The Earth and Beyond

Below is a summary of our topic for your information.

Module 1: What is in space? The children will learn the shapes and positions of the Earth and other planets in the solar system, their relative sizes and orbits around the sun. The children will understand that the Earth takes 365 and a quarter days to orbit the Earth, so every 4 years we have a 'leap year' with an extra day.

Module 2: What is a day? The children will investigate the Earth's rotation and which countries have night when we have day. They will learn about how the Earth's rotation makes the sun appear to move across the sky and how shadow length can be used to tell the time.

Module 3: What time is it around the world? Using globes and world maps the children will find out about time zones and how time is linked to longitude.

Module 4: Why do we have seasons? This week the children will explore how the Earth's tilt on its axis causes seasonal changes and changes in daylight hours. They will explore the difference between the northern and southern hemispheres.

Module 5: Why does the moon change shape? The children will develop their understanding of how the Moon appears to change shape over a month. They will begin to explain that although half of the Moon is always illuminated by the Sun, we can't always see the entire illuminated half from the Earth.

Click on the astronaut to go to the NASA website

These two clips will help you to understand how we can use the Sun to measure time!