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Solar System Newsletter
2007-2008
Volume 1, Issue 4.7
Dear Parents,
The purpose of this newsletter is to give you an overview of what your child will be learning during our current unit of
study in science. Please take a moment to look over the different sections of this newsletter. You will see example
questions, important terms to know, and some extension activities you can do at home.
Parent Background:
Each of the nine planets rotates around an axis—an imaginary line through its center—
while also traveling in a counterclockwise direction around the sun. Whether it is day or night
depends on the way the planet is turned in its rotation. The part of the planet that is turned toward
the sun experiences daytime. The part that is turned away from the sun experiences nighttime.
The time it takes a planet to completely spin around on its axis is that planet’s day. Earth
completes a spin on its axis every 24 hours. Other planets spin faster or slower than Earth, so their
days are longer or shorter than the days on Earth.
The time it takes to make a complete orbit around the sun is its year. The farther a planet
is from the sun, the longer its year. A planet’s distance from the sun also affects its climate and
atmosphere. The exact distance between the planets and the sun, as well as between the planets
themselves, varies because the planets move in oval rather than circular orbits.
Because the Earth is always tilted on its axis and tilted in the same direction, sometimes
the top half of the Earth (northern hemisphere) is tilted away from the Sun, so the season is
winter; and the bottom half of the Earth (southern hemisphere) is then tilted towards the Sun, so it
is summer. In spring and summer, both hemispheres get equal amounts of sunlight.
The moon spins. It spins more slowly than the Earth. It takes about 28 days for the
moon to turn around once. It takes the Earth just 24 hours to turn around once. The moon travels
around the Earth once in 28 days. The phases of the moon are a result of the moon’s position
relative to the Sun as it orbits the Earth. The moon reflects light given off by the Sun.
Students will know…
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what causes day and night
what causes our year
what causes the seasons
what causes the moon’s phases
the objects in our solar system and how
they relate to each other in size and
distance from the sun
Family Moon Watch
Students will be able to…
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demonstrate and explain that the
Earth’s rotation causes day and night
demonstrate and explain that Earth’s
revolution around the sun and its
tilted axis cause seasons
demonstrate and explain the moon’s
revolution around the Earth and how
it causes moon phases
create a model of the solar system
1) From your local newspaper, a calendar, or an almanac, find out when the next full moon will be. The moon
will look full for several days.
2) Find a window where you can look out in the early evening and see the moon. Use a wide windowsill or a
tabletop and place a piece of cardboard on it to keep it clean. Put some modeling clay on it and mold the clay to
hold a cardboard tube from a paper towel roll. The tube will need to be held in place at an angle at the edge of
the sill or table in order for you to look through it.
3) When the full moon can be seen in the window, look through the tube and move it until the moon is centered
in it. Mold the clay around the tube to keep it in place without anyone holding it. Look at a clock. Write down
the exact time.
4) Be sure no one touches the tube for the next few days. For the next several nights, look through the tube at
exactly the same time. Where is the moon? Is it getting higher in the sky each evening, lower in the sky, or
staying in the same spot? Make a drawing of the way the moon looks each night, using the Moon Watch Log
found at http://www.ology.amnh.org/astronomy/stufftodo/moon3.html.
Vocabulary
axis: An imaginary line which runs through both poles of a planet
day: the length of time it takes a planet to spin around once on its axis
diameter: the length of a straight line that passes through the center of a circle from one
side to another
Milky Way: the thousands of faraway stars visible on Earth as a white band of light
across the nighttime sky
moon phases: the fractions of the moon’s disk that can be seen and which change over
time in a cyclic period that repeats itself approximately once a month
orbit: the path of one object as it revolves around another
revolution: the movement of any object in an orbit, such as Earth moving around the Sun
rotation: the motion of a planet or other object as it turns on its axis
year: the length of time it takes a planet to orbit the Sun.
Sample Test Prep Question #1
Sample Test Prep Question #2
Georgia is closer to the Sun in the
winter than in the summer.
Why is it colder in Georgia in the
winter?
The phases of the Moon are caused
by
A. Earth is tilted so that there is less
direct sunlight during the winter
than during the summer.
B. the Moon’s orbit around Earth.
B. The Sun is not as hot during the
winter as it is during the summer.
D. the revolution of Earth around the
Sun.
C. There are more particles in space
that soak up the sunlight during the
winter than during the summer.
D. Earth orbits faster during the winter
than during the summer
Answers to Test Prep
1) A
2) B
A. the seasons of the year.
C. Earth’s tilt on its axis.
Witty Weather
When is the moon
heaviest?
When it is FULL!