Blast Off With Mother Goose

Introduction

Mercury, Saturn, Jupiter,too Mother Goose has a challenge for you. Take her children to outer space. Treat them to an intergalactic race. Reading, Science, Music and Art  Will give you all a wonderful start. So gather your tools and let 'em rip As you blast off on a spectacular trip.

This lesson was designed to enable the upper elementary student to work on the skill of rhyming in conjunction with the implementation of a unit on the solar system. The components of the lesson allow for collaboration with the arts, both visual and aural. 

Learners

Students will need to be familiar with traditional Mother Goose nursery rhymes, the basics of rhyming skills (word families), and the planets in our solar system.  They will be introduced to music of Gustav Holst and his work, The Planets.

Curriculum Standards

• Students will compose a piece of writing based on ideas generated through any of a variety of ways (writing, drawing, talking, webbing, listing, brainstorming), revise and proofread it, and present it to an audience.
• Students will collect and examine, individually or with classmates, an array of their own stories and drawings, discuss the features they like, and say what they might do differently the next time.
• Students will compare the language used by various speakers and writers and determine when the language is and is not fitting.

 

• Know that the Earth is one of several planets that orbit the sun, and that the moon orbits the Earth.
• Recognize that information and photographs from orbiting spacecraft have added to our knowledge of the Earth and the universe.

Music Standards Addressed

Use appropriate terminology in explaining music, music notation, music instruments and voices, and music performances.

Explain, using appropriate music terminology, their personal preferences for specific musical works and styles.

Visual Art Standard Addressed

Select and use subject matter, symbols and ideas to communicate meaning.

Select the appropriate tool for a given need.

Use tools and resources correctly and safely.

Describe how the processing of resources can produce a more useful product.

Process

1. Read at least twenty Mother Goose nursery rhymes.  Scan through the following web sites and choose your favorite nursery rhyme:


http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Rhymes.html
READ ME AND TAKE QUIZ

2. The following books, located in the library, will provide a picture of most of the Mother Goose nursery rhyme characters:

 
3. The students will be given a number (1-8) which will correspond to a planet in the solar system. 

MARS - 1
JUPITER - 2
PLUTO - 3
MERCURY - 4 
SATURN - 5 
NEPTUNE - 6
VENUS - 7 
URANUS - 8
4. Use the following web sites to locate information on an assigned planet.

MARS	http://kids.msfc.nasa.gov/solarsystem/mars/ http://kidsastronomy.com/mars.htm

JUPITER

http://kids.msfc.nasa.gov/solarsystem/jupiter/ http://kidsastronomy.com/jupiter.htm

PLUTO

http://kids.msfc.nasa.gov/solarsystem/pluto/ http://kidsastronomy.com/pluto.htm

MERCURY

http://kids.msfc.nasa.gov/solarsystem/mercury/ http://kidsastronomy.com/mercury.htm

SATURN

http://kids.msfc.nasa.gov/solarsystem/saturn/ http://kidsastronomy.com/saturn.htm

NEPTUNE

http://kids.msfc.nasa.gov/solarsystem/neptune/ http://kidsastronomy.com/neptune.htm

VENUS

http://kids.msfc.nasa.gov/solarsystem/venus/Default.asp http://kidsastronomy.com/venus.htm

URANUS

http://kids.msfc.nasa.gov/solarsystem/uranus/ http://kidsastronomy.com/uranus.htm

ENCYCLOPEDIA





5. After reading information on a planet, take a virtual tour by clicking on the link below:

6. Connect a favorite nursery rhyme character with information discovered about a planet by rewriting the rhyme and placing a character on the planet assigned.
7. Using a word processing program, the students will type their rhyme.
8. The students' rhymes will be printed onto a transparency sheet.  Fill up the remaining space with their illustration using the provided color markers.
9. Present your Mother Goose In Space rhyme to the rest of the class. 
10. All final projects will be displayed on a bulletin board.


Here is an example of what the students are expected to do:

ORIGINAL                                                REWRITE
Peter, Peter, pumpkin-eater,                            Peter, Peter, pumpkin-eater
Had a wife and couldn't keep her;                    Had a wife and couldn't keep her;
He put her in a pumpkin shell,                         He put her in a golden ring,
And there he kept her very well.                      And everyday he heard her sing.

1. Working in your group, prepare a model of your planet.  Be sure to pay attention to size and placement in the solar system.
2. All materials you will need are available in the box labeled "THE SOLAR SYSTEM"
3. All planets will be assembled into a mobile of the whole solar system and put on display.

Use the ENCYCLOPEDIAand look up Gustav Holst. Read about the musical composition The Planets. Listen to the individual "Planets" during your Music class. Compare the written description of each planet from what has been read with the emotions felt while listening to the music.

Variations
 

To encourage buddy learning, have the older students visit http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Rhymes.html and have them print out their younger buddy's favorite nursery rhyme.  They will cooperate together to color the picture and the older child can then read the rhyme to their buddy.

There is also a video with Holst's The Planets music and a voyage through space (no words). Voyage to the Planets is available through AMAZON.COM

Resources Needed

• Transparencies
• Permanent color markers
• Bulletin board (background needs to be white)
• Solar System craft kit (available at most craft stores)
• CD player
• CD of Gustav Holst's The Planets

Three teachers, the classroom teacher, music teacher, and the art teacher, would be optimum for the implementation and completion of this lesson.
A field trip to a local planetarium would be an added bonus to this lesson. 

Evaluation

Conclusion

To expand the student's knowledge of the solar system, rhyming elements, and literary genre, in order to foster the habit of lifelong learning, encourage them to explore the following sites.

Credits & References

If you would like to check out some other WebQuests, go to: The WebQuest Page
If you would like to create your own WebQuest the Design Patterns page is where you can acquire the latest version of this template and training materials.

"We all benefit by being generous with our work. Permission is hereby granted for other educators to copy this WebQuest, update or otherwise modify it, and post it elsewhere provided that the original author's name is retained along with a link back to the original URL of this WebQuest. On the line after the original author's name, you may add Modified by (your name) on (date). If you do modify it, please let me know and provide the new URL."