How do the Earth, Moon and Sun move in relation to each other? What other objects make up our solar system? What is a galaxy, and how does ours - the Milky Way - compare to other galaxies we know about? We'll explore these questions together as we prepare to welcome visitors from other parts of the cosmos.

How do layers in rock help us understand Earth's history? What evidence do we have that Earth has changed over time? In this unit, we'll be looking into our planet's past to prepare a strategy for exploring other planets!

Now we'll explore the Earth as we know it today, specifically how the landscape is formed and shaped. Why do the mountains in Missouri look so different from the Rockies? Why is our soil brown, while soil in other places is red? How do the rivers shape our region? And most importantly: how do these processes impact us? Could we have an earthquake here? A volcanic eruption? Together we'll create plans for predicting and reacting to natural hazards in different parts of the world.

In this unit, we'll explore Earth's hydrosphere - the water that makes up our oceans, rivers, clouds and precipitation. We'll observe the states of water and the forces that cause it to move from one to another. Then we'll connect these phenomena to conditions on Earth that result in weather and climate, and try our hands at being meteorologists, predicting and reporting on weather to come.

It's easy to feel at the mercy of nature, especially in Missouri where tornadoes and flooding can be a serious concern. But nature is at our mercy, too; we'll talk about the ways that human activities impact the environment, both locally and on a global scale. We'll then create an educational experience to tell others what we learned and recommend solutions.