Why Do We Have Nights

Lesson Title: Why Do We Have Nights

Grade: Elementary

Web Address: https://teachers.net/lessons/posts/837.html

Standard: 1-ESS1-2 (1st grade, Earth and Space Science, Disciplinary Core Idea 1, performance expectation 2)

Lesson Objectives:

• Locate your home state on a map of the United States

• Locate the United States on the globe

• Introduce vocabulary: Earth, moon, sun, day, night, rotate, spin

• Have students observe the experiment and make predict the outcome

• Gather and interpret data

• Demonstrate and interoperate data

• Draw a physical representation of the experiment

• Further investigate the solar system

Connection to NGSS Standard Standard

• Make observations at different times of year to relate the amount of daylight to the

Demonstrate how to insert the toothpicks on the top and bottom of apples. Then show how to stick the raisin onto the side of the apple. Explain that the raisin represents the school/home just as the raisin did on the map of the USA.

6. Demonstrate how the flashlight acts much like the sun does towards the Earth.

7. Demonstrate how when the light shines on one side of the apple this represents day.

8. Demonstrate how when the light is shining on one side the other side is dark representing night.

9. Rotate the apple so the raisin is in the light and then moves to the dark side. Ask students to recite out loud when they think the raisin is in day or night.

Student instruction

• Stick the toothpick just far enough into the apple so you can use it as a handle.

• With another toothpick stick one raisin onto the side of the apple. o The apple will be Earth in your model. The flashlight will be the sun in your model.

• Hold the flashlight so that the light shines on one side of the apple. If the flashlight is the sun and the apple is the Earth, would it be day or night at the raisin? Is it day or night on the other side of the apple?

• With your group, think of two different ways to make day and night at the raisin. Record your ideas on your papers.

What

A pre-model can be draw by each of the students on what they think is happening. After they have done the experiment and had a semi-formal lesson, the students can redraw the model and make changes that they learned throughout the lesson.

Summative

• A summative assessment can be done on this topic by giving the students a formal test. You can point at locations on the globe and give them a certain time of day, asking the student whether it is going to be day or night on that part of the globe. Each student recording their thought individually.

Combination

• A combination of formative and summative assessment can be done. Formative assessments can be giving throughout the duration of the experiment and at the end of the unit a summative assessment can be given. During formative assessments, the students may make a model that they later use in the summative assessment.

Modification/Extensions

• This lesson focuses on how the sun and earth contribute to the night and day cycle. To further the students’ knowledge and prepare them for future years, incorporating the length of daylight with certain times of the year to the seasons that we experience every