Lesson 8: Different stars in different seasons
Grades 3–5 · about 15 minutes · NGSS 5-ESS1-2. By the end: I can explain why we see different star patterns at different times of year.
Learn
- As Earth travels around the Sun once a year, our night side faces a different part of space each season.
- So the star patterns change: Orion fills winter evenings, the Summer Triangle is overhead in summer, and the Great Square rides high in autumn.
- The patterns near the North Star, like the Big Dipper and Cassiopeia, never set from most of the US: they circle the North Star all year.
Try it
Stand in the middle of a room as the Sun. Walk around it as Earth, always facing away from the middle (that's night). What part of the room do you see at each side?
Quiz: five questions
Four right is a pass. Peabody reads every question; tap a box.
Tonight's task
Use the star wheel or Sky Tonight to find one star pattern that's up tonight. Draw it. Look for it again in two months: has it moved?
🌌 Night task: Different stars in different seasons
Use the star wheel or Sky Tonight to find one star pattern that's up tonight. Draw it. Look for it again in two months: has it moved?
A grown-up comes too. Never look at the Sun.
Date: ____________ Clear? ☐ yes ☐ some clouds ☐ cloudy
“Owls are supposed to be wise. Mostly we just stay up late and look at things.”