A means of integrating both the exploration of space as well as the celestial bodies themselves, is to have students become astronauts. Have each student create a NASA, or official space-travel badge, at the beginning of the lesson. After they pin them on, teach about what astronauts do, how they explore and where they have gone, such as landing on the moon. Proceed to travel to the sun, teach about our source of light and living organisms and how it is a star itself. Continue to the moon and teach about how it moves around the earth as our planet moves around the sun. Bring the students back home and have them write about what they have seen.
Ask the students what things or objects give off light. From there, continue to two things that emit light, such as the sun and the moon. Differentiate between the two, teaching how the sun gives off light, while the moon only reflects it. Discuss how the sun is a star and how there are millions of other stars out there, all giving off the same kind of light as the sun. Talk about how light travels to earth from stars and how it may reach us thousands of years after it was given off. Have the children draw pictures of the light that comes from the sun.
Discuss with the children how the moon and sun change positions around the earth, and how the day changes in to night depending on this. Refer to the Sun Moon Map (in the resources section) and print out handouts displaying it. Have the children color in what is night and what is day. Talk with them about time zones in relation to the sun, and how it can be daylight in Australia when it is night in North America.
While the moon and sun appear tiny in the sky, teach the children that the distance the two bodies are from us makes them seem smaller. Hand out rulers to students and have them measure the same object, such as an apple on the desk, from different distances by closing one eye and holding the ruler vertically. Have the students announce to the class their measurements. Discuss the results and teach the children how this compares to the sun and the moon and their sizes in relation to the earth.