Earth s Seasons

							Earth’s Seasons
Frances S. Tucker Elementary School Mrs. Locke

Define Season
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Seasons means: change in temperature Winter cold to summer heat and back

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Fun Facts
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Is Earth’s orbit circular? How do you know? No; if it were circular, Earth would be the same distance from the sun all the time.

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Seasonal Change
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Do all areas experience feelings of seasonal change? Equilateral Areas? Tropical Areas?

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Wettest Spot on Earth
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Some tropical areas have wet and dry seasons. In other tropical areas, there is only one season. The Amazon River is an example.

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Amazon River

Driest Spot on Earth

Are you dizzy yet?
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You are not sitting still. You are traveling through the space at almost 67,000 miles per hour. You are also flying around the solar system.

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Rotation – spinning of Earth on its axis; once every 24 hours.

Axis – an imaginary line that goes through the North and South Pole.

Revolution – the movement of one object around another object; once every 365 days (1 year).

Moon rotates around the Earth; once every 29 days.

Shadows
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Shadows help us see Earth’s rotation. The sun is not really moving, we are! (no real sunset or sunrise?)

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Long Shadows
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In the morning the sun seems low in the sky. Objects cast long shadows.

Short Shadows
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As the Earth rotates, the sun seems to move higher in the sky. Shadows get shorter.

No Shadow
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At noon, the sun is overhead. Objects cast almost no shadow.

Prediction Time
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It is going to be a hot day. You want to play outside, but you also want to be in the shade. Predict which time of day a tall tree will give the most shade – noon or 3:30 pm. Explain your prediction.

Prediction Time
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You want to take pictures at a time of day when there won’t be shadows. Predict the best time to take the photos. Explain.

Earth’s Seasons
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http://k ids.msfc. nasa.gov /earth/s easons/ EarthSe asons.as p

Why are there seasons?
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Earth’s axis is tilted. Different parts of Earth’s surface get different amounts of sunlight at different times of the year. This causes seasons.

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Four Seasons
Season Direction Axis Points (Northern Hemisphere) Away from the sun Temperature

Winter

Cold

Spring

Neither toward nor away from the sun
Toward the sun Neither toward nor away from the sun

Summer Fall

Warmer than winter but colder than summer Hot
Warmer than winter but colder than summer

Night and Day
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It’s 4:00 pm. Your family decides to call a friend in Asia.

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When your dad makes the call, he wakes up your Asian friend. It’s the middle of the night there.

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Night and Day
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As you move from place to place on Earth, time changes.

US Time Zones

Answer the following questions using your notes.
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1. What is a revolution? When it is winter in the northern half of Earth, what season is it in the southern half?

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How would day and night be different if Earth did not rotate? The tilt of the Earth’s axis causes: a. rotation, b. day and night, c. seasons, d. sunlight

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