Give attention to the red planet right now. You'll thank me.

 Studying about Mars can happen in Reading or in Science, and blending them together makes my heart happy!  

Because, blending subjects....😍

Let me take you on my Mars adventure!

🚀 First, I should tell you that I love all things space-related.  I'm Team Space all the way!

Years ago, my students and I read about NASA's work to get rovers to Mars.  That passage led to lots of curiosity and made me realize that we needed to dig deeper.  It was in April after state testing, and I knew the combination of reading and hands-on activities would make for a lot of happy students.

We had fun!

Get a rover to Mars

After much discussion about space and space travel (and some great videos from the International Space Station), we were ready to make our own Mars landers.  

The students worked in groups of three and had a ton of fun, trying out ideas and testing them, all in preparation for LAUNCH DAY!

 🎯I found that groups of four were too large.  Someone wandered off or got frustrated that their ideas weren't being used.  Three seemed to be the perfect number.

Testing and retesting the landers.

Measuring to make sure all criteria are met.

Fiction and nonfiction about Mars

I wrote about A Rover's Story by Jasmine Warga here.  I love that book!  It's a super way to make something like space travel understandable.  The fact that the rover is totally anthropomorphized?  That much more special!

I made a novel study guide that you can see here.

I thought it might be smart to pair a fiction book with a nonfiction passage about NASA and rovers.  That has mazes to solve while rereading the passage.

You can see that here.

Make a Mars lander

Here's the resource to build a Mars lander.

And the best part?

You can buy all of this in a bundle for 20% off the individual listings.  AND I've just planned 6-8 weeks of your teaching life.

You're welcome. ☺