Space Literacy Tasks

Weeks 8-10 Space Literacy  Tasks

Term 2 Weeks 9-10

Purpose of these reading activities is to: increase our knowledge of space
exploration and understand how our knowledge and ideas about space have
changed over time (science). We are also learning to read non-fiction texts
and use our writing skills to share our understanding of this topic and our ideas
(literacy). Throughout this task we will need to use the skills of ‘Thinking’ and
using ‘Language, Symbols and Text.’

Learning Intentions

I am learning to skim and scan text to identify the main ideas.

I am learning to locate the key sentences and questions in texts.

I am learning to use sub-headings to guide me to the main ideas in text.

I am learning to summarise the main ideas in the texts I read.

(from the Karoro Programme of work for Reading)

I am learning to write well structured paragraphs.

Success Criteria

I will be successful when I can show….

-I have have scanned text to find key ideas.

-I have summarised the main ideas from the reading.

-I have put my answers in chronological order.

-I have written two well structured paragraphs explaining how some of our ideas about space have
changed over time (introductory sentence, supporting detail, concluding sentence).

Read the three paper based reading activities given to you about Stephen Hawking,  Galileo Galilei and
The Telescope. You will be put with a buddy to do this work. We will mark and discuss our answers
together as a class.

Link to Galileo reading.                Link to Stephen Hawking reading.

  

Link to The Telescope reading.

To add to our learning we will watch/ read and discuss these following videos or articles.

Stephen Hawking Big Ideas Made Simple

NASA Video Explaining Black Holes For Kids.

What is the Big Bang Theory (Science Learning Hub).

Video about Galileo Galilei

Science Learning Hub Article: Light and Telescopes

Science Learning Hub Article: Our Solar System - Revolutionary Ideas.

After we have completed these reading activities and viewing and discussing the above materials your
task is to write at least two well structured paragraphs explaining how our ideas about space have
changed over time.

Example of a good paragraph.

Write your paragraphs here.

How Our Ideas About Space Have Changed Over Time

Our thoughts about our Solar System have changed over time. Scientist use to think that the
sun went around Earth and that Earth was the centre of the universe but Galileo Galilei found
out that Earth went around the sun and that the Earth was not the centre of the universe.
Galileo and a few other people were the  only people that believed this as other people had
other beliefs. Later when scientist took a closer look at if we went around the sun and if we were
the centre of the universe they found that Galileo Galilei’s theories were true. We now know
that Earth is not the centre of the universe and that we orbit the sun. These are some ways our
solar system has changed over time.

Stephen Hawking Has Made Some Great Discoveries about our universe. Stephen Hawking
was best known for discovering how the universe was formed and predicting what might
happen in the future. He found out that  the universe was first formed by a black hole that
exploded which was called the big bang theory. Another discovery was that everyone thought
Black Holes were very big holes that suck up everything around it and nothing could get out bu
t Stephen Hawking found out that one thing could escape, that is radiation. Radiation are
waves of energy that come out of or off something. That type of radiation is called Hawking
radiation after Stephen Hawking because he found out about it. These are some ways
Stephen Hawking has changed our thinking about our universe over time.

Self assessment

I have an introductory sentence for each paragraph:

I have at least three sentences giving supporting detail:

I have a concluding sentence:

ZooTropic

Create and Describe Your Own Planet -

Description writing task

Term 2 Weeks 5-6

Purpose of this piece of writing is to:

Learning Intentions

I am learning to use language features to make my writing
interesting and engaging for the reader.

I am learning to use topic-specific vocabulary.

I am learning to include Te Reo Māori words in my writing.

I will be successful when I can show….

-I have used some language features to make my writing
interesting and engaging (simile, metaphor, alliteration,
onomatopoeia, rhyme)

-I have carefully chosen some topic specific words to include in
my writing.

-I have used some Te Reo Māori

Focus

We are continuing to look at descriptive writing. This week you are writing a descriptive piece of writing
to promote your imaginary planet. You aim is to convince people to move to your planet.
You want your writing to allow the reader to be able to imagine what it is like on your planet.

First, we will look at an excerpt of a video describing the moon from the Avatar movie.
Click here to get to video= Pandora.

Second, we will discuss together what you will need in your work to make it successful and look
\at how to plan our work. Then you will plan your work and check with a teacher before you start writing.

Third, do your piece of writing.

Fourth, complete you piece of writing. Remember to proof-read (check spelling and punctuation) and
edit (does it make sense? do you need to change any sentences?) yourself and with a buddy and fill
in your self and peer-assessment. Check it with a teacher.

ZooTropic is half ngāhere (bush) and half tropical. It has 8 moons, it is the only planet in the solar system that has ngāhere (bush). It is in a solar system called SunTropics. SunTropics is 1,000,000 kilometers away from our solar system It takes 300 days to get to ZooTropic from Earth. Zootropic has a diameter of 1,000 kilometers.

Zoo

The Zoo part of the Planet has a lot of big ngāhere (bush) for tramping, hiking,
camping, making tree huts, hunting, and a lot more. There are a lot of kararehe
(animals) but not normal kinds of kararehe (animals) because they are weird
looking. The kararehe (animals) on the ngāhere (bush) side are all bush
kararehe (animals). The kararehe (animals) are almost as weird as the
Kakariki (green) people. All of the kararehe (animals) are two animals joined
together. My favourite combined kararehe (animals)  are the wolf combined
with a giraffe. Most people are really freaked out by the animals but they are
actually very friendly.

Tropic

The Tropic part of the planet has beaches and palm trees. The tropic side is
perfect for swimming, building sandcastle and just relaxing. There are reefs to
go scuba diving, private islands to spend a day on a small beach with only
your family.The sky in the morning are like galaxies in outer space the people
on the tropic side are yellow. The animals are all sea creatures like dolphins,
turtles, tropical fish and more. The waves are as pretty as the fish in the sea.
On the Tropic side you can catch a space shuttle to Morta (Korban’s planet).

How to get there/Lifestyle

To get to ZooTropic you have to travel in a Rocket. It takes 300 days to get to
ZooTropic from Earth.

In ZooTropic the lifestyle is the exact same as Earth’s but there is two
differences on both sides of the planet. The differences on the ngāhere (bush)
side is the people are green and the animals are two combined. The
differences on the Tropic side are that the people are yellow and there are only
sea animals.

For all of these reasons you should come to ZooTropic.

The End

By Phoebe

Day And Night Explanation

For reading we have been learning about space and our solar system.  We learnt about why we have day and night.  Here is my DLO (digital learning object) about why I think we have day and night.