We have come to an end in our Solar System topic, but not before we investigated the relative sizes of the planets. This was a huge task and a great team effort!

First, we watched a video about the size and scale of the planets. Then we extracted relevant information from the internet and recorded what we found in a table…

 

 

Next, we learned about scale in maths and used the internet again to help us scale down the planets to sizes we could work with. Then we calculated their scaled down diameters (this is how a circle is measured). We found out that the radius of  a circle is half the diameter and we needed to know this measure to be able to draw our planets. Again, we recorded our measures in a table and rounded the numbers (using our rounding decimal skills!) to make them easier to work with…

 

 

After all that, it was time to get hold of a maths compass! We found this VERY tricky to start with however, by the end of the lesson, most of us were able to draw at least one planet to scale, using the maths compass…

 

 

Next up, we cut out our planets and painted them…

 

 

 

Then we lined up our planets to compare their relative sizes. Look how tiny Earth is compared the Gas Giants!

 

 

You can see our model Solar System outside our classroom!