Our star, the Sun, is an ordinary star. It is not particularly special compared to other stars in the universe; however, it is crucially important to us. As the massive energy source at the center of our solar system, the Sun is responsible for Earth's climate, weather, and life. In this lesson, students use observations, activities, and videos to learn basic facts about the Sun. Students also model the mechanics of day and night and use solar energy to make a tasty treat.
This resource is a list of teaching ideas for activities to teach your students about the seasons.
The teacher will present an informational text from the website, ReadWorks. The students and teacher can interact with this non-fiction text by annotating the text digitally. The students will answer the questions associated with the article as an assessment. This learning activity can be used as an introduction to seasonal patterns of sunrise and sunset, serve as reinforcement after students have already learned this concept, or be used as an assessment at the conclusion of a lesson.
In this lesson, students will construct models to demonstrate their understanding of shadows. Student groups will make a three-dimensional model of the neighborhood after reading Bear Shadow by Frank Asch. They will track the sun shadows in the neighborhood. You will want to measure the sun shadows with students at least twice, and perhaps three or four times during the year, to see how they vary with the time of year. This lesson is part of a four-lesson series in which students observe the daytime and nighttime sky regularly to identify sequences of changes and to look for patterns in these changes.