I live in the Milky Way!

This lesson plan is designed to create a book for students in the lower elementary grades to become away of their world.

The cover page: "I live in the Milky Way"... I used a cool star gazing clip art in the center.

First page: Hi, my name is _________________. Let's find out where I live!
Students can either draw a picture of themselves or take a photograph from home and glue it in the center.

Second page: I am in _______________ grade and my teacher is _________________. The students either draw their classmates or again use a photograph of their class here.

Third page: I go to _________________ school. Students draw a picture of their school or again take a photograph of them at school.

Fourth page:My school is on _________________ road. Draw a picture of the road with a school on it.

Fifth page: in the town of _______________________. I used a map of the town to photocopy and glue onto the center of this page. The students colored it in.

Sixth page: ____________ (name of town) is in _____________ county.
I photocopied a map and had the students color in the county with one color and the town with another color.

Seventh page: in the state of __________________. I photocopied the state with each one of the counties in it. I had the students color the county one color and then the other counties another color.

Eighth page: ______________ (name of the state) is one of the 50 states in the country called the United States of America. I had a worksheet with our 50 states and the students color our state one color and then rest one color.

Ninth page: The United States is part of a BIG continent called North America. I used a worksheet of NOrth America on the center here. The students colored North America one color and the rest another color.

Tenth page: North America can be found on the planet Earth. I used a picture of our globe with the continents on it. The students colored North America one color and the rest another color.

Eleventh page: The Earth moves around a big star that we call the sun. Our star system is called the Solar System because our sun's name is Sol. I had all the planets in order in the center of this page. The students colored the sun yellow and the other planets their correct colors.

Twelfth page: The solar system is part of a galaxy we call the Milky Way. (just like the candy). I used a worksheet I found for the galaxy and we colored in the Milky Way here.

Thirteenth page: When we remembered all of the names of the places where we are, my teacher, _________________, gave us a Milky Way candy to eat. The students get one little Milky Way candy nugget. The students do not have to eat them but unwrap it and glue the wrapper to the center of this page.

Fourteenth page: Learning can be a lot of fun, and it can taste good, too. The students got to draw a picture of themselves eating their chocolate. I have also taken pictures of them fingerpainting with chocolate pudding which we then glued on the center of this page!

I hope you enjoyed this activity! I used this as a social studies unit. Concentrating on one page at a time! We focused the lesson or teaching around the page for the day. For example: page one.... is a chance for the students to write their own names neatly. To practice cursive writing, to do manuscript properly on the lines, to work on first and last names. I always allowed them to practice before writing in their Milky Way journal books. We also practiced body awareness and our body parts. We play Simon Sez and touch our elbows, waist, ankles, wrist... so that when children are drawing a self-portrait they remember all their body parts!