Science - Scientifically, what are days, nights, months and years?

 Today we explored what we already knew about our world, exploring why we think we have day and night, months, and years. We were amazed to notice, that all globes are tilted, and that this is because Earth is actually tilted on its axis at 23.5 degrees. We then modelled day and night, understanding that in day time we face the sun, and due to Earths rotation, at night we face away, and are in Earth's shadow. 

We then explored months, which we didn't realise were originally created as the time it takes the moon to orbit the Earth - learning a lunar month is 27.3 days. We explored the phases of the moon (and look forward to making our own ping pong ball models next lesson - which we will be bringing home to teach  you!).

Finally, we learnt that a year is how long it takes Earth to orbit the sun, which is actually 365 1/4 days, and that this is why every 4 years we have a leap year - getting out extra day back!