Nadia Higgins
INSIDE OUTER SPACE
Nadia Higgins
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Before & After
Reading Activities
Level: L
Word Count: 336
100th word: First pg. 10
Teaching Focus:
Text feature: Diagrams- How do the diagrams help you understand the information in the text?
Before Reading:
Building Academic Vocabulary and Background Knowledge
Before reading a book, it is important to set the stage for your child or student by using
pre-reading strategies. This will help them develop their vocabulary, increase their reading
comprehension, and make connections across the curriculum.
1. Read the title and look at the cover. Let’s make predictions about what this book will
be about.
2. Take a picture walk by talking about the pictures/photographs in the book. Implant
the vocabulary as you take the picture walk. Be sure to talk about the text features
such as headings, Table of Contents, glossary, bolded words, captions, charts/
diagrams, or Index.
3. Have students read the first page of text with you then have students read the
remaining text.
4. Strategy Talk – use to assist students while reading.
- Get your mouth ready
- Look at the picture
- Think…does it make sense
- Think…does it look right
- Think…does it sound right
- Chunk it – by looking for a part you know
5. Read it again.
6. After reading the book complete the activities below.
Content Area
Vocabulary
Use glossary words in a
sentence.
asteroid
astronomers
dwarf planets
orbit
solar system
spacecraft
After Reading:
Comprehension and Extension Activity
After reading the book, work on the following questions with your child or students in order to check their level of reading
comprehension and content mastery.
1. Why are dwarf planets covered with ice? (Infer)
2. Explain what it means to orbit. (Summarize)
3. Why was Pluto removed from the planet category? (Asking questions)
4. How many dwarf planets have currently been discovered? (Summarize)
Extension Activity
Scientists are sending a spacecraft called New Horizons to explore the dwarf planets in the Kuiper belt. Write a letter to a
NASA scientist explaining what you think they should do once they reach the Kuiper belt. What should they look for? Why
would looking for these things help people understand dwarf planets?
Table of Contents
A Shocking Decision
4
Three Rules for Dwarf Planets
8
Five Dwarf Planets, and Counting 14
Photo Glossary
22
Index24
Websites to Visit
24
About the Author
24
A Shocking Decision
In 2006, a group of astronomers
shocked the world. These space scientists
changed the way people thought about
our solar system.
Our Solar System
4
For years, tiny Pluto had been the ninth
planet from the Sun. But now, scientists
were finding other space objects that
seemed a lot like Pluto.
Pluto
5
Could they all be planets? No, a new
category was needed. Pluto and other
similar bodies were now dwarf planets.
Sorry, Pluto
For many, losing Pluto was
hard to take. But science is
full of big changes. Every
day, we learn more about
space. Scientists rethink
old ideas to fit new facts.
6
Pluto
7
Three Rules for
Dwarf Planets
Scientists have named five dwarf planets.
Each is smaller than a planet but bigger
than other space objects.
8
All five dwarf planets are smaller than Earth’s Moon.
Haumea
Makemake
Earth’s Moon:
Eris
Ceres
Pluto
Earth:
9
How do scientists know what counts as
a dwarf planet? They follow three rules.
First, a dwarf planet has to orbit, or
travel around, the Sun. Moons twirl
around planets. So they are not part of
this group.
Sun
10
Each planet follows its own path around
the Sun.
Second, a dwarf planet has to be
round. In space, only objects of certain
size form into balls. So a dwarf planet’s
roundness shows that it is over a
certain size.
How Round?
Some scientists say the
rules for dwarf planets
aren’t clear. For example,
what counts as round?
Dwarf planet Haumea is
shaped like an egg.
Haumea
11
Third, a dwarf planet shares its path
around the Sun with other objects. This
shows it’s not as big as a planet. A true
planet would not have other objects
share its orbit. True planets are so big
that all objects in their path are pulled
in by their gravity. 12
Both Pluto and Eris cross the orbit paths of other planets.
That shows they are dwarf planets.
13
Five Dwarf Planets,
and Counting
Dwarf planets share several traits with
planets. Because they orbit the Sun, they
have years. Each year equals one trip around
the Sun. They also spin like tops. One spin
equals one day. Most dwarf planets also
have moons.
