Where in the Air

A Fun Learning Activity

What Is This About?

This lesson is about air.
Air is all around Earth.
This air is called the atmosphere.
The atmosphere has layers.
Each layer is different.
Different things are found in each layer.

What Will Students Learn?

Students will learn the layers of air.
They will learn where each layer is.
They will learn what things live in each layer.

What Do You Need?

You need worksheets.
One worksheet for each student.
You need fact sheets too.
Each group gets a fact sheet.
The fact sheet tells about one thing.
Some fact sheets are easy.
Some fact sheets are harder.
You also need a picture.
The picture shows Earth's air layers.

Steps to Do This Activity

Step 1: Learn about the layers of air first.
You can watch a video.
You can do a fun warm-up game.

Step 2: Put students into small groups.
Two or three kids per group.

Step 3: Give each group one thing to study.
Maybe a bird.
Maybe a rocket.
Give them a fact sheet about it.
They will become experts on it!

Step 4: Groups read their fact sheet.
They write down facts on Part 1 of the worksheet.

Step 5: Each group tells the class what they learned.
Other students listen and write it down too.
This is Part 2 of the worksheet.

Step 6: Now everyone knows about many things.

Step 7: Students draw a big picture.
The picture shows all the air layers.
They put each thing in the right layer.
This is Part 3 of the worksheet.

Facts About Things in the Air

Here are some things found in the air.
Each one has a height.
Each one is in a certain layer.

Armstrong Line — 62,000 feet high.
This is in the stratosphere.
Above this line, liquids boil at body heat!
People need special suits here.

Birds — Fly at many different heights.
This is in the troposphere.
Birds fly high or low.
It depends on their size.

Clouds — Made of tiny water drops.
Found in the troposphere and low stratosphere.
Different clouds float at different heights.

Airplane (big jet) — Flies very high.
This is in the troposphere.
It carries people and things far away.
People need oxygen up this high.

Communication Satellite — Very, very high up!
This is in the thermosphere and beyond.
It sends signals for phones and TV.

ER-2 Plane — Flies high and slow.
This is in the stratosphere.
Scientists use it for special studies.

Fighter Jet (F-35) — Very fast plane.
This is in the stratosphere.
Pilots wear special suits.
The suits help with strong forces.

Hang Glider — No motor at all!
This is in the troposphere.
People glide through the air.

Helicopter — Has spinning blades called rotors.
This is in the troposphere.
It can go straight up and down.

Hot Air Balloon — Filled with hot air.
This is in the troposphere.
Hot air is lighter than cool air.
This makes it float up.

Hubble Space Telescope — Very far up!
This is in the thermosphere.
It takes pictures of space.

International Space Station — People live here!
This is in the thermosphere.
Astronauts do science experiments.

James Webb Space Telescope — Super far away!
This is beyond the exosphere.
It sees very far into space.

Lunar Gateway — Very, very far!
This is beyond the exosphere.
It will orbit the Moon.

Meteors (Shooting Stars) — Small rocks from space.
This is in the mesosphere.
They burn up when they enter our air.

Model Rocket — Small rocket you can build.
This is in the troposphere.

Mount Everest — Tallest mountain on Earth.
This is in the troposphere.

Ozone Layer — A special part of air.
This is in the stratosphere.
It blocks bad rays from the Sun.

Parachute Jumper — Falls slowly with a parachute.
This is mostly in the troposphere.
Air slows down the fall.

Small Airplane — Carries just a few people.
This is in the troposphere.

Small Drone — Flies low to the ground.
This is in the troposphere.
It can take pictures or carry small packages.

Sounding Rocket — Carries science tools up high.
This is in the thermosphere.
It does not go all the way to orbit.

Weather — Rain, wind, and snow happen here.
This is in the troposphere.

Weather Balloon — Collects weather information.
This is in the stratosphere.
It pops when it gets too high.

X-57 Maxwell — A plane that runs on batteries.
This is in the troposphere.
NASA made it to test electric power.

X-59 QueSST — A quiet supersonic plane.
This is in the stratosphere.
NASA is testing if it can fly fast without a loud boom.

The Layers of Air

Troposphere

This is the layer closest to Earth.
It goes up about 5 miles.
This is where weather happens.
This is where clouds float.
Air gets colder higher up.
Most of the air in our sky is here.

Stratosphere

This layer is higher up.
It goes from 5 to 31 miles high.
The ozone layer is here.
It blocks harmful Sun rays.
Air gets warmer as you go higher here.
The air is calm and still.

Mesosphere

This layer is even higher.
It goes from 31 to 53 miles high.
It is the coldest layer of all!
Shooting stars burn up here.
We don't know a lot about this layer yet.

Thermosphere

This is a very high layer.
It goes from 53 to 372 miles high.
It has very little air.
It is the hottest layer!
But you would feel cold here.
There are too few air bits to warm you.
Space begins near the top of this layer.