The Sun and Directions--Second Grade

To develop, from observations of the sky and the sun, the basic concepts which allow for the understanding of the four directions: north, south, east, and west.

The majority of the class will be able to recognize by verbal response the following information which is underlined:

1. DAY AND NIGHT IS A RESULT OF THE SUN BEING VISIBLE IN THE SKY.
   • STUDENTS WILL DISCUSS THE VARIOUS TYPES OF ACTIVITIES ASSOCIATED WITH DAY AND NIGHT and realize the sun's role in producing these different responses.

   • WHAT CAUSES DAY AND NIGHT?
     • Materials: a globe which will be used to locate where students live, and a light source for the sun.

     • The instructor will show students where they live on the Earth.

     • Students are asked how they would use the light source to make it daytime on their part of the Earth. The expected action would be to have the pupil shine the light over the region of Earth where they live.

     • Another pupil will then be asked to demonstrate how he/she would make it nighttime on the same portion of the planet which is currently experiencing day. There are three general responses given by pupils:
       • They turn off the light...

       • They close their eyes...

       • They revolve the sun to the other side of the Earth... Western civilization considered this to be the correct response until about 1600. Sometimes students will take the sun and move it to a position near the South Pole.

       • They will take a cloth or piece of paper and cover the Earth...

       • They rotate (spin) the Earth, so that the portion of the planet which is in day, spins into a nighttime position. This is the correct response.

   • WHAT CAUSES DAY AND NIGHT? Alternate approach:
     • THE TEACHER SITS ON A ROTATING STOOL OR CHAIR and asks the children where they are. The answer which is sought is "in front of you;" however, this response is rarely given. When the teacher notes that he/she is sitting in front of his/her pupils, the students will readily accept this as a correct response.

     • THE TEACHER THEN ROTATES THE CHAIR until her/his back is towards the children and repeats the same question, "Where are you?" The children’s' response is always, "in back of you." This situation is repeated several times.

     • THE TEACHER MAKES A BIG DEAL ABOUT THE FACT THAT THE STUDENTS HAVE JUST BEEN SITTING THERE. How can they have moved if their position has not changed? The students readily volunteer the answer that it is the teacher that has turned or rotated.

     • THE TEACHER THEN USES THIS ANALOGY TO DESCRIBE DAY AND NIGHT, and like the spinning chair, it is the Earth which is spinning to produce day and night. During the day the sun is in front of you. At night the sun is in back of you, because the Earth spins you into that position.

2. THE CAUSE OF DAY AND NIGHT IS DUE TO THE EARTH'S ROTATION (SPINNING). The rotating Earth makes the sun rise, set, and move across the sky.
   • Materials: light bulb sun, large cardboard arrows to act as direction indicators.

   • Demonstrations of day and night--Two approaches:
     • Approach one is passive: A rotating globe illuminated by a stationary light source can be used to demonstrate day and night. The globe should have a marking on it so that the children can readily identify their location on the planet. The globe should always be rotated in the same direction.

     • Approach two is active:
       • STUDENTS' HEADS WILL BECOME THE EARTH. Their eyes will become Allentown, PA looking into space. Their noses will become South Mountain, the PP&L Building, or a flagpole. A light bulb or an overhead projector will serve as the sun.

       • DAY AND NIGHT CAN BE MADE INTO A GAME in which pupils rotate their bodies (like the Earth) to make it day and night. During this demonstration, students will often begin to jump into the positions which will facilitate a day or night condition. Teachers should stress that the Earth rotates smoothly and slowly, and that it always turns in the same direction. Cardboard arrows can be placed on each of the classroom walls to designate the direction of rotation. This direction should be counterclockwise. Students should spin their bodies in the direction of the arrows to create this consistency of motion.

     • THE SUN IS THE OBJECT WHICH REMAINS FIXED. IT ONLY APPEARS AS IF THE SUN IS MOVING ACROSS THE SKY. IT IS ACTUALLY THE SPINNING EARTH WHICH MAKES IT LOOK AS IF THE SUN IS IN MOTION. An excellent method of demonstrating this concept is to have students spin very rapidly. Pupils should be prompted to try to imagine the room spinning while they are rotating. When directed to stop, students will realize upon further questioning that it was not the room which was moving, but their rotating bodies which made it appear as if the room was in motion. Although the sun appears to move in the sky as it travels from its rising to its setting position, it is really the spinning Earth which is causing this illusion.

3. THE SUN RISES IN THE EAST AND IT SETS IN THE WEST. AROUND LUNCHTIME THE SUN IS IN THE SOUTH. The locations of sunrise and sunset are consistent enough so that they can be used to define directions.
   • The instructor asks the students to stop rotating when it is day.

   • EVENING: Students then rotate counterclockwise until the sun is barely visible from the corner of their right eye. The sun is going down. It is now evening. The students continue to rotate until it is nighttime in Allentown, PA.

   • MORNING: The same procedure is then repeated for morning, only this time the students note when they first glimpse the sun after it was dark. The rotating game can now be expanded to include day, night, morning, and evening.

   • CONSISTENCY OF SUNRISE AND SUNSET POSITIONS: The sun always rises close to the same place in the morning and sets near the same place in the evening. These spots are called east and west respectively and represent two of the four directions.
     • STUDENTS CAN POINT TO THE RISING OR SETTING SUN WITH THEIR NEAREST ARM. The same arm is always used to point to the sun at sunrise and sunset. If the direction of rotation is counterclockwise, students will always point to the setting sun with their right arm and the rising sun with their left arm. The sun rises in the same direction. The sun sets in the same direction

     • THE RISING AND THE SETTING POSITIONS OF THE SUN ARE OPPOSITE to one another. East and west are opposite directions.

   • NOON: The students will then place the sun in the middle of their "sky," between the rising and setting positions of the sun. At this point it is noon (lunchtime), halfway between morning and evening. Around lunchtime, the sun is in the south. The day and night game can be expanded using morning (east), noon (south), evening (west), and night.

   • NEWS is a great acronym for having students remember the four directions: north, east, west, south.