Earth & Space

What this lesson covers

Earth & Space is a 9-part Class 5 Science lesson. Each part makes one point and then hands over to the next, so it can be read in a sitting or picked up again at the part you stopped on. It defines the idea in plain words before using it, works through an example step by step, breaks the topic into its parts and compares them, shows where it is used outside the textbook, names the mistakes that cost marks in an exam, ends with a recap of what to remember.

How it begins

The Earth does two things at once, and almost everything in this topic comes from them. Rotation: it spins on its own axis, once every 24 hours. This gives day and night. Orbit: it travels around the Sun, once every 365¼ days. This gives the year. That extra quarter-day is why we add a leap day every four years.

The 9 parts

1. Two movements, everything else follows
2. The Solar System
3. Why we have seasons
4. Why the Moon changes shape
5. Why the Sun appears to move
6. Using the sky
7. Where it usually goes wrong
8. What to remember
9. Watch one worked through