NASA Jet Propulsion Lab: Reading, Writing, and Rings I

Detail Page «

Detail Page

published by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
technical implementer: the Jet Propulsion Laboratory

This is a two-week cross-curricular unit for Grades 1-2 on Saturn and its rings. It integrates reading, writing, art, and science to provide a multi-sensory exploration of the structure of Saturn and its place in our Solar System. Children will draw and write to express their knowledge, read picture books about the Solar System, create outdoor scale models of the distance between Earth and Saturn, design a 3D physical model of Saturn and its moons, and more. The resource is almost completely turn-key and includes detailed lesson plans, pedagogical support, assessments, printable lab notebooks, warm-up questions, and background information. Each lesson draws on data from NASA's Cassini mission as its factual basis.

Editor's Note: This is one of the best resources we have found for teaching space science in the primary grades. Children's picture books provide a framework for the entire curriculum, allowing kids a meaningful basis to understand scale, comparative size, and planetary composition. Students demonstrate knowledge in a wide variety of ways: writing, group discussion, modeling, drawing, and simple data recording. See Related Materials for a similar unit on Saturn for Grades 3-4, also developed by JPL.

https://www.nasa.gov/stem-content/cassini-huygens-reading-writing-...

Subjects	Levels	Resource Types
Astronomy - Astronomy Education = Curricula - Solar System = Saturn - Space Exploration = Robotic Exploration Education Practices - Technology = Multimedia	- Elementary School	- Instructional Material = Activity = Interactive Simulation = Lesson/Lesson Plan = Problem/Problem Set = Unit of Instruction - Assessment Material - Audio/Visual = Image/Image Set

Appropriate Courses	Categories	Ratings
- Physical Science	- Lesson Plan - Activity - Laboratory - Assessment - New teachers	Currently 0.0/5 Want to rate this material? Login here!

Intended Users:: Educator
Administrator
Formats:: application/pdf
image/gif
text/html
Access Rights:: Free access
Restriction:: © 2004 California Institute of Technology
Keywords:: JPL, Jet Propulsion Lab, Saturn's moon, Titan, missions, modeling, modeling Saturn, planets, rings of Saturn, solar system, space exploration, space missions
Record Cloner:: Metadata instance created November 6, 2012 by Caroline Hall
Record Updated:: February 23, 2025 by Lyle Barbato

Post a new comment on this item

AAAS Benchmark Alignments (2008 Version)

1. The Nature of Science

1B. Scientific Inquiry

K-2: 1B/P3. Describing things as accurately as possible is important in science because it enables people to compare their observations with those of others.

1C. The Scientific Enterprise

K-2: 1C/P1. Everybody can do science and invent things and ideas.
K-2: 1C/P2. In doing science, it is often helpful to work with a team and to share findings with others. All team members should reach their own individual conclusions, however, about what the findings mean.

4. The Physical Setting

4A. The Universe

3-5: 4A/E4. The earth is one of several planets that orbit the sun, and the moon orbits around the earth.

11. Common Themes

11B. Models

K-2: 11B/P2. A model of something is different from the real thing but can be used to learn something about the real thing.

11D. Scale

K-2: 11D/P1. Things in nature and things people make have very different sizes, weights, ages, and speeds.

12. Habits of Mind

12B. Computation and Estimation

K-2: 12B/P1. Use whole numbers in ordering, counting, identifying, measuring, and describing objects and events.

12D. Communication Skills

K-2: 12D/P1. Describe and compare real-world objects in terms of number, shape, texture, size, weight, color, and motion.
K-2: 12D/P2. Draw pictures that portray some features of the thing being described.

This resource is part of a Physics Front Topical Unit.

Topic: Astronomy
Unit Title: Astronomy Resources for the K-8 Classroom

Want to do a unit on Saturn, but can't sacrifice Language Arts time? This two-week unit integrates reading, writing, art, and science to provide a wonderful multi-sensory exploration of Saturn and its rings. It's completely turn-key with detailed lessons, warm-up questions, printable lab notebooks, content support, assessment, and more. All lessons are based on data provided by NASA's Cassini mission to the outer planets.

Links to Units:

Physical Sciences K-8 Astronomy Resources for the K-8 Classroom Unit

ComPADRE is beta testing Citation Styles!

Record Link

<a href="https://www.compadre.org/precollege/items/detail.cfm?ID=12464">Jet Propulsion Laboratory. NASA Jet Propulsion Lab: Reading, Writing, and Rings I. Washington: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2004.</a>

AIP Format

(National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, 2004), WWW Document, (https://www.nasa.gov/stem-content/cassini-huygens-reading-writing-and-rings-1-2/).

AJP/PRST-PER

NASA Jet Propulsion Lab: Reading, Writing, and Rings I (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, 2004), <https://www.nasa.gov/stem-content/cassini-huygens-reading-writing-and-rings-1-2/>.

APA Format

NASA Jet Propulsion Lab: Reading, Writing, and Rings I. (2004). Retrieved May 25, 2025, from National Aeronautics and Space Administration: https://www.nasa.gov/stem-content/cassini-huygens-reading-writing-and-rings-1-2/

Chicago Format

Jet Propulsion Laboratory. NASA Jet Propulsion Lab: Reading, Writing, and Rings I. Washington: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2004. https://www.nasa.gov/stem-content/cassini-huygens-reading-writing-and-rings-1-2/ (accessed 25 May 2025).

MLA Format

NASA Jet Propulsion Lab: Reading, Writing, and Rings I. Washington: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2004. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 25 May 2025 <https://www.nasa.gov/stem-content/cassini-huygens-reading-writing-and-rings-1-2/>.

BibTeX Export Format

@misc{ Title = {NASA Jet Propulsion Lab: Reading, Writing, and Rings I}, Publisher = {National Aeronautics and Space Administration}, Volume = {2025}, Number = {25 May 2025}, Year = {2004} }

Refer Export Format

%T NASA Jet Propulsion Lab: Reading, Writing, and Rings I %D 2004 %I National Aeronautics and Space Administration %C Washington %U https://www.nasa.gov/stem-content/cassini-huygens-reading-writing-and-rings-1-2/ %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Electronic Source %D 2004 %T NASA Jet Propulsion Lab: Reading, Writing, and Rings I %I National Aeronautics and Space Administration %V 2025 %N 25 May 2025 %9 application/pdf %U https://www.nasa.gov/stem-content/cassini-huygens-reading-writing-and-rings-1-2/

Disclaimer: ComPADRE offers citation styles as a guide only. We cannot offer interpretations about citations as this is an automated procedure. Please refer to the style manuals in the Citation Source Information area for clarifications.

Citation Source Information

The AIP Style presented is based on information from the AIP Style Manual.

The APA Style presented is based on information from APA Style.org: Electronic References.

The Chicago Style presented is based on information from Examples of Chicago-Style Documentation.

The MLA Style presented is based on information from the MLA FAQ.

This resource is stored in a shared folder.

You must login to access shared folders.