Topic 22 · How to sort the solar system — the question types, for your rulings

Skill: course-build → write-mcqs → write-explanation, design-check-sequence @ cca3af6

Topic 22 — How to sort the solar system — the PP100's question types, with their exemplars

What this page is. James reads a bank as its question TYPES first (vault: A bank is reviewed as its question types first, one exemplar each). Under the Grade 5 standing brief the bank is built straight away (55 items in content/G5T22_pp100_bank.py); this sheet is the way in. Each type line says what the stem asks, what the four options (or the accept list) are, and prints one exemplar in full. Tags follow depth of reasoning — easy = one fact or a one-step sort; medium = the rule applied to a fresh case, a reason picked, a drawn card or row read; hard = a term or number produced, two ideas chained, or a claim judged by its correct reason — and rise with the atom's position (SPA5-040 mostly easy; SPA5-044 medium and hard).

Rulings already applied. Four options on every MCQ (fixed sets: the four kinds "a planet / a moon / an asteroid / a comet"; the stuff set "rock / ice mixed with dust / hot glowing gas / water"); no option bundles a verdict with its reason (the one bank claim is "Tobias is wrong … What is the correct reason?" with four single-statement reasons; the second documented belief is met by a plain transfer item, not a claim); every stem a positive question of at most two sentences unless tagged hard; every item a fresh instance (no row of eight on a board, no Uma or her poster, no spacecraft close-up "a few city blocks" wide, no Oregon field in 2020, no Vera at sunset or Venus as the bright point, no Europa, Vesta or Halley's Comet — the freshness grep in the build record prints 0 hits); "inner planet" / "outer planet" recalled by MCQ (two-word terms, RECALL_BY_MCQ); the typed keys are asteroid, comet, moon, rock, ice, the Sun and the number 4; key-tell checker KEY TELLS: 0 of 118 MCQs flagged.

The bar list (real things a generated item must never use): meteors, "shooting stars", meteorites (grades 6-8; the register defers them — not even a distractor); Pluto and "dwarf planet" (not in the register; a question for James); "the asteroid belt" as a NAME (say "a wide ring between Mars and Jupiter"); "gravity" in any form (Earth's pull, never said here at all); "orbits" as a verb for a young reader where "travels around" will do; Phobos or any lumpy moon as a moon example (the sort's moon is "a round ball"); Ceres (round, so it would break the asteroid line); a bright point described as "a star" in any key; "Venus" as the bright evening object (the lesson's own scene); a comet "burning" (the Sun HEATS the comet; nothing burns).

The eleven types (fewer would be better; the five atoms each need their fact forms, and the capstone needs the sort, the drawn card, the claim and the typed label)

