Kaylee Clark Earths Place in the Universe Unit 9/30/13 For this unit I am teaching first grade Earth

Science, and the topic is Earths Place in the Universe. By the end of the unit students should be able to show they understand this topic by making observations of the sun, moon, and stars to describe patterns that can be predicted. They also should be able to make observations at different times of year to relate the amount of daylight to the time of year. There are many different objects in the sky, and they vary when it is night and day. Stars always remain in the sky, but the light from the sun during the daytime makes it impossible to see the stars (Bell, et al 2006b). The sun is the largest and brightest star, and is the center of the Universe. It is not always visible in the daytime, because it can be hidden behind clouds. Although the sun is the brightest, all stars give off their own light. The sun is the star that is closest to Earth, and all the planets orbit around it (Bell, et al 2006b). The sun rises in the east, moves through the southern part of the sky and sets in the west everyday. Astronauts first landed on the moon in 1969 and brought moon rocks back to Earth. They found that the moon is a huge ball of rock that is covered in gray dust and craters. A crater is a hole that is shaped like a bowl in a surface (Bell, et al 2006b). The moon does not give off its own light; its light comes from the sun. It is the brightest object in the sky at night. It is much smaller than the sun, but appears larger to us because it is closer to Earth. The shape of the moon seems to change a

little each night. The changes make a pattern that takes about 29 days. On some night, people do not see the moon at all. This means that the moon is starting its 20day cycle (Bell, at al 2006b). Each day in the first 15 days you will see the moon more and more. After about 15 days, the moon is a full circle, and then it is seen less and less in the last 14 days of the cycle. The Earth is one of nine planets in the solar system, and is third from the sun. All planets are different sizes and color. Some planets, including Earth, are made of rock, while others are made of gases. Planets do not give off light because they do not burn like the sun. Telescopes are tools that make all of these objects in the sky easier to see. Large telescopes are put inside buildings called observatories that are often build on hills far away from cities. This gets them away from the cities nighttime lights (Bell, et al 2006b). Day and night is also a topic that will be taught in this unit. The side of the Earth with light shining on it from the sun has day, the side that is in the dark has night (Branley, 1961). The earth rotates around the sun but the sun still moves. It is much slower than the Earth. As Earth rotates, it turns toward and away from the sun, moon, and stars. People cannot feel that they are moving, so it seems as if the sun, moon, and stars are the objects that rotate. As the Earth rotates, half of the Earth faces the sun, while the other side faces away (Bell, et al 2006a). This is why it cant be the same time everywhere in the world. When it is daytime in the United States, it is nighttime in China.

Day and night, and the rotation of the sun also have to do with the four seasons and the weather. Some parts of Earth have four seasons: winter, spring, summer, and fall. They all have different weather. One weather difference is temperature (Bell, et al 2006a). Spring and summer are typically warmer than winter and fall. Earth is tilted on its axis as it revolves. This causes the same part of the Earth that tilted toward the sun at one time to be tilted away from it at another. Places where the suns rays strike directly are warmer than places where the rays strike at a slant, because light rays that strike at a slant spread out more (Bell, et al 2006a). When the suns rays strike Earth directly, the season is summer. Where they strike Earth at the greatest slant, the season is winter. First grade is the first time children are being introduced to the Earths place in the Universe. In Kindergarten, they are introduced to weather patterns, and how plants and animals can change the environment to meet their needs. Before they are taught this topic they may understand the main vocabulary words; such as sun, earth, moon, stars, and seasons, but not how everything works together. They understand that there is a day and night, but they probably do not know why. Students may have many misconceptions about this topic. They may believe that the rotation of the sun causes day and night, when really the rotation of the Earth causes day and night. Along with that, they may believe that the sun rotates around the Earth, when it is the Earth that rotates around the sun. They may also believe that stars go away in the daytime and come back out during the night. A

misconception they may have about the moon is that it increases and decreases in

size over the month when really it just orbits and travels around the earth, so we do not always see all of it.

Works Cited Branley, F. M., & Borten, H. (1961). What Makes Day and Night. New York: Crowell. Bell, M. J., Krockover, G. H., & Valenta, C. J. (2006). Science. Orlando: Hardcourt School. Bell, M. J., Krockover, G. H., & Valenta, C. J. (2006). Science. Orlando: Hardcourt School.