn about the EarthForces that cause earthquakes and volcanoes.

See animations of plate tectonics. You can actually see what it is like as the plates of the continents move apart, bump, collide, and buckle.

Find out why the earth is sometimes called the Water Planet.

StarChild Question of the Month - Earth is the only planet whose English name does not come from Greek or Roman mythology. Find out how our planet got its name. All of the moons of the planets are also named for characters in Greek and Roman mythology—except for the moons of Uranus. What are they named for?

Earth is the most dense major body in the solar system. Find out why.

Earth Our Home Planet - Take the vital statistics of planet earth.

Find out about the basic elements of the earth. Its overall composition is mostly 6 basic elements. We live on the earth’s crust, but the crust comprises only .5% of the earth’s total mass. Which part of the earth makes up most of its mass?

Astronomy for Kids- Send someone an earthrise postcard. From outer space, the earth looks like a beautiful, blue marble.

Discover how different cultures have viewed and/or worshipped the earth. The Incas of ancient Peru believed that Pachamama was the earth goddess. She was married to Inti, who was the sun god. The Incas would offer llamas as sacrifices to Pachamama.

Read Astronomy magazine online to discover fascinating earth facts. This online magazine has many free articles and a great Picture of the Day section.

Click on Our Planet to locate information about the earth’s interior, surface, atmosphere, climate, geology, and much more.

Spacetech’s Orrery: Earth Our Home Planet - Locate information about the earth’s gravity, atmosphere, and earth-moon partnership.

Classroom of the Future: Earth Floor - Understand planet earth better by exploring its tectonics, cycles, biomes, adaptations, and more.

Online activities are a listing of internet sites with fun, interesting, and educational tasks attached to each one. (You can learn how to use this WWW Activities tool created by UEN for Utah educators).

• Planet Earth
• Weather Hotlist
• Earthquakes

Virtual Field Trips are teacher and student-created tours of curricular topics. (You can learn how to use this UEN Virtual Field Trip tool created by UEN for Utah educators).

• Plate Tectonics

Lesson Plan/Webquests/Activities

• About Protecting the Earth - From UEN
• Candy Quakes - From UEN
• What Is the Most Serious Problem Facing the Earth?
• Is Earth the Only Planet?
• History of the Earth
• The Big Wide World WebQuest
• Is Mother Earth Cracking Up?

Bibliography

• Amdur, Richard. The Fragile Earth. New York : Chelsea House, c1994.
• Asimov, Isaac. Our Planet Earth. Milwaukee : G. Stevens Pub., 1995.
• Brimner, Larry Dane. Earth. New York : Children's Press, c1998.
• Estalella, Robert. Our Planet Earth. Hauppauge, N.Y. : Barron's Educational Series, c1994.
• Gallant, Roy A. Earth : The Making of a Planet. New York : Marshall Cavendish, c1998.
• Gardner, Robert. Where On Earth Am I? New York : Franklin Watts, c1996.
• Gibbons, Gail. Planet Earth, Inside Out. New York : Morrow Junior Books, c1995.
• Malam, John. Highest, Longest, Deepest : A Fold-out Guide to the World's Record Breakers. New York : Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers, 1996.
• Murray, Peter. Planet Earth. Chanhassen, Minn. : Child's World, c1998.
• Parker, Steve. The Earth and How It Works. London ; New York : Dorling Kindersley, 1993.
• Ride, Sally. The Third Planet. New York : Crown, 1994.

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