An asteroid is mainly rock or metal. Most are in the belt between Mars and Jupiter. A comet contains ice and dust. Near the Sun, escaping gas and dust can form a bright cloud and tails. A shooting star is a meteor, not a star or a comet. Use location and material as clues. Safety: Use drawings only; no meteor watching trip or physical impact model. Stop: Stop at paper classification. Do not collect, heat, strike, or drop rocks.

Materials: Paper; Pencil 1. Draw the Sun, Mars, a dotted asteroid belt, and Jupiter in that order. Label this an order diagram, not a distance or size model. 2. Write six case boxes: A, rocky body orbiting in the main belt; B, icy body near the Sun with escaping gas and a tail; C, small rock still in space; D, brief light streak when a small body enters air; E, surviving piece on the ground; F, Ceres, a nearly round body orbiting in the main belt that has not cleared its orbital neighbourhood. 3. Label A asteroid, B comet, C meteoroid, D meteor, E meteorite, and F dwarf planet. Draw arrows from C to D to E. Mark E as possible, not certain. 4. Cover the labels. Retell C–E using all three words. Explain how B differs from D. Add Ceres to the belt diagram. Done: Finish the six labels, the three-stage arrow chain, and one comet-versus-meteor sentence. Proof: Keep the labelled cases and diagram. Note any labels read aloud or supplied by an adult. Stop: Stop at paper classification. Do not collect, heat, strike, or drop rocks.