Planet Walk

As a culmination to our solar system science unit, Westgate’s 3rd graders were able to  “walk across our solar system!”  This fun activity helped the students better understand the scale of our solar system and the distance between the planets.  To accomplish this goal, we walked along Dwyer to Campbell, using the number of our steps to simulate the planets’ distances from each other and from the sun.  The students will also be shared some of their planet research at each “planet stop” before returning to Westgate.  Enjoy the pictures below.  

Here's the scale we used:

One step (approximately 1 yard) = 3,600,000 miles
Westgate represents the Sun

·      From the Sun to Mercury, we needed to walk 10 paces.

·      From Mercury to Venus, we needed to walk 9 paces.

·      From Venus to Earth, we needed to walk 7 paces.

·      From Earth to Mars, we needed to walk 14 paces.

·      From Mars to the Asteroid Belt, we needed to walk 47.5 paces.

·      From the Asteroid Belt to Jupiter, we needed to walk 47.5 paces.

·      From Jupiter to Saturn, we needed to walk 112 paces.

·      From Saturn to Uranus, we needed to walk 249 paces.

·      From Uranus to Neptune, we needed to walk 281 paces.