Art, Orbits, and Emotion

The solar system provides an integrated context for learning in science, English language arts, and art. First-grade students demonstrate their learning about the sun’s importance within the solar system, and its relationship to the earth and moon by creating two- and three-dimensional visual art models, and prepare brief oral presentations to relate understanding of scale and proportion, earth’s orbit around the sun, and the moon’s orbit around the earth. Students are assessed through checklists, journal entries, models, and oral presentations.