Earth and Space

Year 5

Unit Overview

In the Earth and Space project, children will learn the names of the planets in the Solar System before creating a model outdoors to describe its scale, movement and features. They will learn how scientists throughout history used different methods to study the Solar System and came to understand how the planets orbited the Sun. They will make a model and use it to explain the orbits of the Moon around the Earth and the Earth around the Sun. They will identify the spherical shape of the Sun, Earth and Moon. They will learn how people in ancient civilisations believed the Earth was flat and how evidence proved the Earth was a sphere. They will know that the Earth's rotation creates a range of phenomena, including day and night and the appearance of the Sun rising above the horizon in the east at sunrise, moving across the sky and then setting below the horizon in the west at sunset, and use equipment to model these phenomena. They will learn how sundials helped people in the past used the Earth's rotation, the angle of the sunlight, and the length and direction of shadows to tell the time. They will learn that the Earth's tilt and rotation as it orbits the Sun creates different seasons and day lengths in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres and the effect of similar amounts of direct sunlight all year round in the tropics. They will research the times of day on the Earth in different locations and describe how Earth's rotation creates this phenomenon. They will learn about the Moon's orbit and name and explain the eight phases of the Moon. They will research how solar and lunar eclipses occur and create labelled diagrams to show their findings. Children will complete their learning by conducting an in-depth study of either Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus or Neptune and compare the planet's scale, features and movement to that of the Earth.

❇ MEMORABLE MOMENT

To complete a series of investigations.

️✏️ WRITING OPPORTUNITIES

Write a narrative based on the short film 'One Small Step'.

Write a journal based on a trapped astronaut in Mars Transmission.

🌳 LEARNING OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM

Creating a scaled diagram of the planets on the playground.

Unit Sequence: Learning Intentions

  1. The Solar system & How do we know that the Sun is at the centre of the Solar System? - To describe the movement of the Earth, and other planets, relative to the Sun in the solar system.

  2. The Earth, Sun and the moon model & Planets and stars are spherical - To describe the movement of the Earth, and other planets, relative to the Sun in the solar system & To describe the Sun, Earth and Moon as approximately spherical bodies.

  3. Daytime and night time & Sundials - To use the idea of the Earth’s rotation to explain day and night and the apparent movement of the sun across the sky.

  4. Day lengths and seasons & Times of day around the world - To describe the movement of the Earth, and other planets, relative to the Sun in the solar system.

  5. Phases of the moon & Lunar and Solar eclipses - To describe the movement of the Moon relative to the Earth. To describe the Sun, Earth and Moon as approximately spherical bodies.

  6. Planet Study - To describe the movement of the Earth, and other planets, relative to the Sun in the solar system.

  7. Earth and Space Quiz

Scientific Enquiry: Investigations

  1. How do we know the earth is round?

    • To use test results to make predictions to set up further comparative and fair tests.

    • To report and present findings from enquiries, including conclusions, causal relationships and explanations of and degree of trust in results, in oral and written forms such as displays and other presentations.

    • To identify scientific evidence that has been used to support or refute ideas or arguments.

    • To describe the Sun, Earth and Moon as approximately spherical bodies.

  2. How does the moon move?

    • To use test results to make predictions to set up further comparative and fair tests.

    • To report and present findings from enquiries, including conclusions, causal relationships and explanations of and degree of trust in results, in oral and written forms such as displays and other presentations.

    • To identify scientific evidence that has been used to support or refute ideas or arguments.

    • To describe the movement of the Earth, and other planets, relative to the Sun in the solar system.

    • To describe the movement of the Moon relative to the Earth.

🏁 BIG FINISH

To study a planet of own choice.

📖 FOCUS TEXT(S)

Northern Lights by Philip Pullman