The problem with pluto

The Problem with Pluto by David Hill

SJ Level 3 Feb 2012

WALT: Use a cline graphic organiser to order words with similar meanings

WALT: create an acrostic phrase

There are lots of different words that describe the comparative (to compare) size of an object.

Use this cline scale to find the words which indicate size and fit them along the scale (click to edit the image)

People used this acrostic phrase to remember the order of the planets: My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nine Pies. Now that Pluto is no longer an official planet create your own acrostic sentence to remember the order of the planets.

Letter	Planet	Original Phrase	Your Creation
M	Mercury	My	Many
V	Venus	Very	Volcanoes
E	Earth	Excellent	Erupt
P	Mars	Mother	Mostly
J	Jupiter	Just	Just
S	Saturn	Served	Some
U	Uranus	Us	Under
N	Neptune	Nine	Nine
P	Pluto	Pies	PM

3. Write a paragraph summary explaining if Pluto is a planet, and why/why

Pluto is a planet like ever other planet and pluto is well and alive   

Travel on a research craft heading to the uncharted limits of the Solar System. Learn how Pluto is different from the other planets and discover the challenges of working out just what a planet should be.

The Problem with Pluto takes a modern look at our once familiar Solar System. It presents a lively debate over Pluto’s planetary status, a debate that had been looming from the moment Pluto was discovered, over 70 years ago.

If you could vote on Pluto’s status, how would you make up your mind? What are the characteristics that all good planets should have? Lucy and her teenage friends, who live on various planets in the Solar System, think they should know the answer but find that it’s not so easy. Lucy’s mother, who is a scientist, is given the job to settle the argument once and for all.

The last decade has seen some major new discoveries within the Solar System and in response scientists have had to rethink their views. Science, history and sentiment all played a part in reorganising our Solar System. But, as Lucy comes to realise, it’s not really a question of what’s right or wrong, but, in looking for the answer, that we discover what’s important after all.