Pack Your Bags

Objective: Students will learn facts about weather on the planets in our solar system while
creating a travel brochure advertising Earth to visitors from other galaxies.

Materials: posters of the planets (9), weather fact cards for each planet (Jupiter, Mars, Mercury,
Neptune, Pluto, Saturn, Uranus, Venus), pack your bags weather fact card teacher's key sheet, A
Drop Around the World, A Drop Around the World Teacher's Guide, travel brochures, pencils,
paper, markers, atlases, geography books, magazine (optional)

Background: When we think of weather, we normally think about rain or sunshine or snow.
However, there is another kind of weather that is beginning to make an impact on people's lives:
space weather. Space weather is the concept of changing environmental conditions in outer
space. Our space weather is a consequence of the behavior of the sun, the nature of Earth's
magnetic field, and our location in the solar system.

Space is not empty. It is filled with very thin electrically charged gas consisting mostly of
protons and electrons. Earth is a magnet. Earth's magnetism is what makes a compass needle
point north or south and is what plays an important part in space weather. The sun produces an
electrically charged gas called solar wind that flows out from the sun in all directions. When
the solar wind hits Earth's magnetic field, it creates currents or storms.

Solar winds affect weather on all the planets in the solar system. Many planets have thin or no
atmospheres and the weather (or lack thereof) on the surface is not someplace most humans
would want to live!

Procedure:
Read aloud A Drop Around the World. Then read the information entitled "Temperature Tamer"
in the back of A Drop Around the World. This will be a set up to the activity. (The book is an
introduction to the water cycle. It also allows students to understand that Earth is a water
planet). Hold a discussion with the class about the Earth's water resources. Help students
identify the water features of this planet. During this discussion, stress to the class that Earth's
atmosphere allows the water cycle and weather to sustain life. Without the unique atmospheric
composition, Earth's placement in the solar system, its magnetic field, and its rotation, existence
here would be quite different.

Divide the students into eight groups. Give each group one of the weather fact cards containing
facts about each planet. There is no card for Earth. (Note: At this time, Pluto is sometimes
considered a planet, sometimes not. It has been included in this activity as one of the planets in
our solar system, instead of its most recent classification as a "dwarf planet".)

Instruct each group to read the facts and decide to which planet they correspond. Have
students bring their card to the front of the class and place it next to the correct poster. (Note:
Students may want to research their space weather facts on the internet. There are several sites
that discuss space weather conditions, including NASA's site.)

Correct any errors and read aloud all the facts.

Ask students what similarities they notice between Earth and the other planets. What
differences do they notice? Point out that a big difference is that Earth contains a lot of water,
using the Earth poster as a reference.

Instruct student groups to design and make a travel brochure advertising Earth to the
inhabitants from other galaxies. Have each group emphasize places of interest on Earth that
include water and have interesting climates. Show students sample travel brochures to give
them examples about how places of interest are featured. Have them use A Drop Around the
World, atlases, geography books, and magazines to find unique and unusual places and ideas.
Remind them that they can use "frozen water" to focus on such places as the Alps, Antarctica,
or Alaska.

When finished, have groups present their brochures to the class as if they were travel agents.
After the presentations, lead a class discussion identifying 3 or more creative or well-done
features about each brochure.

Extensions:
Go to NASA's internet site: www.nasa.gov/kids/papermodels.com. Have your students construct
one of the models shown on the page. A suggestion would be the "Genesis" model, which is the
model that NASA used to catch solar winds.

Complete additional activities in the A Drop Around the World teacher's guide. These activities
are a good introduction to and reinforcement of the water cycle.

Contact the EROS Data Center to arrange for a guided tour of the facilities. When touring, ask
about the global climate tracking this organization does and explore how the USGS is looking
to the future today.

This activity adapted from A Drop Around the World Teacher's Guide