Earth Sun and Moon Orbit

Introduction Ask a child to act as the Sun. Explain that the Sun is at the centre of the Solar System. Ask another child to act as the Earth and show how the Earth orbits the Sun. Then ask the the Earth to spin as it orbits the Sun. Then introduce another child as the Moon. Separately, show how the Moon orbits the Earth. Lesson Objectives: Students will learn that: The Moon rotates or spins on its axis. The Moon revolves or orbits around the Earth. The Moon and the Earth revolve around the Sun.

Activities Tell the children you want them to find out more information about these processes. Write the following questions on the board. How long does it take the Earth to orbit the Sun? How long does it take the Moon to orbit the Earth? How often does the Earth rotate? Arrange the children in pairs, with a computer. Ask children to work through the online activity, following the tasks written (and spoken) at the top of the screen. Tell them to experiment with the model of the Sun, Earth and Moon and try to answer the questions posed on the board.

Use the provided links document saved in 5H documents.

Out door Activity Divide students into 3 groups of approximately 10 children. Review that the Earth revolves around the Sun. Ask students, "What revolves around the Earth? What do you see in the sky almost every night and also during the day?" If you cannot use the previous playground drawing of the Earth, ask one group to draw the Earth (a 10-inch circle filled with blue chalk), and another group to draw the sun (2-foot circle filled with orange or red chalk). Ask students to draw the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. Ask another group to draw the Moon (3-inch circle filled with white chalk). The Moon should be about 3 feet away from the Earth so that students can move about easily. Note: Orbit sizes not to scale for this activity. Remind students that distances in space are vast and that this is a model to help understand motion. Ask another group to draw a line indicating the Moons orbit around the Earth. Pick one student to act as the Earth and one to act as the Moon. Ask student how long it takes for the Earth to spin around24 hours. Explain that the Moon rotates much slowerit takes a little more than 27 days for the Moon to rotate all the way around. Ask students, "Which spins faster, the Earth or the Moon?" Explain that the Moon rotates and orbits around the Earth at the same time. Ask the Moon how he or she should move. The Moon character will spin and revolve in a counterclockwise direction as seen from above (North is up). Reminder: This is not a race and the rate of speed is constant and steady. Ask the Earth how he or she should move. The Earth, like the Moon, is spinning counterclockwise as seen from above (North is up). Get your Earth and Moon characters moving in rotation/revolution. Finally, select a student to act as the Sun and have students move againso that students can see the Sun, Earth, and Moon all moving together. At the conclusion ask students, Which role was the hardest to play? Take a vote. If time allows, ask for a second set of students to play the Sun, Earth and Moon and model the motion again. Repeat with other groups.

Plenary Discuss with class lesson and record a list of relevant facts about the lesson to be developed into a poster. Record via Word for use by pupils at a larger date.