Sun, Moon, and stars
Use observations of the sun, moon, and stars to describe predictable patterns such as the sun rising and setting, the moon changing shape, and stars appearing at night
What a learner can do afterwards
- Describe the daily pattern of sunrise and sunset
- Describe the pattern of the moon's shape changing over about a month
- Explain that stars are visible at night and describe any seasonal patterns observed
The lesson
Every day, the sun rises in the morning and sets at night. It comes up on one side of the sky and goes down on the other side. This happens again and again, every single day.
The moon does not always look the same. Some nights it is a thin sliver. Other nights it is a full round circle. It takes about a month for the moon to go through all its shapes and come back to the start.
Stars come out every night once the sky gets dark, even though you cannot see them in the daytime. The sun's light is just too bright for their light to show through.
The sun rises and sets every day, the moon's shape changes over about a month, and stars appear once night falls.
Watch it
Where it sits
Learn first
This opens up
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.