14
DWARF PLANET FAST FACTS
Dwarf
Planet
Length of year
Length of day
(in Earth years) (in hours)
Number of
moons
5
9
0
Eris
557
26
1
Haumea
284
4
2
Makemake
306
22
0
Pluto
248
153
5
Ceres
15
Ceres is both a dwarf planet and the
largest asteroid. This rocky ball travels
in the asteroid belt between Mars and
Jupiter. Scientists think an ocean lies
under its surface.
16
Ceres is the smallest and closet dwarf planet. It is about
the size of the state of Texas.
17
The other four dwarf planets are far out
in the Kuiper belt. This region is about 40
times as far from the Sun as Earth. Out
here, one orbit takes hundreds of years.
18
It’s so cold this far from the Sun that
several kinds of ice cover these dwarf
planets. They shine in the distant sky.
19
New Horizons:
Spacecraft
20
The icy edges of our solar system
probably host hundreds of dwarf
planets. The spacecraft New Horizons
is on its way to the Kuiper belt. What
exciting new facts will it show us about
dwarf planets?
Half-Worlds
Dwarf planets may be
leftover pieces from
when the planets
formed. These mini
planets may teach us
more about the solar
system’s early days.
21
Photo Glossary
asteroid (AS-tuh-royd): An asteroid
is a small, rocky object that travels
around the Sun.
astronomers (uh-STRON-uh-muhrz):
Scientists who study outer space are
astronomers.
dwarf planets (DWAWRF PLAN-ihtz):
Round bodies that travel around a star
with other nearby objects.
22
orbit (AWR-biht): The path
something travels around a larger
object in space.
solar system (SOH-luhr SIHS-tuhm):
The solar system is made of a star and
all the planets and other space objects
that travel around it.
spacecraft (SPAYS-kraft): A
spacecraft is a spaceship that does
not need to have an astronaut
operating it.
23
Index
asteroid 16
day 6, 14
Kuiper belt 18, 21
moons 10, 14
New Horizons 20, 21
planets 6, 8, 10, 11, 14, 18, 19, 21
Pluto 5, 6
solar system 4, 21
Sun 5, 10, 12, 14, 18, 19
years 5, 14, 18
Websites
kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/
stories/spacescience/
www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/
k-4/stories/what-is-pluto-k4.html
www.planetary.org/explore/for-kids/
Meet The Author!
www.meetREMauthors.com
About the Author
Nadia Higgins is the author of more than 70 books for kids. She has
written about everything from ants to zombies, but space topics are
her very favorite. Higgins lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with her
husband and two daughters.
© 2015 Rourke Educational Media
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including
photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval
system without permission in writing from the publisher.
www.rourkeeducationalmedia.com
PHOTO CREDITS: Cover © Linda Brotkorb; page 4-5 © Orla, page
7 © Vadim Sadovski; page 9 courtesy of NASA, Earth image ©
Tristan3D; page 10 © Jurgen Ziewe, page 11, 13, 17 courtesy of
NASA; page 18-19 © fluidworkshop (image adapted); page 20
© NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/
Southwest Research Institute; page 21 © Johan Swanepoel; page 22
courtesy top photo NASA, middle photo NASA/JPL-Caltech, bottom
photo NASA; page 23 top © Jurgen Ziewe, middle © Orla, bottom ©
NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute
24
Edited by: Jill Sherman
Cover design and Interior design: by Nicola Stratford
nicolastratford.com
Library of Congress PCN Data
Dwarf Planets / Nadia Higgins
Also Available as:
(Inside Outer Space)
ISBN 978-1-62717-729-0 (hard cover)
ISBN 978-1-62717-851-8 (soft cover)
ISBN 978-1-62717-963-8 (e-Book)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2014935655
Rourke Educational Media
Printed in the United States of America, North Mankato, Minnesota
Dwarf Planets:
Pluto and the Lesser Planets
Five and counting! So far, astronomers have discovered five dwarf planets in
our solar system. Pluto, which was once thought of as the ninth planet, is today
classified as a dwarf planet. This book looks at the dwarf planets’ characteristics,
size, and orbital patterns, as well as the three rules scientists follow to identify
these tiny, round space objects. Every day new discoveries are being made. Who
knows how many dwarf planets we will find in the future! This book will allow
students to understand that patterns in the natural world can be observed, used to
describe phenomena, and used as evidence.
Books In This Series Include:
Comets and
Meteors
Dwarf Planets
Earth
Moon
Rocky Planets
Solar Systems
Giant Gas
Planets
Sun
Lives of Stars
The Universe
rourkeeducationalmedia.com