Describe the Universe

Objectives:

To practice use of adjectives

To think more in depth about the properties of astronomical objects

Activity:

Student chooses (or is assigned) an object in space and writes ten words that describe that object

Materials:

Paper and pencil

Crayons or markers (if choose to have children draw their object)

List of astronomical objects (could also be written on chalkboard or read aloud or assigned verbally)

Previous Knowledge Necessary:

What an adjective (or describing word) is

Attributes of the astronomical object assigned to the student

Procedure:

1. Each student chooses (or is assigned) an astronomical object.
   (A list of possible objects can be found at the bottom of this page.
   Delete or add to the list to make easier or harder for your students.)

2. The student writes down her object and then ten words that describe it. The more specific the descriptive word, the better.

3. Each child could then draw a picture of her object.

4. A student could also read their adjectives aloud and have the other students guess what astronomical object she is describing.

List of Astronomical Objects: (Use this non-table list, if your browser does not render tables well.)

Mercury	Neptune	star	Jupiter's Giant Red Spot
Venus	Pluto	nebula	black hole
Earth	Sun	galaxy	solar system
Mars	Moon	meteor	red giant star
Jupiter	comet	pulsar	white dwarf star
Saturn	asteroid	crater	Milky Way Galaxy
Uranus	Saturn's rings		Big Dipper (and other constellations)

Note: This lesson could be expanded by adding words that are associated with space such as telescope, astronaut, Sally Ride, Copernicus, Galileo, space shuttle, NASA, cosmonaut, etc.