These birthday flash cards help preschool to 4th grade students learn 24 party words like cake, candles and presents. Fold-over picture cards, a practice page and an answer key are included.
While listening to the Seasons Song (MP3), students learn about the seasons of the year while listening to a catchy song.
These Mother's Day flash cards teach 15 holiday words with a picture on the front and the word inside. Made for Preschool to 4th Grade, with a practice page and answer key included.
It's all about the tilt
Fourth graders learn the real reason we have seasons, and it surprises a lot of people: it is not because Earth gets closer to the Sun. Earth is tilted on its axis, so as it travels around the Sun over a year, one half leans toward the Sun and gets more direct sunlight and longer days. That half has summer while the other half has winter. Students also compare day length across the year and see how seasons affect plants, animals and weather. The click comes when they realize Australia has summer in December!
Seasons are a space puzzle. These moves help kids see it from the outside.
Open the unit with the seasons song to review the four seasons and what each one brings. Then ask the big question: why do they happen at all? The familiar song gets everyone ready for the tricky science.
Why it works: a catchy, repeating tune gives the brain a hook to hang words on, so sung text is remembered better (Wallace, 1994).
Try it withSeasons Song (MP3)SongsOpen it →Darken the room, shine a flashlight on a tilted globe and walk it around a "Sun" lamp. Kids watch the light hit the Northern Hemisphere more directly on one side of the orbit. Seeing the tilt in action clears up the closer-to-the-Sun mistake fast.
Why it works: showing first, practicing together, then letting kids try alone is the "gradual release" model teachers have relied on for decades (Pearson and Gallagher, 1983).
Try it withBirthday Flash CardsActivitiesOpen it →Have students look up sunrise and sunset times for the first day of each month and graph the hours of daylight. The curve rises toward summer and falls toward winter. Real data makes the pattern impossible to miss.
Why it works: kids understand an idea best when they touch it, then draw it, then write it, the order the U.S. Department of Education recommends for elementary math.
Try it withThanksgiving Clip ArtActivitiesOpen it →Spin, tilt and orbit your way to understanding.
Teacher favorites right now: Birthday Flash Cards, Seasons Song (MP3) and Thanksgiving Clip Art.
The seasons are caused by the tilt of Earth's axis. As Earth orbits the Sun, the half tilted toward the Sun gets more direct sunlight and longer days, which makes summer.
No. Earth is actually closest to the Sun in early January, during winter in the Northern Hemisphere. The tilt, not the distance, causes the seasons.
When the Northern Hemisphere tilts toward the Sun, the Southern Hemisphere tilts away. So when it is summer in the United States, it is winter in Australia.
Use a flashlight and a globe to show how the tilt changes how directly sunlight hits Earth. Graphing daylight hours through the year makes the pattern clear.
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