Mars

Mars is one of the smallest planets.  It is half the size of earth.  It is 4,225 miles around Mars. If Earth was the size of a soccer ball, Mars would be about the size of a golf ball. Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and is located between Earth and Jupiter.

 Mars is called the Red Planet. The surface of Mars looks red because of all the iron oxide in the soil.  Iron oxide is better known as rust!  Mars has a rocky, dusty surface, complete with clouds and dust storms that can cover the whole planet at once. The weather on Mars is very cold, with an average temperature of around 10 degrees Fahrenheit. During the Martian winter, the temperature gets even colder, and can drop to -94 degrees Fahrenheit. During the Martian winter, the planet has ice caps at the north and south poles like Earth does. Mars also has mountains, sandy deserts and many, many inactive volcanoes. Mars has the largest volcano in the solar system called Olympus Moons, which is over 82 miles tall, much higher than Mount Everest.  Humans could not breathe on Mars.

Mars is the fourth planet from the sun.  It is much further away from the Sun than Earth is.  It takes 687 Earth days to go around the sun.  A Martian day is a little longer than an Earth day, at 24 hours and 37 minutes.

Sources:

SoundFile

http://www.lessonplanspage.com

http://kids.nineplanets.org/

Photo from HubbleSite.