Where do shadows come from?

Click here to watch an animation of shadows!


Have you ever wondered why your shadow looks really tall in the morning, but when you go outside for lunch, your shadow looks short? When it's getting close to dinner time, your shadow looks long and tall again!

Let's think about this for a minute...

We know that sun isn't really moving. We know that the Earth is rotating (spinning) on it's axis every day, and this causes one side of the earth to always be on dark side, and the other side to always be on the light side. This is why we have day and night!

While earth is spinning, the sun's position in the sky changes. The sun's light points in different directions as it moves across the sky. This causes shadows to change and look different.






Click on the sun to play a game about shadows!

1. Does the sun move?
   
2. What is the relationship between the length and direction of a shadow and the sun?
   
3. Why are the shadows at night if there is no sunlight?

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Sun, Earth and Moon

Everything goes around the sun. Click here to watch an animated picture of our solar system.

These three objects in the sky are both similar and different in many ways! Let's put our heads together and figure out what we already know about the Sun, Earth and Moon!

___________________________
Click here: The Sun

• What is the sun made out of?
• How big is the sun?
• Is the sun moving?
• What kinds of energy does the Sun provide for Earth?

____________________________________
Click here: The Earth

What can you find on Earth (things that we use to live, landforms...etc.)?

• What does the Earth revolve around?
  
• Does Earth have an atmosphere?
  
• Is Earth bigger or smaller than the sun?
  
• Is Earth bigger or smaller than the moon?

_________________________

Click here: The Moon

• What is the moon made out of?
• What kinds of landforms are found on the moon (hills, mountains..etc)?
  What can you not find on the moon that people need for survival (things that we use to live)?
• Does the moon have an atmosphere?
• What does the moon orbit?
  
  

___________________________

Now use your information you found and think about how the The Sun (red circle), Earth (green circle) and Moon (blue circle) are similar and different. Make this Venn diagram in your journal for Homework.

The Solar System- It's out there!

We're traveling away from our classroom and into outerspace!

Each planet, including Earth, has a path it takes around the sun. The path the planets go around looks like a circle. Everything in our solar system orbits (goes around) the sun. That's why it's called the SOLAR system, because the sun is in the middle!



Some planets don't take very long to orbit the sun, while others take a much longer time.
Click here to read about each planet.


QUESTIONS:
1. Which planet has the shortest year in our solar system and why?
2. Name the planets in order, and think of a way to remember their order!

For example: My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nachos.

Does light bend or bounce?

Play this interactive game online!

We've been learning about light energy this week. We demonstrated that light can bounce back like a basketball if you shine it on a shiny object, like a mirror. This is called reflection.

We explored how light can go through objects and look funny. It can make your pencil look broken if you stick in water. It can make things look larger if you look through a magnifying lens. This is called refraction.

That's shocking!

Last week, we studied heat energy. We decided that some items allow heat to travel through them, while others do not. Objects that allow energy to travel through them are called conductors. Objects that don't allow energy to transfer from one thing to another are called insulators.

This week, we are studying electricity and light!

Have you ever put your sweater over your head and your hair sticks straight up? Have you ever touched a metal door knob and received a painful shock on your hand? Have you ever changed the batteries in your flashlight or remote control? Have you ever looked out the window during a thunder storm and observed a bright flash of light? All of these questions have one thing in common...

Yep, you guessed it! They're all about ELECTRICITY!

Static electricty can make your hair stand straight up! It can also give a painful shock when you touch something made of metal. Lightening in the sky is another form of electricty, but we don't use it in our homes to make things turn on. We usually plug our appliances in the wall, or place batteries inside them to make them work.

We're building circuits this week and discussing how electricty travels from the battery, through the wires, and into the bulb. Kinetic electrical energy is always moving!

Questions:

1. Explain the difference between static electricty and electricty. Does static electricty turn your TV on?

2. Why does your battery have metal on both sides?

Homework:
Flow of electricty #1-4