4th Grade Planet Elapsed Time
Fourth graders at Varina Elementary have been studying the planets in science (SOL4.7) and in math, elapsed time was a topic they need to review based on their benchmark scores (SOL4.9), so today students in Ms.Burcham’s and Ms.Dixon’s classes created planet elapsed time story problems. I presented them with a situation: “You are an astronaut. You have been given the incredible opportunity to explore a planet of your choice. But you only have enough oxygen to last one complete day on the planet. How will you calculate what time you must leave the planet?” The first step was to select a planet. We used an animated 3-D view of the solar system to help us make our decision. Once we selected our planet, we discussed what factors determine the length of a day, and we conducted research to find out long a day actually lasts on our planet. We discovered that if you type “length of day on (planet)” into Google, you will get the answer quickly. Next we created word problems using Google slides and images. This was their first time making Google slideshows so I posted the assignment into Google classroom with a blank template for each student. I showed them how to add slides, text, images, and transitions. For their story problem, the students provided the length of day and the time they arrived, and their classmates had to figure out what time they must leave the planet. We posted our slideshows to Google classroom for everyone to view, and the students posted their answers in the comments section. Can you save the astronauts? Try some here. This lesson was submitted to our county’s Henrico 21 website, so if you’d like to see the complete lesson plan, click here.