The Solar System

• Science
• 1-3 Grade

The 

Solar 

System

Do you know what is in the center of our Solar System?

The Sun is at the center of our Solar System.

The planets travel around the sun

The path the planets take around the Sun, is called its orbit

Our sun is actually a star named Sol. That is why it is called the Solar System. 

All the stars you see in the sky are like our sun, but some are bigger and some are smaller. 

They looks so small because they are very far away. 

There are 8 planets in our solar system. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

These are Unicorn Noodles 

This is a Very Excellent Monkey

What does that have to do with planets? Can you guess?

My Very Excellent Monkey Just Served Unicorn Noodles is a pneumonic, (a trick to help your brain remember) that can help you remember the order of the planets from the Sun!

The Go Noodle video, “Unicorn Noodles” can help us remember the order of the planets from the Sun!

00:33

Which would be easiest to remember?

1. Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune
2. My very excellent monkey just served unicorn noodles.
3. MVEMJSUN
4. Not sure.

01:51

How do you think can we remember which M is Mars and which M is Mercury?

Mercury

MY Very Excellent Monkey Just Served Unicorn NoodlesText

Mercury 

• The closest planet to the Sun

• Goes from VERY hot to VERY cold 

• The smallest planet in our solar system

Venus

My Very Excellent Monkey Just Served Unicorn Noodles

Venus

• The HOTTEST planet in our solar system
• Covered in volcanos 🌋 
• About the same size as Earth
• The brightest object in the night sky

What is the name of the planet that we live on?

1. Moon
2. America
3. World
4. Earth

Earth

My Very Excellent Monkey Just Served Unicorn Noodles

Earth

• Our home planet! 
• The only planet we know of that supports life, like plants, animals, and people
• Earth is the only planet that’s not too hot, and not too cold 

Earth is known as the Goldilocks planet.

Goldilocks needed her porridge to be not to hot, and not too cold, but juuuuust right. Living things are the same way. We need just the right conditions to survive.

Our Moon

• The Moon revolves around the Earth

• Our moon’s gravity is what causes the ocean’s tides
  
• It also affects our climate and our seasons
  

Do you know what gravity is?

Mars

My Very Excellent Monkey Just Served unicorn Noodles

Mars

• Known as the red planet
  
• Sometimes appears red in the night sky
• Half the size of Earth
• Has 2 moons
• We have sent robots called rovers to Mars to explore and take pictures for us

A view of Venus in the night sky

A view of Mars in the night sky

Some planets are so bright, you don’t need a telescope to see them!

Let’s see if you can remember the order of the first 4 planets using our pneumonic trick, My

Let’s see if you can remember the order of the first 4 planets using our pneumonic trick.

On the next slide, Drag and Drop the picture of each planet to its matching memory word from our pneumonic, My Very Excellent Monkey…

Example

My

Very

Excellent

Monkey

Great! Now only 4 planets to go

Just- Jupiter

Served- Saturn

Unicorn- Uranus

Noodles- Neptune

Jupiter

• The largest planet in our solar system
  
• A gas giant, which means it is a large planet that is made of gases, rather than solid ground like Earth
• Has a giant storm , known as the Great Red Spot
• Jupiter has at least 79 moons

Jupiter

My Very Excellent Monkey Just Served Unicorn Noodles

Saturn

• Second largest planet
  
• Large visible rings surround Saturn
• Rings are made of dust, ice, and rock particles
• Another gas giant

Saturn

 My Very Excellent Monkey Just Served Unicorn Noodles

Uranus

My Very Excellent Monkey Just Served Unicorn Noodles

Uranus

• The only planet that is tilted on its side
  
• Also has rings, but much smaller than Saturn’s ring system
• Uranus is an ice giant, which are planets that have a rocky surface covered in frozen and flowing liquids
• Methane gas in the atmosphere (sky) gives Uranus a blue appearance

Methane gas is in the natural gas used to power gas stoves

Neptune

My Very Excellent Monkey Just Served Unicorn Noodles

Neptune

• The furthest planet from the sun
  
• The coldest planet 🥶 
  
• Like Uranus, Neptune has methane in the atmosphere 
• A deep blue color 
• Has a thick windy atmosphere 

Just

Served

Unicorn

Noodles

Am I forgetting someone?

You may have heard of a ninth planet  named Pluto. Pluto is no longer considered one of the 8 planets in our solar system

Dwarf Planets

• Pluto is now classified as a Dwarf Planet
  
• Dwarf planets are much smaller than the other planets, even smaller than our moon
  
• Many other dwarf planets have been discovered, some even closer to Earth than Pluto!
  

Do you think Pluto should still be considered a planet? What about the other dwarf planets?

 Sun

Let’s see if we can remember the order of the planets from the Sun. Match the name of the planet to each planet below. 

Venus

Mars

Mercury 

Saturn

Earth

Neptune

Jupiter

Uranus

Which planet is your favorite?

Let’s draw our favorite planets! Here is a demonstration for drawing the Earth, but we can color it different to make it any planet we want.

Create your own planet if you want!

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