All about our

Solar System

One morning in Science class, Mrs. Fernandez was teaching a lesson on the Solar System. She was really nice and reminded Max of his mom. She gave the best hugs, but her lessons were just so boring. Mrs. Fernandez didn't like Science very much and it showed! She just stood up in front of the class talking and writing on the chalk board.

Today was just like every other day in science class. Mrs. Fernandez stood up at the front of the classroom like she was a robot. Which was a shame because Max really loved Science and he especially loved learning about the Solar System. He wished Mrs. Fernandez would plan a more exciting lesson.

Max started getting sleepy. He looked around the classroom and noticed that all of his classmates were not paying attention. Some were writing notes while others were drawing pictures. As Max began slowly falling asleep, he thought it would be so cool if there was some way he and his two best friends, Sara Jean and Will, could travel into space.

It worked!

THis is so cool!

Guys, where are we?

While Max was asleep, he started dreaming. He saw his two friends Sara Jean and WIll were in outer space with him. Max yelled, "Hey guys, you are in my dream! We are in outer space!" "It is so pretty up here. I wish we could have class up here." Sara Jean said. "Yes, that would be much better than sitting in class." Will stated.

As they continued to travel through space, they came across a large green ship. They began to get really nervous.

"Hopefully that isn't an alien spaceship," said Max.

"I don't what to be abducted by aliens and taken back to their home," cried Sara Jean.

The closer the ship got to the students, the more nervous they became. Then all of a sudden their fear subsided.

"What could she be doing here?" Will cried.

"Mrs. Fernandez? What are you doing here?" Max asked. "I am here to be your tour guide as we travel through space!" She exclaimed.

"Now I know I must be dreaming," Max thought to himself.

"Let's not waste any time! Come on kids, jump in the ship." Mrs. Fernandez shouted. The three students looked at one another in surprise. They didn't waste any time and did just as she had asked.

"I think we should buckle our seat belts." Sara Jean said.

Just like that the students and their teacher zoomed through space ready for their great adventure.

"I am so glad we were able to come here because today we are going to talk about the Solar System and the difference between stars and planets." said Mrs. Fernandez.

Sara Jean and Will began to express their excitement about what lay ahead. Quickly the excitement turned into an argument.

"No Sara Jean the Sun is not a Star its a planet," said Will.

"Will, you are a billion times wrong, yes it is," Sara Jean exclaimed!!

Then all of a sudden the ship started rocking back and forth. Planets and stars began zooming by the ship, closely missing them.

Their argument had caused the Sun to lose its gravitational pull and all the planets had spun out of order.

Sara Jean looked at Will and began to cry, "Now what are we going to do? This is a mess!"

Mrs. Fernandez tried to calm the students down and told them not to worry. "This has happened before, and I know exactly what we need to do. In order to get the planets back in the correct order, you must solve a few math problems."

"We are going to start by putting the first three planets closest to the Sun back in order. Who can tell me what those planets are," Mrs. Fernandez asked.

Max thought about it and remembered that the first three planets closest to the Sun were Earth, Mercury, and Venus. He couldn't remember which planet was closest to the Sun, Mercury or Venus. He knew that Earth was the third planet closest to the Sun, but he just wasn't sure which plant was first and which planet was second. He ask Sara Jean and Will if they knew of any tricks to help him remember the order of the planets.

My Very Excellent Mother Just Sent Us Nachos

"My mom taught me a little trick last year to help me remember the order of the planets. She thought it was so funny too, because she doesn't even like nachos," said Sara Jean. "What are you talking about Sara Jean," Max said.

"Well she taught me this little saying, My Very Excelent Mother Just Sent Us Nachos." Sara Jean said with a little giggle. "How is that going to help us," Will said.

"Each word in the sentence starts with the same letter that the corresponding planets start with. My for Mercury, Very for Venus, Excelent for Earth, Mother for Mars, Just for Jupiter, Sent for Saturn, Us for Uranus, and Nachos for Neptue.,

"Oh I get it, so the closest planet to the Sun is Mercury, then Venus, and then Earth.' said Max.

"That's right," said Mrs. Fernandez.

"Now lets see about getting them back in order. All we need to do is solve our first problem. The Sun loves helping others but without its gravity it feels useless. First, we need to determine how much bigger Earth is than Mercury. If Earth's diameter is 7,926 miles and Mercury's diameter is 3,031, what is the difference in diameter between the two planets?"

Mercury

Venus

Earth

Sara Jean thought for a moment while she remembered the strategies her teacher taught her in class. She remembered in order to determine the difference between two objects you must subtract one from the other. So that is exactly what Sara Jean did. She took Mercury's diameter from Earth's diameter and came up with the number 4,895.

"You are correct Sara Jean," Mrs. Fernandez said.

All of a sudden things started shifting and changing. Again, the small spaceship started to rock back and forth, and the first three planets closets to the Sun were restored back in the correct order.