Students work on a solar system project.

LEESBURG — Leesburg fifth graders have the opportunity to explore the solar system during science classes this quarter.

Students in Mrs. Kreider’s class kicked off their unit with a fun activity that had them saying, “Look how far away Neptune is! He’s all the way down the hallway by the bathrooms!”

Students had to measure the distance of the planets from the sun and create a scale model of the solar system. They worked together with a partner to measure the distance of their planet and represent it on a piece of adding tape. The students then took their learning out of their classroom “galaxy” and into the hallway. As they laid out their pieces of tape, students were amazed to realize just how large our solar system is and how small they are in comparison.