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OVERVIEW
Team Rio’s first unit in science will be Astronomy. Our focus will be the movement of the Earth and its moon. To help us understand this, students will be making sun and moon observations over a period of time. We will also study ancient calendars, constellations, and our solar system. So if you have a compass at home get it ready! Your 8th grader will be using it.
SPECIFIC RESOURCES

Movement of the Earth and its Moon
Google Earth
: Google Earth combines satellite imagery, maps and the power of Google Search to put the world's geographic information at your fingertips.
Google Moon: Moon is an extension of Google Maps and Google Earth that enables you to surf the Moon's surface and check out the exact spots that the Apollo astronauts made their landings.
Earth & Moon Viewer: Check out images of the Earth and the Moon from a variety of perspectives.
To The Moon (NOVA - PBS): A great site for exploring Earth's lunar partner.

Sun and Moon Observations

EARTH - SUN VIEWER: WOW... Don't Miss!
A Virtual Tour of the Sun
: Learn about our Sun through this engaging multimedia tour.
Inconstant Moon: Multimedia tours of the lunar surface. Explore the Moon... discover its dramatic features and phenomena - often beautiful, sometimes bizarre, always changing.

Man on the Moon - Relive the first steps on the moon with the Houston Chronicle; read the memories, see lunar photos, and watch cool historic videos!
Wikipedia - The Moon: An indepth resource for learning relating to the Moon.
Wikipedia - The Sun: An indepth resource for learning relating to the Moon.
Moon Links: A very large collection of moon related web links.

Palomar Observatory - This is a nice site to teach students about the workings of an Observatory.

Ancient Calendars
Calendar through the Ages
: Explore the facinating history of human endevors to organize our lives in accordance with the Sun and stars.
Wikipedia -
Calendars: An indepth resource for learning relating to calendars.

Constellations
Vitual Observatory (Weather Underground): View the night sky with this useful online tool.
Earth & Sky Radio Series: This site is a radio show (provides audio archives of shows) with many great learning resources to explore the earth below our feet and the sky above us.
Stars & Constellations: A text and multimedia rich resource for information about stars and the constellations they make.
Celestia: The free space simulation that lets you explore our universe in three dimensions.
Stellarium: Is a free GPL software which renders realistic skies in real time.

The Solar System
The Virtual Solar System
: Discover our solar system in a spectacular 3-D environment.
Solar System Exploration (NASA): A rich interactive tour of our solar system.
Solar System Simulator: This online astronomy tool allows multimedia views of planets and constellations as seen from a variety of viewpoints.
Build a Solar System: Make a scale model of the Solar System online and learn the REAL definition of "space."
JPL NASA Solar System: A great solar system resource with interactive multimedia.

Compass & Navigation
The Riddle of the Compass (Audio, Science Fridays):Map and compass learning.
How to Use a Compass
: Tutorials and lessons all about the compass and orienteering.
Wikipedia - The Compass:
An indepth resource for learning relating to the compass.
Wikipedia - The Sextant: An indepth resource for learning relating to the sextant.
Wikipedia - Navigation: An indepth resource for learning relating to the navigation.

Meteors
Meteor Impact Craters
: An interactive map showing the location and characteristics of earth-meteor strikes.

Google Areometer: A tool that can be used to estimate the damage area caused by earth-meteor strikes.
Wikipedia - Meteors: An indepth resource for learning relating to meteors.

GENERAL RESOURCES - Use for Current Science assignments

NASA Website
NASA Jet Propulsion Labratory
Science @ NASA - Headline News
(Current Science)

Sky & Telescope Magazine (Current Science)

Space.com (Current Science)

Astronomy & Space Resources - A large list of space and astronomy links.
Universe Today
(Current Science)

Astronomy for Kids - A great general resource containing information about many of the specific topics above.

Planet Quest - The search for another earth... this is a great site!

DOCUMENTS - HANDOUTS

Current Science - Word Document Assignment Sheet (Save a copy to your own folder).

Current Science - Printable Flashpaper Assignment Sheet

LIBRARY RESOURCES
 
INTERACTIVE RESOURCES

Arty the Part-time Astronaut : A children's interactive adventure though our solar system. Guide Arty and his alien friend Greg to the many sites of our solar system. A site for the young Astronomer.

Planet Quest Interactives - Great space simulation games.

STUDENT PRODUCTION SHOWCASE
 

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