Roberta A. Mazzucco
The unit entitled:
The Sun in Our Lives
is to be used in a third grade class as part of the science curriculum. Part of the reason for creating the unit is to fill in the gaps in the New Haven science curriculum. The science curriculum in New Haven consists of a set of standards and a few science kits at each grade level. These kits cover a limited number of the required topics. Presently, our third grade curriculum consists of two kits: one on plants, and the other on chemicals or white powders. For the rest teachers are left to come up with their own materials. In many cases this does not happen consistently resulting in the fact that science is either overlooked or done in a haphazard way. While the Earth and its place in the solar system is part of the curriculum there are no specific materials available to teach this subject. Creating this unit will give me the opportunity to develop a thoughtful way of presenting the material to my students.
The unit is organized around a group of questions. It helps both my students and me to focus on our goals for learning. The following is an outline of the unit:
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I. Where did the Sun and planets come from?
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II. How is a star born?
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III. What is the anatomy of the Sun?
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IV. How does the light and heat from the Sun help us on Earth?
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V. Why do we have night and day and the seasons?
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VI. How does the Sun affect the weather?
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VII. What is the future of the Sun?
In teaching the unit hands on activities will be stressed as a way to help students understand the concepts as well as to increase their interest and excitement in the unit. Connections to other areas like reading and writing will be made through the use of appropriate level science texts, creative writing, and report-writing opportunities. Students will use science journals to record observations and the results of experiments that are completed. I also hope that students will do a culminating project which they can share with other classes in our school.
