Understanding Day and Night

 
Standard D. The Physical Setting 

Students understand the universal nature of matter, force and motion and identify how these relationships are exhibited in Earth Systems, in the solar system, and throughout the universe.

Pre K-2 - Performance indicator - D.1. Universe and Solar System

Students will describe the movement of objects across the sky, as seen from the earth.

a. Describe how the sun and moon seem to move across the sky.

How does it change from day into night?

Every day the solar system and all its planets are inconstant motion. They rotate on their own axis. An axis is an imaginary line that goes through the center of a planet. When the earth is near the sun it is day and when the earth is away from the sun it becomes night. This is hard to understand because we cannot feel the movement of the earth on it's axis.

                        Rotation vs Revolution

                        Rotation - on the earths axis

                       Revolution - around another body 

Group Activity - Using the black top space on the playground.  Divide students in to groups of two.  Students will take turns  being the sun and the moon.  First, have students practice rotating on their axis, then have students practice revolving.  Students will draw a yellow circle on the tar with yellow sidewalk chalk.  Next students will draw a larger circle in blue to indicate the moons orbit. Students will take turns being the sun and the moon. Once activity has been completed students will return inside to illustrate what they have learned about rotation and revolution.

Class Demonstration - Place a globe on the stand at the front of the class.  Chose a student to hold a flash light and chose a student to slowly rotate the globe.  Explain each day as the earth rotates it gets closer to the sun it becomes day and as it goes father from the sun it becomes night. 

Effective Questions-

What other ways could you demonstrate how the earth moves around the sun?

Why is the sun important to the earth?

Project FIRST Fostering Reading Through Science and Technology. (2009). Motion of Sun and Earth. Retrieved from http://eyeonthesky.org/lessonplans/05sun_daynight.html

b. Describe the changes in the appearance of the moon from day to day.

The earth revolves around the sun which creates night and day.  When the moon revolves around the earth it is called a phase.  There are four that we are going to discuss today.  They are new moon, first quarter, third quarter and full moon.  You many sometimes hear the terms waxing and waning.  When they say a moon is waxing it means the reflected light is growing bigger, or the earth's shadow is growing smaller.  When they say a moon is waning it means the reflected light is growing smaller and the shadow of the earth is growing bigger.

Group Activity - Oreo Moon Phases
Place students in groups of 4.  Give each group 4 Oreos, a plastic butter knife, paper towels and a presentation plate. Their assignment is to make their four Oreos represent the four phases of the moon.  Each phase must be labeled.
First split each cookie so the cream is on one cookie, and the other cookie is bare.  Scrape the frosting from each cookie until it represents one of the four phases of the moon. 

Class Demonstration - Discuss with the class that they are about to watch a You Tube video regarding the phases of the moon. Although this particular video goes into eight phases of the moon we only are going to discuss the new moon, first quarter/waxing, third quarter/waning, and a full moon.
      Phases of the moon
Effective Questions -   What pattern do you notice as you look at the phases of the moon?
 How could you use the information you learned about rotation and revolution  of the moon?

Learning Encounters. (2010). Lesson Plans . Retrieved from http://www.leosciencelab.com/educators/lesson-plans/oreo_moon_phases.php 

Sanger, L. (2011, February 6). The moon for kids 1/3 [Video file]. Retrieved from You Tube website: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHlMReTpJXw