Grade Level: Fourth Grade | Content Area: Science | Duration of Unit: 4 weeks
Unit Overview:
Students will explore the characteristics of the main constellations and their position in the night sky. They will explore the rotation and tilt of the Earth to identify what causes day and night and the seasons. They will examine the Moon to discover why it appears to change shapes and learned about the order and name of its phases. Students will evaluate the size and distance of the planets within the Solar System to the Sun.
Students will understand that…
- The patterns of stars in the sky stay the same, although they appear to move across the sky nightly, and different stars can be seen in different seasons.
- Stars are like the sun, some being smaller and some larger, but so far away that they look like points of light.
- Planets change their positions against the background of stars.
- The earth is one of several planets that orbit the sun, and the moon orbits the earth.
- The moon reflects the sun’s light and goes through 8 phases in approximately 28 days
