Year 3

By Georgia Copeland, Airlie McLeod, Claire Wilson & Francesca Da Rui

Curriculum Links:
Science Understating
Earth and space sciences
Earth’s rotation on its axis causes regular changes, including
night and day (ACSSU048)

Science as a Human Endeavour

Use and influence of science
Science knowledge helps people to understand the effect of
their actions (ACSHE051)

Science Enquiry Skills

Communicating
Represent and communicate observations, ideas and findings using formal and informal
representation (ACSIS060)

Children’s Literature: - The Sound of Day, The Sound of Night - Mary O’Neill
I Took the Moon for a Walk - Carolyn Curtis
Apps – NASA Kids Club, Britannica Kids: Solar System, Sky Safari.
Prior Knowledge: By the end of Year 2, students describe changes to objects, materials and living
things. They identify that certain materials and resources have different uses and describe examples
of where science is used in people’s daily lives.
Students pose and respond to questions about their experiences and predict outcomes of
investigations. They use informal measurements to make and compare observations. They record
and represent observations and communicate ideas in a variety of ways.
Lesson objectives:
Describe the difference between night and day through diagrams, images and written words.
Show the movements of the Sun, Earth and Moon that cause night and day through a
representational model made from Styrofoam spheres.
Materials/Equipment list:
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q864EalnLvs
Smartboard
Pop stick Pick
Activity Sheet One – The difference between day and night
Red pen, for over the shoulder marking
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWkKSkI3gkU
A4 paper, one per student, for 4 square activity
Styrofoam spheres of different shapes, enough for one per student/three per group of students
Bamboo sticks, one per Styrofoam sphere
Paint, texta, crayons, craft paper, glue, glitter etc
Science journals
iPads
Post-it-notes for words wall
Lesson Steps:
Introduction/Motivation:
 Introduction – welcome students into the science lesson. Put on science gear.
 Disney Day and Night Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLLfWkahZts
 Think pair share.
o Split the class into 2 groups – day and night.
o What does night/day feels like, sounds like, looks like?
o Have a discussion and share ideas. Correct any misconceptions.
 Drawing the characteristics of night and day
o What are characteristics? Discuss
o Students are to draw or write the characteristics of night and day in the characters
from the video
Activity: Styrofoam Sphere Orbits:
 We are now going to be doing a little activity looking at the Sun, Earth and Moon. To start
with we are going to watch a short video to remind us of some things we might already
know about them.
 For this activity we are going to be thinking of what we know about the shapes and sizes of
the Sun, Earth and Moon. Rally Robin characteristics (face and shoulder partners). In a
moment you are going to get into small groups of three and use these styrofoam spheres to
create your own model of the Sun, Earth and Moon. You are going to use paint, textas,
crayons to decorate each of the spheres just like the Sun, Earth and Moon. We really want
you to think about the colours you use AND the size of the spheres. Once you and your
group have decorated your spheres to represent the Earth, Moon and Sun you are going to
attach it to the bamboo sticks. DISCUSS safety here.
 Explain to students they each have a post-it-note under their chairs. Have a look now. All
moons go to table one. All stars go to table two etc. Send students to work and teacher
watches as student works. 10 minutes for decorating and practising their orbits.
Questions for after activity:
1. What moved in your orbit? Moon and Earth
Was it the sun that moved? No
2. How did the Earth move? Did it only move in one way?
Anti-clockwise, it rotates around the sun and also around its axis.
3. What in the orbit effects day and night?
The sun creates shadows
4. Why did you choose that size of sphere for the earth …?
Smaller than the sun, bigger than the moon
5. What do you think it would look, feel, sounds like on the moon/sun? What are
the colours of the Sun, Earth and Moon? How do you know this? What do you
think the temperatures might be on the Sun, Earth, Moon?
Conclusion
 Bring students down to the mat, have a group demonstrate their orbit.
 Have a discussion about the activity. Key Questions;
o What was moving in the orbit? (sun, moon or earth)
o What do we see when it is night time/day time?
o Is it night time everywhere around the world at the same time? If not, why?
 Students then show how confident they feel about the earth’s orbit and its relation to night
and day
o Thumbs up – confident
o Thumbs down – not so confident