Objective:
The students will place objects in order according to their size.

Materials

• Object Printout (cut into pieces, so there is one object on each piece of paper)

• What's the Order? Worksheet

Procedure

1. Place the Object Printout pieces into a container and mix them up.  Have each student (or pairs of students) draw out a piece of paper.

2. Have the students work together to order the pieces of paper from what they believe is the smallest object to the biggest object.

3. Once the students have placed the papers in order, have a discussion about whether they are correct or not.  Many students will not know that the sun is actually much larger than the earth.  

4. Correct any papers that are out of order.

5. Pass the What's the Order? Worksheet out and have the students complete the sheet for reinforcement.

Other Lesson Ideas

1. Have a lesson on greater than and less than signs.  Use the size sun and the earth as a starting point - sun > earth.

2. Have a lesson on the number 1,000,000.  One million earths will fit into the size of the sun.  Use David Schwartz's book How Much is a Million? and the following link - Imagine the Universe.

3. Have a lesson on telling time.  Look in the paper to see what time the sun will rise and what time the sun will set.  Have the students make clocks with paper plates and depict these times on their clocks.