Image of landscape on Mars
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Nonfiction Connection,

Life on Mars

By Meg Richardson
From the December 2024 / January 2025 Issue

People don’t live on Mars yet, but maybe someday they will. What would that be like?

Lexile® measures: 570L
Featured Skill: Compare Two Texts,
Vocabulary: oxygen, gravity, magnets, domes
Topic: Science,
Common Core Standards
  • Common Core Standards
    RI.2.4 Vocabulary RI.2.9 Compare two texts on a similar topic RI.2.10 Read grade-2-appropriate informational text SL.2 Participate in conversations about grade-2 texts
  • Science Focus
    The Planets
TEKS Standards
  • Social Studies
    (13) Science, technology, and society. The student understands how science and technology have affected life, past and present. The student is expected to: (B) explain how science and technology have affected the ways in which people meet basic needs. (16) Social studies skills. The student communicates in written, oral, and visual forms. The student is expected to: (A) describe the order of events by using designations of time periods such as historical and present times; (B) apply vocabulary related to chronology, including past, present, and future

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Mars

If people lived on Mars, they would see red rocks and dust in every direction. Huge mountains and volcanoes would rise into the sky.  

There isn’t enough oxygen in the air on Mars for people. They would need oxygen tanks to breathe. 

Mars is also freezing. It is usually 85 degrees below zero! People would need to wear a spacesuit to keep warm outside. 

There is not as much gravity on Mars as there is on Earth. People might use magnets or weights to keep things from floating away. 

Life Indoors

On Mars, people would have to live inside heated domes. A dome is like a big bubble. Oxygen would be piped into the domes so people could breathe. 

Mars doesn’t have any plants. People would need to grow their own food. They could bring plants from Earth and grow them inside the domes. 

Scientists are making plans to send the first people to Mars in the 2030s. 

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video (1)
Slideshows (1)
Activities (2)
Skills Activities
Answer Key (1)
video (1)
Slideshows (1)
Activities (2) Download All Quizzes and Activities
Skills Activities
Answer Key (1)

About the Story

Science focus 

The planets

Step-by-Step Lesson Plan
Download the Lesson Plan

New Kid on Mars and Life on Mars

 

Implementation

  • Small group; whole group; independent reading

Pairings and Text Connections

Before-Reading Resources

  • Text Preview Bookmarks 
    (5 minutes) Students can use the fiction bookmark to preview the fiction and the nonfiction bookmark for the nonfiction.
  • Play the Vocabulary Slideshow 
    (5 minutes) Familiarize students with vocabulary they will see.

Suggested Reading Focus

Comprehension, fiction and nonfiction (30 minutes)

  • First, read and discuss the fiction story. 
  • Next, read the Nonfiction Connection and watch the nonfiction video “Blast Off to Mars.” 
  • Get kids thinking more about fiction and nonfiction with our special Fiction and Nonfiction skills page. We created it to help kids compare and contrast these two kinds of texts. 

After-Reading: Skills Practice

(15 minutes for each activity)

  • Quiz: Comprehension check (We also offer a lower-level quiz.) 
  • Cal’s Point of View: Students can write about what happened in the story from Cal’s perspective.
  • What Is the Setting?
  • Story Map
  • Character Traits

After-Reading Video

  • Watch the video “Blast Off to Mars” for information about what life on Mars might be like. 

After-Reading Text Comparisons 

(15 minutes for each activity)

  • Space Chart: Compare the themed texts in the issue.

Text-to-Speech