We moved on from Planets this week, well some of us did. Some of the students are still getting to grips with the names of the planets. It’s not as easy as teaching new concepts in a Special School – you also have to teach the vocabulary, and without the vocabulary you aren’t going to get the concepts. If only everyone understood that…
So, we started by making a scale model of the solar system, right the way down the top corridor. Sun at one end, Neptune at the other and the rest of the students, sorry – planets, at about the right distance from the sun for scale. Shouting questions down the corridor – are you hot/cold? dark/light? has helped reinforce the concept of scale of the solar system. The planet symbols (why does Communicate in Print put a ring on each of the planets??) have been left stuck up high in the corridor. We will return.
We then moved on to the other contents of the universe – Activate book 1 was very good for this – and we have again, learnt new vocabulary.
Now, if you could just tell me where Gallifrey and Zog fit in to the plan of the Solar System, that would be really helpful!
speciallyteaching 
I use the following mnemonic when teaching the planets to my year seven pupils, which my lovely dad taught me a while back (!):
Mr (Mercury)
Victor (Venus)
Eats (Earth)
Mary’s (Mars)
Jelly (Jupiter)
Sitting (Saturn)
Under (Uranus)
Niagara Falls (Neptune)
We also do a call and response chant:
Teacher: The inner planets are solid and rocky
Pupils: The inner planets are solid and rocky
Teacher: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars
Pupils: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars
Teacher: The outer planets are liquid and gassy
Pupils: The outer planets are liquid and gassy
Teacher: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune
Pupils: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune
Teacher: The outer planets have rings around them,
Pupils: The outer planets have rings around them,
All: La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!
It’s a great way to ensure your pupils master the planets in order and distinguish the inner and outer planets.
Olivia – edudyertribe.wordpress.com
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