Have a sunny birthday!
Have a Sunny Birthday!
5-ESS1-2. Represent data in graphical displays to reveal patterns of daily changes in length and direction of shadows, day and night, and the seasonal appearance of some stars in the night sky.
The orbits of Earth around the sun and of the moon around Earth, together with the rotation of Earth about an axis between its North and South poles, cause observable patterns. These include day and night; daily changes in the length and direction of shadows; and different positions of the sun, moon, and stars at different times of the day, month, and year.
Have a Sunny Birthday!
Patterns in Shadows
Pictures in the Stars
Adapted from: MySci Unit: Our Place in the Universe: http://schoolpartnership.wustl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/unit23_universe_080614_v5.pdf
Before: Copy and cut the strips from the Mission 5 Sunny Birthday display strips: https://docs.google.com/a/u4sd.org/document/d/1KrNjBA1tSovjXiFAHUGbJPDtEbfmTW3RXnUmvm7gwps/edit?usp=sharing
Prepare a strip with the hours of sunlight on your birthday, as described below.
Seek: When is your birthday? Does the day of your birthday have many hours of sunlight or only a few? Have students discuss the perceived amount of sunlight they get on their birthday. You might wish to have students line up by how long the daylight lasts on their birthday.
Try: Show prepared tape for your birthday and interest students in the project. Review that, by convention, a day starts at midnight. Discuss how you have divided the tape and colored it.
Each student will need a strip like the one you prepared. Students should write the date of their birthday at the top of the strip.
Look up or have students look up the number of hours of sunlight on their birthday using: http://www.timeanddate.com/sun/usa/chicago?month=1&year=2014.
Have students make a mark for sunrise and a mark for sunset on the tape. The portion of the tape between these two marks should be colored yellow to show that it is daylight. The portion of the tape outside of these two marks (nearer to the edges) should be blue to designate nighttime. Demonstrate this and have extra strips prepared.
Expand: Hang all the tapes in order across a surface. Discuss students’ observations. (The standard does NOT request that students be able to explain why there are different amounts of sunlight in different seasons. Resources to explain this are provided in the Extend section for those who wish to explore.)
What patterns do you notice? (longer time of sun during the summer and shorter during winter)
Make Connections: Have students reflect on and draw the patterns they noticed. Guide students to understand and reflect that, “The length of the day gradually changes throughout the year as Earth orbits the sun, with longer days in the summer and shorter days in the winter.” (from NGSS assessment)
Extend: Bill Nye on seasons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUU7IyfR34o
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5-ESS1-2. Represent data in graphical displays to reveal patterns of daily changes in length and direction of shadows, day and night, and the seasonal appearance of some stars in the night sky.
The orbits of Earth around the sun and of the moon around Earth, together with the rotation of Earth about an axis between its North and South poles, cause observable patterns. These include day and night; daily changes in the length and direction of shadows; and different positions of the sun, moon, and stars at different times of the day, month, and year.
- The Earth moves in two ways: The Earth orbits (revolves) around the sun and turns (rotates) on its axis.
- The rotation of the Earth causes day and night.
- The movement of the Earth causes observable patterns. (specifically in the appearance of shadows, sunrise and sunset, and star patterns)
Have a Sunny Birthday!
Patterns in Shadows
Pictures in the Stars
Adapted from: MySci Unit: Our Place in the Universe: http://schoolpartnership.wustl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/unit23_universe_080614_v5.pdf
Before: Copy and cut the strips from the Mission 5 Sunny Birthday display strips: https://docs.google.com/a/u4sd.org/document/d/1KrNjBA1tSovjXiFAHUGbJPDtEbfmTW3RXnUmvm7gwps/edit?usp=sharing
Prepare a strip with the hours of sunlight on your birthday, as described below.
Seek: When is your birthday? Does the day of your birthday have many hours of sunlight or only a few? Have students discuss the perceived amount of sunlight they get on their birthday. You might wish to have students line up by how long the daylight lasts on their birthday.
Try: Show prepared tape for your birthday and interest students in the project. Review that, by convention, a day starts at midnight. Discuss how you have divided the tape and colored it.
Each student will need a strip like the one you prepared. Students should write the date of their birthday at the top of the strip.
Look up or have students look up the number of hours of sunlight on their birthday using: http://www.timeanddate.com/sun/usa/chicago?month=1&year=2014.
Have students make a mark for sunrise and a mark for sunset on the tape. The portion of the tape between these two marks should be colored yellow to show that it is daylight. The portion of the tape outside of these two marks (nearer to the edges) should be blue to designate nighttime. Demonstrate this and have extra strips prepared.
Expand: Hang all the tapes in order across a surface. Discuss students’ observations. (The standard does NOT request that students be able to explain why there are different amounts of sunlight in different seasons. Resources to explain this are provided in the Extend section for those who wish to explore.)
What patterns do you notice? (longer time of sun during the summer and shorter during winter)
Make Connections: Have students reflect on and draw the patterns they noticed. Guide students to understand and reflect that, “The length of the day gradually changes throughout the year as Earth orbits the sun, with longer days in the summer and shorter days in the winter.” (from NGSS assessment)
Extend: Bill Nye on seasons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUU7IyfR34o
Back to the Teacher main page