Type	Items	Atom	Tags	Form	The stem asks…	The options / the accept	Exemplar scene
1	4	040	easy	MCQ	what every planet travels around; the shape every planet has; what "its own orbit" means; how many large balls travel on one planet's orbit	the Sun / Earth / the Moon / Jupiter; a round ball / a lumpy rock / a flat plate / a long streak; one / two / eight / thousands	a new planet found far past Neptune
2	6	040	easy, medium	MCQ	which of four named things is a planet; which is true of a named planet; which fact keeps the Moon from being a planet; what makes tiny Mercury a planet	four named things, or four single statements	Uranus, cold and far; a ball whose path thousands of rocks share
3	6	041	easy, medium	MCQ	which of four named planets is an inner (outer) planet; which planet could a described one be; the circled planet on a drawn row	four planet names; four statements for the drawn row	the gray row with the 2nd / 7th disc circled
4	5	041	easy, medium	MCQ	what the four nearest are called; what every inner (outer) planet is made of; where a lander can touch down; what is under Neptune's clouds	the inner planets / the outer planets / the ringed planets / the moons; the stuff set; an inner planet / an outer planet / any / none	a rocket sent to Neptune
5	7	042	easy, medium	MCQ, the stuff set	what an asteroid is made of, travels around, where most are, its size, its shape, the biggest ones; what tells an asteroid from Mars	the stuff set; four places; four sizes; four shapes	a Houston museum piece; a Hawaii telescope; a rocket sent to the asteroids
6	7	043	easy, medium	MCQ, the stuff set	what a comet is made of, travels around, when it grows its tail, what the tail is made of; what happens near the Sun; the correct reason for the tail; why a comet faded	the stuff set; four times; four single-statement reasons	a comet over Denver; over Maine; over Chicago in 1997
7	3	044	easy, medium	MCQ	which two questions sort an object; which object makes its own light; which question tells a moon from a planet	four question pairs; four objects; four questions	a ball around Neptune beside a ball around the Sun
8	5	042, 043, 044	medium, hard	MCQ, the kinds set	a described object: which kind is it (a lump of rock as wide as a town between Mars and Jupiter; ice and dust on a stretched orbit; Titan around Saturn; a comet far from the Sun with no tail; a round ball of ice and rock around Jupiter)	a planet / a moon / an asteroid / a comet	Titan; an Arizona telescope
9	4	044	medium	MCQ, drawn card, the kinds set	an orbit drawing (the thing in the middle, a dashed circle, the object on it): which kind is the object	a planet / a moon / an asteroid / a comet	a round ball around Neptune; a lump with a tail around the Sun; a lumpy rock around the Sun; a round ball around the Sun
10	7	041, 042, 043, 044	hard	typed	the number of inner planets; the name for a described lump of rock / lump of ice and dust / ball around Jupiter; the stuff an asteroid (a comet) is made of; the one object that makes its own light	4; asteroid; comet; moon; rock; ice; the Sun — each with article, plural and child spellings	fresh descriptions, no option set
11	1	044	hard	MCQ	Tobias's claim is wrong: what is the correct reason	four single-statement reasons	Tobias, the register's belief

Hard because — type 10: the word or number is produced, not picked. Type 11: the register's belief is judged by its correct reason, which needs "no light of its own" held against the shining. Type 8 (hard rows): two ideas chained — the sort by what it is made of with the tail that grows only near the Sun; the ice that tempts the comet label against the first question, which decides.

One exemplar per type, in full

Type 1 (easy, SPA5-040). What does every one of the eight planets travel around? — Earth / the Sun / the Moon / Jupiter. Why: Every planet is a large round ball that travels around the Sun on its own orbit. So every one of the eight planets travels around the Sun. (nearest lesson-side instance: Lesson 1 (What every planet has in common), question 1, three options — here four)

Type 2 (easy, SPA5-040). Uranus is far from the Sun and very cold. Which of these is true of Uranus? — It travels around Earth once a year. / It is a small lumpy rock, not round. / It makes its own light, like a star. / It travels around the Sun on its own orbit. (nearest: Lesson 1 (What every planet has in common), question 3, Neptune as yes / no — here the fact is picked among four statements)

Type 3 (medium, SPA5-041, drawn). Here is the row of eight planets from the Sun, with one planet circled. Which of these is true of the circled planet? — It is an inner planet, small and made of rock. / It is an outer planet, big and made of gas. / It is a moon of another planet. / It is an asteroid in the wide ring. (figure pp_row_ring_2: grey discs at the relative sizes, the second circled; the blind text says which disc is circled and nothing else ("ringed" was read as Saturn by both cold readers, 8 Oct); nearest: Lesson 2 (Inner planet or outer planet?), question 1, Venus from its place, two options)

Type 4 (medium, SPA5-041). A rocket is sent to Neptune. What will the people on board find under Neptune's clouds? — a hard rocky surface to walk on / an ocean of salt water / a layer of soft sand / more gas and ice, with no rocky surface. (the register's belief met as a transfer, not a claim; nearest: Lesson 2 (Inner planet or outer planet?), question 7, the girl's Saturn claim as yes / no)

