The recent missions to Mars have produced a mass of data and information in all forms and have forced the minds of many people world-wide to rethink their own perspectives on life itself. This drama unfolding about 35 million miles from Earth, and digitally on our TV screens, is offering a growing reservoir for teachable moments. The curiosity and wonder of every image received prompts innumerable opportunities for inquiry. In this paper we share some of our ideas on how to bring into the classroom these exciting resources emanating from the Red Planet. Opportunities to reflect on myth and hypothesize about possibilities are obvious places to start when teaching about the potential of life on Mars. The explosion of resources and information (previously unavailable) from recent explorations of Mars stimulates students to examine further the environment around them. We share some of the activities we have been using in our classrooms to motivate readers to develop their own ideas on how to take advantage of the Mars missions for their classrooms. We offer strategies to create authentic learning experiences to engage students. In addition, we intend the activity to inspire teachers to use other contemporary teachable moments that may capture the imagination of their students as they discover science. Whether you are teaching topics related to desertification or deforestation, design and technology, or space travel or colonization, to name a few, the planet Mars and the recent missions to its environment will become part of your continually expanding resources in teaching science. (Contains 7 tables.)