Do Now  If you had to define what a “year” is, how would you define it?

Learning Target  Today I will develop a universal definition of a year.

Make a prediction…  Do you think every planet (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto) have the same length of year?  Why or why not?

Labeled Diagram  Planetary order and path around the sun.

What is a year?  You just diagrammed it.  1 year = 1 journey around the sun.

Planetary Data PlanetYear length (days) Mercury88 Venus224 Earth365 Mars687 Jupiter4,332 Saturn10,759 Uranus30,685 Neptune60,189 Pluto90,465 What is the trend?

Chart it out…  Bar graph the year lengths. Next to your graph, explain the trend in words. PlanetYear length (days) Mercury88 Venus224 Earth365 Mars687 Jupiter4,332 Saturn10,759 Uranus30,685 Neptune60,189 Pluto90,465

Your Definition:  Using what we have discovered about planetary years, write your own universal definition of a year – pretend you are explaining it to a younger student.

Exit Ticket:  How can our understanding of a year help us understand “seasons” – how do they relate to each other?

Do Now  Do you think every planet in our solar system has seasons? Why or why not?

Learning Target  Today I will research one planet in our solar system in order to compare it to Earth.

Guiding Questions  Does your planet have an atmosphere?  What is the temperature range on your planet? (Why?)  Could your planet support life? Why or why not?  Does your planet have moons? What is the definition of a moon?  Does your planet have “seasons”? Why or why not?  Make a compare/contrast chart (Venn Diagram, T- chart, etc.) and compare your planet with Earth in terms of what you researched.