Astronomy Curriculum Guide
for the North Carolina Standard Course of Stud

Grade 3

Supported by the NASA Education Public Outreach Project
PI - Dr. Donald Ellison

Curriculum Guide Created by Tracy Weigold

Competency Goal: The learner will build an understanding of the earth/moon/sun system

• www.thursdaysclassroom.com
  Teachers can subscribe to free email notification of latest space science headlines and related lesson plans. Also available is an archive of old lesson plans and a schedule of upcoming lesson plans.
  
  
• http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild
  Sections with activities about the solar system, universe and space exploration at two educational levels. Online interactive and printable activities are multidisciplinary providing the possibility of tying space science to other curriculums.
  
  
• http://kids.msfc.nasa.gov/Space
  NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center sponsored site for K-8 students with links to sections, including online and printable activities/games, on the earth, the moon and the sun.
  
  
• http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/home/index.html
  NASA for students, K-4 provides information and learning materials geared for the K-4 student & teacher.
  
• http://btc.montana.edu/ceres/html/EdActivities.html
  A FIVE STAR SITE. Activities listed in table of content type format that includes symbols to indicate appropriate grade level, space science topic and time required for each activity. Each activity includes learner objective, National Science and Math Education Standards that are met, great background information and step by step lesson plans.
  
  
• http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  Archive of astronomy picture of the day sorted by space science subject. Lots of great pictures for student and teacher use.
  
  
• http://www.earthkam.ucsd.edu/
  Photos of Earth from space. Great pictures.

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Objectives

3.01 Observe that light travels in a straight line until it strikes an object
and is reflected and/or absorbed.

3.02 Observe that objects in the sky have patterns of movement
including the Sun, Moon and stars.

3.03 Using shadows, follow and record the apparent movement of the
sun in the sky during the day.

• http://www.windows.ucar.edu/cgi-bin/tour_def/the_universe/uts/seasons1.html
  Discusses what causes the seasons written in the beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. The beginner or intermediate levels would be the appropriate reading level for this grade.
  
  
• http://kids.msfc.nasa.gov/Space
  NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center sponsored site for K-8 students with links to sections on earth/moon/sun. The Earth section includes links to articles about the current season with a related fill in the blank activity.

3.04 Use appropriate tools to make observations of the moon.

3.05 Observe and record the change in the apparent shape of the moon
from day to day over several months and describe the pattern of
changes.

• http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild
  Sections with activities about the solar system, universe and space exploration at two educational levels. Online interactive and printable activities are multidisciplinary providing the possibility of incorporating space study into other curriculums. There is an activity specific to the phases of the moon.
  
  
• http://kids.msfc.nasa.gov/Space
  NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center sponsored site for K-8 students with links to sections on earth/moon/sun. The section on the moon includes a discussion about the phases of the moon with a related online interactive activity to see the phases of the moon on specified dates.
  
  
• http://btc.montana.edu/ceres/html/Birthday/birthday1.htm
  Locate and graph phases of moon for student’s birthday month with links to websites for finding pictures of moon on specified dates. Includes learner objective, National Science and Math Education Standards that are met, great background information and step by step lesson plans.

3.06 Observe that patterns of stars in the sky stay the same, although
they appear to move across the sky nightly.

• www.thursdaysclassroom.com
  Teachers can subscribe to free email notification of latest space science headlines and related lesson plans. Also available is an archive of old lesson plans and a schedule of upcoming lesson plans. There is a lesson plan and activity on stargazing.

 

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