Type 5 (easy, SPA5-042). A rocket is sent to visit as many asteroids as it can. Where should it fly to find most of them? — to the space between the Sun and Mercury / to the wide ring between Mars and Jupiter / to the space around Earth / to the dark far past Neptune. (nearest: Lesson 3 (What an asteroid is), question 3, three options, no scene)

Type 6 (medium, SPA5-043). A bright comet hung over Chicago for a few weeks in 1997, then faded away. Why did it fade? — It fell into the Sun and burned up. / It turned into an asteroid of rock. / The Moon moved in front of it. / Its orbit carried it far from the Sun again. (nearest: Lesson 4 (What a comet is), question 4, far from the Sun, a tail? — here the fading is explained)

Type 7 (medium, SPA5-044). A round ball travels around Neptune, and another round ball travels around the Sun. Which question tells which one is the moon? — What does it travel around? / What is it made of? / How big is it? / How bright is it? (nearest: Lesson 5 (Sort a solar-system object), question 9, one ball, three options)

Type 8 (medium, SPA5-044). A round ball named Titan travels around Saturn. What is Titan? — a planet / a moon / an asteroid / a comet. (nearest: Lesson 5 (Sort a solar-system object), question 1, a round ball of ice and rock around Saturn — here the name is given and the stuff is not)

Type 9 (medium, SPA5-044, drawn). Here is a drawing of an object and the thing it travels around. Which kind of object is it? — a planet / a moon / an asteroid / a comet. (figure pp_card_tail_sun: the Sun in the middle, a dashed circle, a pale lump with a tail streaming away from the middle; the blind text describes the drawing and never the class; nearest: PR-10, the ball around Mars)

Type 10 (hard, SPA5-043, typed). A comet is a lump of frozen stuff mixed with dust. Type the one word for the frozen stuff. — accept: ice, ices, frozen water, water ice. Hard because: the material is produced, not picked from a set. (nearest: Lesson 4 (What a comet is), question 1, ice mixed with dust picked from three)

Type 11 (hard, SPA5-044). Tobias is wrong to say everything bright in the night sky is a star. What is the correct reason? — A planet makes its own light, like a star. / Planets shine with light from the Sun. / Stars are too far away for anyone to see. / The Moon is the only bright thing at night. Hard because: the belief is judged by its reason. (nearest: Lesson 5 (Sort a solar-system object), question 6, the boy's claim as yes / no; Lesson 5 (Sort a solar-system object), question 7, the reason among three)

The ⟂ draw constraints (never on one form together)

• PP-10 (what the four nearest are called → the inner planets) ⟂ PP-8 (which named planet is an inner planet) — one prints the other's term in its stem.
• PP-23 (which two questions sort an object) ⟂ PP-45 (which question tells which is the moon) — the first lists both questions.
• PP-46 (type the number of inner planets) ⟂ PP-10 and PP-8 — the why of PP-46 names the four.
• PP-47 / PP-48 (typed asteroid; typed rock) ⟂ PP-13 (the Houston piece is made of rock) — one answers the other.
• PP-49 / PP-50 (typed comet; typed ice) ⟂ PP-19 (the Denver comet is made of ice mixed with dust).
• PP-55 (type the one object that makes its own light) ⟂ PP-24 (which object makes its own light) and PP-51 (Tobias).
• The four drawn cards PP-41 to PP-44 are one render each (four different drawings); never two of them on one form.

Fluency repetition across sets (adjudication, 8 Oct 2026)

Three frames recur across the quiz, the practice set and the bank, as fluency repetition with a varied surface — never two on one page: Lesson 1 (What every planet has in common)-06 / PP-25 (a ball whose path other balls about as big share: has it a path of its own?); Lesson 1 (What every planet has in common)-07 / PP-04 (what "its own orbit" means); Lesson 3 (What an asteroid is)-08 / PR-12 / PP-47 (type the name: asteroid). The quiz, practice and PP100 are separate pages, so no change; a form draws at most one of each pair.