Meteoroids, Meteorites, Meteors

Last Friday our classroom was on fire about the solar system and the objects in our system. 5th grade discover that there is more in our solar system than just planets. We learned about meteoroids, meteorites, and meteors along with asteroids. Before teaching this unit I really didn't know what these things were but now I have a full understanding of them all.
One question that really got my students thinking was; "Have you ever seen a shooting star?" Almost all of them had but they didn't know what it was. I was so excited to tell them. A shooting star is a meteor that is burning up in earth's atmosphere. (How cool is that)

So what is the next step in the learning process? (I have successfully had the students infer, now I have taught the material, next up is to do a hands on activity, right?)


I got out the stealwool, a lighter and away we went. As a class we created 3 meteor demonstarations. Here are a few pictures of our shooting star activity.

UP CLOSE

Make a wish!

Look at the ball of light.