General Unit Opener Information:

Unit Opener General Resources Page

Unit Opener Powerpoints

Powerpoint Presentation by Ms. Ott

Powerpoint Presentation - Story Preview & Background Info by Ceres Unified

Unit Opener Ideas

Films, Songs, Bowie, and Mysteries of the Aztecs
Submitted by: Francie Kugelman	Submit your Unit Opener or Closer Idea Here

See Blog Entry about films and songs to enhance unit opener

Astronaut Ice Cream
Submitted by: Maria C. Silva, Gridley EL	Submit your Unit Opener or Closer Idea Here

I buy the students that frozen dots ice cream some know it as space ice cream. I also bring in tang, the drink the astronauts drank up there. We enjoy these as students are sharing the telescope they and another student built. This is an ELD lesson I gave them a few weeks back as a way for them to use; time and order words, sequence words, (first, then, next, finally), and transition words. They built the telescope and wrote about how they did it and the materials they used.

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Additional Unit Opener Ideas by Ceres Unified

Culminating Activity Ideas:

Planet for Sale!
Submitted by: Kim	Submit your Unit Opener or Closer Idea Here

You and your partner are realtors who are selling a planet in our solar system. You want to advertise globally, and universally, so you will create an advertisement for the newspaper This advertisement will compete against other solar retaliator advertisements, so be creative!

Your Page Should Include:

• • Planet name?
  • What number is the planet from the sun?
  • What is the distance from earth?
  • What is the closest planet? How far away is that?
  • What makes up the atmosphere? (Temperature, weather, etc.)
  • What makes up the surface? (Any crustal activity? For example: quakes, volcanoes, etc.)
  • What is its mass?
  • Does the planet have any moons and/or rings? If so, what are their names?
  • What is its orbital period? (How long does it take it to orbit the sun? How many ¡§earth years¡¨ is that?)
  • What is its rotation period? (How long does it take spin once around its axis?)
  • What, if any, myth or legend is about this planet?

Also Include On Your Page:

• • Name of realtor company
  • Logo of your company
  • Name of you and your partner
  • Two web sites you recommend the buyer to visit for more information about your planet
  • Graphics

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Big Books for Big Planets
Submitted by: Shelly Kirk	Submit your Unit Opener or Closer Idea Here

The students were divided into cooperative groups and given guidelines to design a solar system book. Each book included facts about our solar system including the news on Pluto. The students designed the big books for one of the six 3rd grade classes at our school. At the end of the unit each group created a lesson plan including the 5th and 3rd grade Earth Science standard on the solar system. (We were also able to do a "mini" compare/contrast lesson on the similarities and difference of the standards in each grade.) In the lesson plan the students had an objective, purpose, anticipatory set and an opportunity to do informal assessment with the 3rd grade class they designed the book for. The students also summarized their big books using Step Up to Writing. This was done on big post-it paper that the students used during their presentation. This was a great project which the students really enjoyed.

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