Hook/Anticipatory Set:
- Why do we have seasons? How do seasons affect weather? Click the link above to play a game about the seasons.
- Definition of season: each of the four divisions of the year (spring, summer, autumn, and winter) marked by particular weather patterns and daylight hours, resulting from the earth's changing position with regard to the sun
- Click the button above to learn more about the 4 seasons.
- Click the button above to access the weather maker
- Common misconception about the seasons: We get summer because the Earth moves in an orbit that goes closer to the Sun in the summer then further away in winter. In fact, Earth travels in a pretty circular orbit around the Sun and stays roughly about 150 million kilometers from the Sun throughout the year. It is actually very slightly closer to the Sun (perihelion) around January 3rd and farthest from the Sun (aphelion) on about July 5th. Note that a lot of textbooks draw the solar system from an angle, rather than a top-down view, so that the orbits look more like ellipses and it can give the impression that the Earth to Sun distance can vary dramatically throughout the year.