Lesson plan

Space
Topic
Space and the solar system

Aims
To develop and practise:
 vocabulary: words connected with the solar system
 structure: there is/are
 curricular work: the solar system
 integrated skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing

Age
Older primary (9–11 years)

Time
90 minutes approximately

Materials
1. Flashcards
https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/flashcards/space-flashcards
2. Song, activity sheet, answers and lyrics: ‘Flying from the sun to the stars’
https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/songs/flying-the-sun-the-stars
3. Story, activity sheet, answers and transcript: ‘Our colourful world’
https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/short-stories/our-colourful-world
4. Word game: ‘Space’
https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/word-games/space
5. Colouring: ‘Space’
https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/colouring/space
6. Paper plates/polystyrene balls/other craft materials for craft activity (stage 4) – optional
7. Cards for Pelmanism game (stage 5) – optional

For a complete list of all ‘Space’ content on LearnEnglish Kids, click here:
https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/category/topics/space

Introduction
In this lesson, learners will look at the planets in the solar system and features of planets. They will listen to
and sing a song, then watch a story about features of different planets. They will practise describing
planets using ‘there is/are’, and then work together to invent their own planet. Finally learners can play a
game to learn or review vocabulary.

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 Lesson plan
Procedure
1. Introduce the  Show the learners the picture of the solar system from the flashcards set. Ask them if
topic (5 mins) they know what it is. What’s in the middle? (The sun) Where do we live? (On Earth)
 Write ‘Earth’ on the board. See if learners can tell you any of the names of the other
planets.

2. Focus on the  Tell learners they are going to listen to a song about the solar system. Ask them to
solar system listen out for the names of the planets.
(15–20 mins)  Play the song. Ask learners which planets they remember and write them on the
board. Although Pluto is now classed as a ‘dwarf planet’, it can still be useful to
include it.
 Give learners the activity sheet for the song. Ask them to complete exercise 1: order
the planets. Play the song again to help them. Encourage them to sing along!
 Check answers. If you wish, teach learners a mnemonic for the order of the planets,
for example: My Very Earthly Mother Just Sat Upon Nine Pins. You could also give
each learner a picture of each planet, and ask them to stand in order (with the
teacher as the sun!).

3. Focus on  Tell learners they are going to watch a story about Billy and Splodge exploring
language for planets in a different solar system. Ask them to decide what their favourite planet is.
planets (15–20  Play the story. At the end, take a class vote on their favourite planet. Ask them why
mins) they like it.
 Ask learners to complete exercise 1 and 2 of the activity sheet for the story and
check answers.
 Play the story again, and learners complete exercise 3 while watching. Afterwards,
check answers, then highlight some of the ‘there is’ and ‘there are’ sentences. Ask
them if they can tell you when we use ‘there is’ and when we use ‘there are’.
 Ask them to write or tell each other some sentences about Earth using ‘there is’ and
‘there are’.

4. Extension  Tell learners they are now going to work in pairs to invent their own planet. Give
activity: invent a them some categories to help them decide on the characteristics of their planet, for
planet (20–30 example size, temperature, animal life, plant life, number of oceans, type of land, etc.
mins) Brainstorm some ideas as a class, if necessary.
 In pairs, learners should write down their ideas in their notebooks. If there are any
disagreements, tell them they can have different characteristics for different
continents! Monitor and help with any language needed at this stage.
 Learners now draw a picture of their planet. If you wish, this could become a craft
activity – either using paper plates as the planet, which learners could draw on or
decorate with aluminium foil, glitter, cotton wool, fabric, etc., or using polystyrene
balls, which can usually be bought from arts and crafts shops, and decorated the
same way. For pictures of plant or animal life, for example, learners can draw them
on paper, cut them out and stick them on.
 Now learners write a paragraph about their planet, based on their notes and their
creation. Monitor and help with language, checking use of ‘there is’ and ‘there are’.
 Fast finishers could write extra details about the plant and animal life on their planet.
Don’t forget to ask learners to decide on a name for their planet!

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 Lesson plan
 To display the work, you could create a new solar system around the room. Use a
circle of yellow paper for the sun and stick it on the wall. Then decide an order for the
planets – ask learners to tell you whether the hotter planets and colder planets
should go near to or further away from the sun. Stick the planets in the order
decided. If you have used polystyrene balls – you could suspend them from the
ceiling!
 Finally, if appropriate, ask learners to invent a mnemonic for the class solar system!

5. Round off  Play the ‘Space’ word game to learn some more vocabulary connected with space.
activity (5–10  Alternatively, you might like to create a Pelmanism game – per group of learners you
mins) will need nine cards with the name of one of the planets written on each of them, and
nine cards with ordinal numbers ‘first’ to ‘ninth’ written on them. Learners play the
game, trying to find matching pairs, for example ‘Mercury’ and ‘first’.

6. Setting  Learners can watch the story or listen to the song again at home. If your learners are
homework (5 members of LearnEnglish Kids, they can leave a comment under the song or the
mins) story, giving their opinion of it or answering the question under it.
 Lower level learners could complete the ‘Space’ colouring activity.
 Higher level learners could choose a planet to research at home, so that next lesson
they can each tell the class one interesting fact about the planet they chose.

Contributed by
Rachael Ro

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© The British Council, 2017 The United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.